The Indo-Iranian Approach to Greater Iran

ABSTRACT

With an origin in western Eurasia, the Indo-Iranian languages appeared in Greater Iran and beyond in the second millennium and were expressed widely in the first millennium BCE. Considering an early separation of Proto-Iranian from the Proto-Indo-Iranian linguistic core, Eurasian archaeological cultures affiliated with Indo-Iranians are revisited. While the Sintashta and Petrovka cultures, along with the Alakul Andronovo cultural complex, are plausible reflections of the Proto-Indo-Aryans, the situation is more complex for the Proto-Iranians who later shaped the cultures of the Scythians and Iranians of Greater Iran. Tracing the origins of these Proto-Iranians in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor and Central Asia, their possible expansion into Greater Iran, partly separated from the Proto-Indo-Aryan path, is demonstrated. An Iranian-speaking group in Transoxiana, distinct from the Iranians of Greater Iran, is also discussed with the Proto-Iranian affiliated Timber Grave culture of western Eurasia as one of its possible components.

KEYWORDS:

• Central Asia
• Eurasia
• Proto-Indo-Iranian
• Proto-Iranian
• ethnolinguistic Identity

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Anthony and Ringe, “The Indo-European Homeland.”

2 Frye, Greater Iran, xi.

3 Petrie, Ancient Iran; Meyer et al., The Iranian Plateau.

4 Lyonnet and Dubova, “Questioning.”

5 See Winkelmann, “Trading Religions.”

6 Broushaki et al., “Early Neolithic Genomes”; Narasimhan et al., “The Formation.”

7 Amiet, L'âge des échanges

8 See Lyonnet and Dubova, “Questioning,” who do not agree with the proposition of a Greater Khorasan Civilization.

9 See Lamberg-Karlovsky, “Archaeology and Language”

10 Erdosy, “Language.”

11 Ehret, “Language Change,” 569–70.

12 Kuz’mina, The Origin.

13 Parpola, “Royal Chariot;” cf. “Finnish vatsa;” The Roots; “The Dāsas;” “Pre-proto-Iranians;” “The Coming.”

14 Mallory and Adams, The Oxford Introduction, 76–7.

15 Oettinger, “Pferd und Wagen,” 68–9

16 Tremblay, “Bildeten.”

17 Kellens and Pirart, Les textes vieil-avestiques, 12–13; Skjærvø, “The Antiquity,” 33–5.

18 Skjærvø, “The Antiquity,” 36.

19 After Burrow, “The Proto-Indoaryans.”

20 Thieme, “The ‘Aryan’ Gods,” 301.

21 Mayrhofer, Die Indo-Arier, 17–9; “Welches Material,” 76.

22 Mayrhofer, “Welches Material.”

23 Thieme, “The ‘Aryan’ Gods,” 303.

24 Fournet, “About the Mitanni-Aryan.”

25 cf. Indo-Aryan *márya – “man/youth,” von Dassow, State and Society, 96–7.

26 Eidem, “The Kingdom,” 142.

27 Mayrhofer, Die Indo-Arier, 18–20.

28 Blažek and Hegedűs, “On the Position.”.

29 Irannejad, “The Proto-Indo-Iranian Homeland and Greater Iran.”

30 Grenet, “An archaeologist’s;” “Zarathustra’s.”

31 Ibid.

32 Young, “Early Iron Age.”

33 Lhuillier, “Les cultures.”

34 Bendezu-Sarmiento et al., “Les différentes formes”.

35 Lhuillier, “Les cultures.” Evidence of contact with the Oxus civilisation in its final phase and with the Vakhsh culture suggests a short co-existence in time during the formative phase of the Handmade Painted Ware culture; Lhuillier, “Intercultural Interactions,” 137–8.

36 Bendezu-Sarmiento and Lhuillier, “Sine Sepulchro.”

37 Lhuillier, “Les cultures;” “What about the Relationships;” note also cultural interactions with neighbouring cultures, Lhuillier, “Intercultural Interactions.”

38 Заднепровский, Древнеземледель’ческая; Ошское поселение.

39 ДУКЕ, Туябъгузские.

