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Cambridge Archaeol J 10 (1)
Title
The title of the publication or report
Title:
Cambridge Archaeol J 10 (1)
Series
The series the publication or report is included in
Series:
Cambridge Archaeological Journal
Volume
Volume number and part
Volume:
10 (1)
Publication Type
The type of publication - report, monograph, journal article or chapter from a book
Publication Type:
Journal
Year of Publication
The year the book, article or report was published
Year of Publication:
2000
Note
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Note:
Date Of Issue From: 2000
Source
Where the record has come from or which dataset it was orginally included in.
Source:
BIAB (The British & Irish Archaeological Bibliography (BIAB))
Created Date
The date the record of the pubication was first entered
Created Date:
20 Jan 2002
Please click on an Article link to go to the Article Details.
Article Title
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Author / Editor
Page
Start/End
Abstract
At the edge of knowability: towards a prehistory of languages
Colin Renfrew
7 - 34
The issue of `knowability' in relation to the origins and distribution of the language families of the world is addressed, and recent advances in historical linguistics and molecular genetics reviewed. Despite the much-debated problem of the validity of the concept of the language `macrofamily' remaining unresolved, it is argued that a time depth for the origins of language families greater than the conventional received figure of c. 6000 years may in some cases be appropriate. This may allow the possibility of a correlation between language dispersals and demographic processes following the end of the Pleistocene. The effects of these processes may still be visible in the linguistic `spread zones', here seen as often the result of farming dispersals, contrasting with linguistic `mosaic zones' whose early origins may sometimes go back to initial colonisation episodes during the Late Pleistocene. If further work in historical linguistics as well as in archaeology and molecular genetics upholds these correlations a `new synthesis', whose outlines may already be discerned, is likely to emerge. It is thought this would have important consequences for prehistoric archaeology, and would be of interest also to historical linguists and molecular geneticists. If, however, the proposed recognition of such patterning proves illusory the prospects for `knowability' appear to be less favourable.
On the trail of the triskeles: from the McDonald Institute to Archaic Greek Sicily
Roger J A Wilson
35 - 61
Explores the meaning and iconography of the three-legged symbol adopted by the McDonald Institute of Archaeology (University of Cambridge, England) and this journal. Also investigates how and why it became the symbol of both the Isle of Man (since AD 1266) and Sicily (since the seventh century BC). Variations in the style and development of the symbol are described and its use on coinage in Athens and Asia minor from the sixth century BC noted. It probably originated as a sun symbol, like the swastika.
The cuneiform conception of celestial space and time
David Brown
103 - 122
The names and `ominous' values assigned to the heavenly bodies by the Mesopotamians underlie Western astrology, and have also influenced Indian astrology. Many of the key features in the astronomy of the medieval world, were borrowed from the astronomers of Babylon and Uruk. The zodiac, the Metonic cycle, horoscopy, and a variety of astrological techniques are all first attested in Mesopotamia. The same goes for units, notably those divisions of space and time which are now used throughout the world (such as 60 minutes in an hour and 360o in a circle) which can be traced back to cuneiform antecedents.