An interesting thread i saw on Swat valley people in 1100 bce, worth resharing,
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A little anthropological story about the Swat burials (largest aDNA trove in India's NW) which was used to estimate the admixture dates of Steppes ancestry into Indians. This detail was omitted in the Narasimhan et al. 2019 paper.
Every archaeologist who has worked in the Swat Valley, including the latest ISMEO mission that yielded the aDNA, have noted this peculiar character of that Culture.
In the 1970s, AH Dani, the Pakistani archaeologist, professed the hypothesis that the Swat Valley Cultures might be the early Indo-Aryans.
To answer this question, SP Gupta, the then ASI chairman, produced a detailed paper to settle the matter.
His conclusion was negative and it entirely hinged on the funerary practices of the Swat Valley. What was it?
A deceased individual would be interred for a short period of time. Then the remains would be disinterred and then manipulated with a ritual.
The body would be defleshed thoroughly and the bones intentionally fractured with an implement.
Both these operations were initiated after a short primary period of internment - because the effort to deflesh and dismember the remains were quite heavy and required force.
The arm bones (ulna and radius) would be intact with the cut in the upper humerus. Basically the arm was separated below the shoulder.
On the coxal (hipbone), surface cuts were administered neatly to separate the flesh from the ham and the legs.
The implements used were metal-sharp and they left cut marks often in neat parallel lines - marking expertise.
After this ritual, the bones were collected and deposited in a secondary burial. The secondary burial was often communal - the bones would share space with earlier occupants.
There is evidence showing that food was cooked and liquids were consumed by the participants in this ceremony. The cooking pots and drinking cups were abandoned in the graves.
SP Gupta's 1972 paper was neat - he marshalled funerary rituals from the RV, AV and the S.Br to demonstrate that these practices were unheard of in the Indo-Aryan praxis. Ergo, the Swat Valley Cultures could not be IA at all, let alone the incoming wave.
SP Gupta's conclusion has remained unchallenged for the last 50 years within the archaeological community. Funerary practices are the strongest indicator of religious and linguistic orientation (Sintashta chariot burials). And SP Gupta was on target.
But who were they, if not Indo-Aryans? The Swat Valley Cultures of 1100 BCE, enriched in Steppes ancestry......what was their identity?
In the the Atharvaveda, a new class of people are described. Piśāca (पिशाच). This is a direct functional term, derived from Piśita (पिशित) - meaning eaters of human flesh.
In the the Atharvaveda, a new class of people are described. Piśāca (पिशाच). This is a direct functional term, derived from Piśita (पिशित) - meaning eaters of human flesh.
The Sanskrit word Piśāca becomes a neologism eventually. It means a demon and spreads to all other languages. Example: in Tamil, the word பிசாசு
The languages of the Piśāca becomes Paiśāchi. It's classed as gibberish with no rules. The Indian epic Mahabharata records Piśācas living in NW India and Central Asia.
This is the lore behind Swat Valley.
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https://nitter.net/Ugra___/status/1983522276445151437 it's interesting stuff.
Story of peoples dwelling in Swat Valley circa 1000bce
Anonymous
loc-IN
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An interesting thread i saw on Swat valley people in 1100 bce, worth resharing,
-----------------
A little anthropological story about the Swat burials (largest aDNA trove in India's NW) which was used to estimate the admixture dates of Steppes ancestry into Indians. This detail was omitted in the Narasimhan et al. 2019 paper.
Every archaeologist who has worked in the Swat Valley, including the latest ISMEO mission that yielded the aDNA, have noted this peculiar character of that Culture.
In the 1970s, AH Dani, the Pakistani archaeologist, professed the hypothesis that the Swat Valley Cultures might be the early Indo-Aryans.
To answer this question, SP Gupta, the then ASI chairman, produced a detailed paper to settle the matter.
His conclusion was negative and it entirely hinged on the funerary practices of the Swat Valley. What was it?
A deceased individual would be interred for a short period of time. Then the remains would be disinterred and then manipulated with a ritual.
The body would be defleshed thoroughly and the bones intentionally fractured with an implement.
Both these operations were initiated after a short primary period of internment - because the effort to deflesh and dismember the remains were quite heavy and required force.
The arm bones (ulna and radius) would be intact with the cut in the upper humerus. Basically the arm was separated below the shoulder.
On the coxal (hipbone), surface cuts were administered neatly to separate the flesh from the ham and the legs.
The implements used were metal-sharp and they left cut marks often in neat parallel lines - marking expertise.
After this ritual, the bones were collected and deposited in a secondary burial. The secondary burial was often communal - the bones would share space with earlier occupants.
There is evidence showing that food was cooked and liquids were consumed by the participants in this ceremony. The cooking pots and drinking cups were abandoned in the graves.
SP Gupta's 1972 paper was neat - he marshalled funerary rituals from the RV, AV and the S.Br to demonstrate that these practices were unheard of in the Indo-Aryan praxis. Ergo, the Swat Valley Cultures could not be IA at all, let alone the incoming wave.
SP Gupta's conclusion has remained unchallenged for the last 50 years within the archaeological community. Funerary practices are the strongest indicator of religious and linguistic orientation (Sintashta chariot burials). And SP Gupta was on target.
But who were they, if not Indo-Aryans? The Swat Valley Cultures of 1100 BCE, enriched in Steppes ancestry......what was their identity?
In the the Atharvaveda, a new class of people are described. Piśāca (पिशाच). This is a direct functional term, derived from Piśita (पिशित) - meaning eaters of human flesh.
In the the Atharvaveda, a new class of people are described. Piśāca (पिशाच). This is a direct functional term, derived from Piśita (पिशित) - meaning eaters of human flesh.
The Sanskrit word Piśāca becomes a neologism eventually. It means a demon and spreads to all other languages. Example: in Tamil, the word பிசாசு
The languages of the Piśāca becomes Paiśāchi. It's classed as gibberish with no rules. The Indian epic Mahabharata records Piśācas living in NW India and Central Asia.
This is the lore behind Swat Valley.
-----------
https://nitter.net/Ugra___/status/1983522276445151437 it's interesting stuff.