40 Lhuillier, “Cultural Interactions,” 139–42.

41 Сарианиды, Храм и Некрополь’ Тиллятепе.

42 Масссон, Древнеземледельческая, глава 2.

43 Venco Ricciardi, “Archaeological Survey.”

44 Boroffka and Sverchkov, “Painted Pottery.”

45 Виноградова, et al., Памятники.

46 Аскаров and Альбаум, Поселение Кучуктепа.

47 Casal, Fouilles de Mundigak I-II.

48 Ghirshman, “Fouilles de Nad-i-Ali;” Dales, New Excavations.

49 Magee et al., “The Achaemenid Empire.”

50 Jarrige et al., Fouilles de Pirak.

51 Casal, Fouilles de Mundigak I-II, 104; Masson and Sarianidi, Central Asia, 158–65; Lyonnet, “Central Asia,” 431.

52 Biscione, “Baluchistan.”

53 Besenval and Francfort, “The Nad-i Ali.”

54 Jarrige et al., Fouilles de Pirak, 17, 19.

55 Ibid., 83–100.

56 Magee et al., “The Achaemenid Empire,” 727.

57 Lhuillier, “What about the Relationships,” 160–1.

58 Francfort, “La civilisation.”

59 Sarianidi, Myths, 47, 255, 269–70.

60 Parpola, The Roots, 103; “The Coming,” 239.

61 Bailey, Dictionary of Khotan Saka, 270–1.

62 Parpola, The Roots, 103.

63 Grenet, “An Archaeologist’s;” “Zarathustra’s.”

64 Ibid; cf. Vogelsang, “The Sixteen Lands of Videvdat 1.”

65 Grenet, “An archaeologist’s;” “Zarathustra’s.”

66 Guarino-Vignon et al., “Genetic Continuity.”

67 Irannejad, “Kavis,” 269.

68 Garner, Das Zinn der Bronzezeit, 239.

69 Garner, “Bronze Age Tin.”

70 Stöllner et al., “Bergmannsgräber.”

71 Khaleghi-Motlagh, I: 29–31

72 Francfort, “La civilisation.”

73 Irannejad, “The Old Avesta;” cf. Абаев, “Скифский.”

74 Заднепровский, Древнеземледель, 107; Masson and Sarianidi, Central Asia, 164–5; Заднепровский, Ошское поселение, 96–8; Lhuillier, “Les cultures.”

75 Chen and Hiebert, “The Late Prehistory,” 267–9.

76 Askarov, “The Beginning,” 447 f.

77 Chen and Hiebert, “The Late Prehistory,” 287.

78 Francfort, “The Cultures,” 228–32.

79 Заднепровский, Древнеземледель, 28; Ошское поселение, 51.

80 Boroffka and Sverchkov, “Painted Pottery,” 93.

81 Liu, “A Report.”

82 Guarino-Vignon et al., “Genetic Continuity.”

83 Skjærvø, The Spirit of Zoroastrianism, 136.

84 Irannejad, “The Old Avesta.”

85 Ibid.

86 Schmitt, “Die altiranischen Sprachen,” 27.

87 Payrot, “Tocharian.”

88 Isebaert, “De Indo-Iraanse.”

89 Skjærvø, “The Avesta,” 159; Cathcart, Iranian Dialectology.

90 see Frachetti, “Multiregional,” for the archaeological significance of this term.

91 Дульзон, Древние топонимы; Поспелов, Гидронимические, 122.

92 Harmatta, “The Emergence,” 369; Witzel, “Early Loan Words,” 12–3; for Iranian loanwords in Yeneseian, see also Stachowski, “Persian Loan Words.”

