Indo-Iranians

Map of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture (red), its expansion into the Andronovo culture (orange) during the 2nd millennium BC, showing the overlap with the BMAC (chartreuse green) in the south. The location of the earliest chariots is shown in magenta.

Indo-Iranian peoples are a linguistic group consisting of the Indo-Aryan (including the Dardic), Iranian and Nuristani peoples; that is, speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family.

Nomenclature

The term Aryan has generally been used historically to denote the Indo-Iranians because Arya is the self designation of the Indo-Iranian languages and their speakers, viz. the Iranian and the Indo-Aryan peoples, collectively known as the Indo-Iranians . Some scholars now use the term Indo-Iranian to refer to this group, while the term "Aryan" is used to mean "Indo-Iranian" by other scholars such as Josef Wiesehofer. Population geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, in his 1994 book The History and Geography of Human Genes, also uses the term Aryan to describe the Indo-Iranians.

Origin

Historical linguists broadly estimate that a continuum of Indo-Iranian languages probably began to diverge by 2000 BC, if not earlier, preceding both the Vedic and Iranian cultures. The earliest recorded forms of these languages, Vedic Sanskrit and Gathic Avestan, are remarkably similar, descended from the common Proto–Indo-Iranian language. The origin and earliest relationship between the Nuristani languages and that of the Iranian and Indo-Aryan groups is complex

Expansion

Archaeological cultures associated with Indo-Iranian migrations (after EIEC). The Andronovo, BMAC and Yaz cultures have often been associated with Indo-Iranian migrations. The GGC, Cemetery H, Copper Hoard and PGW cultures are candidates for cultures associated with Indo-Aryan movements.

Two-wave models of Indo-Iranian expansion have been proposed by Burrow (1973) and Parpola (1999).

First wave

Main article: Indo-Aryan migration

The Indo-Iranians and their expansion are strongly associated with the chariot. It is assumed that this expansion went into the Caucasus, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia. They also expanded into Mesopotamia and Syria and introduced the horse and chariot culture to this part of the world. Sumerian texts from EDIIIb Ngirsu (2500-2350 BC) already mention the 'chariot' (gigir) and Ur III texts (2150-2000 BC) mention the horse (anshe-zi-zi).

They left linguistic remains in a Hittite horse-training manual written by one "Kikkuli the Mitannian". Other evidence is found in references to the names of Mitanni rulers and the gods they swore by in treaties; these remains are found in the archives of the Mitanni's neighbors. The time period for this is about 1500 BC.In a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni, the deities Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and Nasatya (Ashvins) are invoked. Kikkuli's horse training text includes technical terms such as aika (eka, one), tera (tri, three), panza (pancha, five), satta (sapta, seven), na (nava, nine), vartana (vartana, turn, round in the horse race). The numeral aika "one" is of particular importance because it places the superstrate in the vicinity of Indo-Aryan proper as opposed to Indo-Iranian or early Iranian (which has "aiva") in general.

The standard model for the entry of the Indo-European languages into South Asia is that this first wave went over the Hindu Kush, either into the headwaters of the Indus and later the Ganges. The earliest stratum of Vedic Sanskrit, preserved only in the Rigveda, is assigned to roughly 1500 BC. From the Indus, the Indo-Aryan languages spread from c. 1500 BC to c. 500 BC, over the northern and central parts of the subcontinent, sparing the extreme south. The Indo-Aryans in these areas established several powerful kingdoms and principalities in the region, from eastern Afghanistan to the doorstep of Bengal. The most powerful of these kingdoms were the post-Rigvedic Kuru (in Kurukshetra and the Delhi area) and their allies the Pañcālas further east, as well as Gandhara and later on, about the time of the Buddha, the kingdom of Kosala and the quickly expanding realm of Magadha. The latter lasted until the 4th century BC, when it was conquered by Chandragupta Maurya and formed the center of the Mauryan empire.

