Is the Aryan Invasion a Myth?

[Paul Kekai Manansala]

Lars Martin Fosse wrote:
>
> > The best evidence is still the linguistic (and cultural) data. The value of archaeology (if any at all) is quite subsidiary.
>
> Paul K. Manansala wrote:
>
> I strongly disagree.  Linguistic evidence is weak because there is no
> single linguistic theory.  Just look at the history of linguistics.
> Just over the last century, or even the last few decades, there have
> been major changes in language classification. Even at the present,
> there are a number of major overhauls proposed to the classification
> system by the most noted linguists.
>
> I don't think that language classification is very important here. As for archaeology, I have recently been in close contact with archaeological theory in connection with the Indo-European homeland, and >I fail to find a unified theory.

Archaeology is quite different than linguistics though.  Archaeology,
at its base, is designed to trace movements of people.  I agree it
is not perfect, but how can you say that it is less relevant than
linguistics?

>
> Cultural evidence is interesting and helpful, but isolated cultural
> items pass easily from one people to the next without any need for
> migration much less invasion.
>
> May I direct your attention to the following works:
>
> Bruce Lincoln: Myth, Cosmos and Society. Indo-European Themes of Creation and Destruction. Harvard University Press, 1986.
>
> Lincoln addresses the problem you mention (which, by the way, is a very real one).
>
> Bottom line: Whereas some cultural items undoubtedly migrate, there are some items that are hereditary and cannot be explained by migration.

Well, as one who tracks the current issues of most of the top genetics
journals, this statement comes as a surpise.  I'm not sure how
non-geneticists were able to ascertain that any aspect of culture
is "hereditary" (if you mean here at a molecular level).

Does this mean that an Asian cannot inherit certain Western cultural
features from the media or from studying in the West?  Could you give
examples of such features?  How do these apply to the Aryan invasion
theory?

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala