Bibliography

Thorsø, Rasmus, Andrew Wigman, Anthony Jakob, Axel I. Palmér, Paulus van Sluis, and Guus Kroonen, “Word mining: metal names and the Indo-European dispersal”, in: Kristian Kristiansen, Guus Kroonen, and Eske Willerslev (eds), The Indo-European puzzle revisited integrating archaeology, genetics, and linguistics, Cambridge, Online: Cambridge University Press, 2023. 105–126.

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Citation details
Article
“Word mining: metal names and the Indo-European dispersal”
Work
Guus Kroonen (ed.) • Kristian Kristiansen (ed.) • Eske Willerslev (ed.), The Indo-European puzzle revisited integrating archaeology, genetics, and linguistics (2023)
Pages
105–126
Year
2023
Description
Abstract (cited)

The first use of metals in the production of objects among human societies was undoubtedly a defining event with a profound, irreversible impact on craftsmanship, agriculture, trade, warfare, and other cultural and political phenomena. The continuous refinement of metallurgical practice, including the introduction of new metals, has left behind some of the most conspicuous and important archaeological remains. Furthermore, the linguistic and archaeological evidence provided by metals can be combined to cast light on the relative placement of reconstructed languages in time and space through the use of linguistic palaeontology (cf. already Schrader 1883). For the study of the expansion of the Indo-European (IE) languages, examining the inventory of metallurgical vocabulary is thus highly relevant – not only for dating and locating the dissolution of each language, but also for determining the branching and spread of the successive daughter languages, and how they were influenced by foreign languages.

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