In eastern Afghanistan and southwestern Pakistan, whatever Indo-Aryan languages were spoken there were eventually pushed out by the Iranian languages. Most Indo-Aryan languages, however, were and still are prominent in the rest of the Indian subcontinent. Today, Indo-Aryan languages are spoken in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Second wave

The Second Wave is interpreted as the Iranian wave. The first Iranians to reach the Black Sea may have been the Cimmerians in the 8th century BC, although their linguistic affiliation is uncertain. They were followed by the Scythians, who are considered a western branch of the Central Asian Sakas. Sarmatian tribes, of whom the best known are the Roxolani (Rhoxolani), Iazyges (Jazyges) and the Alani (Alans), followed the Scythians westwards into Europe in the late centuries BCE and the first and second centuries of the Common Era (The Age of Migrations). The populous Sarmatian tribe of the Massagetae, dwelling near the Caspian Sea, were known to the early rulers of Persia in the Achaemenid Period. In the east, the Saka occupied several areas in Xinjiang, from Khotan to Tumshuq.

The Medes, Parthians and Persians begin to appear on the Persian plateau from ca. 800 BC, and the Achaemenids replaced Elamite rule from 559 BC. Around the first millennium of the Common Era (AD), the Iranian Pashtuns and Baloch began to settle on the eastern edge of the Iranian plateau, on the mountainous frontier of northwestern and western Pakistan, displacing the earlier Indo-Aryans from the area.

In Central Asia, the Turkic languages have marginalized Iranian languages as a result of the Turkic expansion of the early centuries AD. Extant major Iranian languages are Persian, Pashto and Kurdish, besides numerous smaller ones.

Archaeology

Archaeological cultures associated with Indo-Iranian expansion include:

• Central Asia
  • Poltavka culture (2700-2100 BC)
  • Andronovo horizon (2200-1000 BC)
    • Sintashta-Petrovka-Arkaim (2200-1600 BC),
    • Alakul (2100-1400 BC)
    • Fedorovo (1400-1200 BC)
    • Alekseyevka (1200-1000 BC)
  • Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (2200-1700 BC)
  • Srubna culture (2000-1100 BC)
  • Abashevo culture (1700-1500 BC)
  • Yaz culture (1500-1100 BC)
• India
  • Painted Gray Ware culture (1100-350 BC)
• Iran
  • Early West Iranian Grey Ware (1500-1000 BC)
  • Late West Iranian Buff Ware (900-700 BC)
• Pakistan
  • Swat culture (1600-500 BC)
  • Cemetery H culture (1900-1300 BC)

Parpola (1999) suggests the following identifications:

date range	archaeological culture	identification suggested by Parpola
2800-2000 BC	late Catacomb and Poltavka cultures	late PIE to Proto–Indo-Iranian
2000-1800 BC	Srubna and Abashevo cultures	Proto-Iranian
2000-1800 BC	Petrovka-Sintashta	Proto–Indo-Aryan
1900-1700 BC	BMAC	"Proto-Dasa" Indo-Aryans establishing themselves in the existing BMAC settlements, defeated by "Proto-Rigvedic" Indo-Aryans around 1700
1900-1400 BC	Cemetery H	Indian Dasa
1800-1000 BC	Alakul-Fedorovo	Indo-Aryan, including "Proto–Sauma-Aryan" practicing the Soma cult
1700-1400 BC	early Swat culture	Proto-Rigvedic = Proto-Dardic
1700-1500 BC	late BMAC	"Proto–Sauma-Dasa", assimilation of Proto-Dasa and Proto–Sauma-Aryan
1500-1000 BC	Early West Iranian Grey Ware	Mitanni-Aryan (offshoot of "Proto–Sauma-Dasa")
1400-800 BC	late Swat culture and Punjab, Painted Grey Ware	late Rigvedic
1400-1100 BC	Yaz II-III, Seistan	Proto-Avestan
1100-1000 BC	Gurgan Buff Ware, Late West Iranian Buff Ware	Proto-Persian, Proto-Median
1000-400 BC	Iron Age cultures of Xinjang	Proto-Saka

Language

Main article: Proto–Indo-Iranian language

The Indo-European language spoken by the Indo-Iranians in the late 3rd millennium BC was a Satem language still not removed very far from the Proto–Indo-European language, and in turn only removed by a few centuries from the Vedic Sanskrit of the Rigveda. The main phonological change separating Proto–Indo-Iranian from Proto–Indo-European is the collapse of the ablauting vowels *e, *o, *a into a single vowel, Proto–Indo-Iranian *a (but see Brugmann's law). Grassmann's law and Bartholomae's law were also complete in Proto–Indo-Iranian, as well as the loss of the labiovelars (kw, etc.) to k, and the Eastern Indo-European (Satem) shift from palatized k' to ć, as in Proto–Indo-European *k'ṃto- > Indo-Iran. *ćata- > Sanskrit śata-, Old Iran. sata "100".

Among the sound changes from Proto–Indo-Iranian to Indo-Aryan is the loss of the voiced sibilant *z, among those to Iranian is the de-aspiration of the PIE voiced aspirates.

Indo-Iranians today

The Indo-Iranians today are subdivided into the Iranian peoples, the Nuristani people, and the Indo-Aryan peoples.

See also

• Chariot
• Soma
• Mitra
• Andronovo culture
• BMAC

• Indo-Aryans
• Indo-Aryan migration
• Mitanni
• Aryavarta
• Ariana
• Kshatriya
• Rajput

• Iranian people
• Hinduism
• Avesta
• Avestan
• Zoroastrianism
• Old Avestan

• Nuristani people
• Kalash
• Dard people
• Kafiristan

• Proto–Indo-Iranian language
• Vedic Sanskrit
• Satemization
• Graeco-Aryan
• Iran-India relations
• Iran-Pakistan relations
• Mediterranean race
• Iranid race
• Uralic peoples
  • Finno-ugric peoples
• Hunor and Magor
• Cimmerians
• Balto-Slavs

Sources

• Diakonoff, Igor M.; Kuz'mina, E. E.; Ivantchik, Askold I. (1995), "Two Recent Studies of Indo-Iranian Origins", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 115, no. 3, American Oriental Society, pp. 473–477, doi:10.2307/606224.
• Jones-Bley, K.; Zdanovich, D. G. (eds.), Complex Societies of Central Eurasia from the 3rd to the 1st Millennium BC, 2 vols, JIES Monograph Series Nos. 45, 46, Washington D.C. (2002), ISBN 0-941694-83-6, ISBN 0-941694-86-0.
• Kuz'mina, Elena Efimovna (1994), Откуда пришли индоарии? (Whence came the Indo-Aryans), Moscow: Российская академия наук (Russian Academy of Sciences).
• Kuz'mina, Elena Efimovna (2007), Mallory, James Patrick (ed.), The Origin of the Indo-Iranians, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series, Leiden: Brill
• Mallory, J.P. (1989), In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology, and Myth, London: Thames & Hudson.
• Mallory, J. P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (1997), "Indo-Iranian Languages", Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Fitzroy Dearborn.
• Mallory, J. P.; Mair, Victor H. (2000), The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest People from the West, London: Thames & Hudson.
• Parpola, Asko (1999), "The formation of the Aryan branch of Indo-European", in Blench, Roger; Spriggs, Matthew (eds.), Archaeology and Language, vol. III: Artefacts, languages and texts, London and New York: Routledge.
• Sulimirski, Tadeusz (1970), The Sarmatians, Ancient People and Places, Thames & Hudson, ISBN 0 500 02071 X {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |general editor-first= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |general editor-last= ignored (help)
• Witzel, Michael (2000), "The Home of the Aryans" (PDF), in Hintze, A.; Tichy, E. (eds.), Anusantatyai. Fs. für Johanna Narten zum 70. Geburtstag, Dettelbach: J.H. Roell, pp. pp. 283–338 {{citation}}: |pages= has extra text (help).

External links

• The Origin of the Pre-Imperial Iranian People by Oric Basirov (2001)
• The Origin of the Indo-Iranians Elena E. Kuz'mina. Edited by J.P. Mallory (2007)