93 Schmitt, “SCYTHIAN LANGUAGE.”

94 Cunliffe, The Scythians.

95 Tao, “On the Relationship.”

96 Guarino-Vignon et al., “Genetic Continuity.”

97 Kuz’mina, The Origin; The Prehistory, 98–107; Grigoriev, “Andronovo Problem.”

98 Koryakova, “Cultural Relationships.”

99 Koryakova and Epimakhov, The Urals, 151.

100 Frachetti, Pastoralist Landscapes, 174.

101 Frachetti, “Multiregional.”

102 Allentoft et al., “Population Genomics;” Narasimhan et al., “The Formation.”

103 Koryakova and Epimakhov, The Urals, 127–50.

104 Kuz’mina, “Andronovo.”

105 However, the difference is not simple and clear, with no consensus amongst scholars.

106 Hanks et al., “Towards a Refined Chronology.”

107 Panyushkina et al., “Calendar Age.”

108 Molodin et al., “Periodization.”

109 Frachetti and Mar’yashev, “Long-Term Occupation”; Doumani et al., “Burial Ritual.”

110 Jia et al., “Adunqiaolu.”

111 Allentoft et al., “Population Genomics,” 169.

112 Narasimhan et al., “The Formation.”

113 Ibid.

114 Kuz’mina, The Origin, 192.

115 Ibid., 168.

116 Anthony, The Wheel, 409.

117 Parpola, The Roots, 109–16.

118 Kupriyanova et al., “Bronze Age Charioteers.”

119 Kohl, The Making, 197–8; Sarianidi, Margush.

120 Anthony, “The Roles,” 65.

121 Avanesova, “The Zeravshan.”

122 Аванесова, “Керамика.”

123 Bobomulloev, “Ein bronzezeitliches.”

124 Avanesova, “The Zeravshan.”

125 Bonora, “The Oxus Civilization,” 753.

126 Narasimhan et al., “The Formation.”

127 See, most recently, Lyonnet and Dubova, “Questioning.”

128 Sataev, “Animal Burials.”

129 Rouse et al., “Not Just ‘Nomadic Jars’;” Cerasetti, “Who Interacted With Whom?”

130 Narasimhan et al., “The Formation.”

131 Ibid.

132 Zahir, “The ‘Gandhara Grave Culture’.”

133 Parpola, The Roots, 126.

134 Morgenstierne, Indo-Iranian Frontier, 327–43.

135 Mayrhofer, “Lassen sich Vorstufen.”

136 Degener, “The Nuristani languages.”

137 Blažek and Hegedűs, “On the Position.”

138 Lyonnet, Prospections, ch. 3.

139 Schwartz, “Viiāmburas and Kafirs.”

140 Hiebert and Lamberg-Karlovsky, “Central Asia;” Hiebert, “South Asia.”

141 Schmidt, Excavations at Tepe Hissar.

142 Littauer and Crouwel, Wheeled Vehicles.

143 Ghirshman, L’Iran, 17f.; 31 f.

144 Biscione and Vahdati, “The BMAC Presence.”

145 Ghirshman, L’Iran.

146 Windfuhr, “IRAN vii. NON-IRANIAN LANGUAGES (5) Kassite.”

147 Burrow, “The Proto-Indoaryans,” 139.

148 Schmitt, Iranische Personennamen, 40–1.

149 Mallory, “A European Perspective,” 192–4.

150 Пьянкова, Древние скотоводы, 58; Kuz’mina, The Origin, 278.

151 Teufer, “The ‘Classical Vakhsh Culture’.”

152 Ковалев, “Саен’сай,” 293–306; Teufer, “The ‘Classical Vakhsh Culture’,” 728

153 Ковалев, “Саен’сай,” 297.

154 Doumani et al., “Burial Ritual.”

155 Frachetti, “Multiregional.”

156 Grigoriev, “Andronovo Problem,” 19.

157 Parzinger, “Südsibirien.”

158 Grigoriev, Ancient Indo-Europeans, 235–48.

159 Kuz’mina, The Origin, 24.

160 Малютина, “Стратиграфическая.”

161 Grigoriev, Metallurgical Production, 544.

162 Bonora, “The Oxus Civilization,” 745.

163 Narasimhan et al, “The Formation.”

164 Hoffmann, “Av. daxma-.”

165 Cong, “Tianshan as a Bridge;” Jia et al., “Adunqiaolu.”

166 Jia et al., “Adunqiaolu,” 633.

167 Betts, “Xinjiang in Prehistory,” 15.

168 Luneau, “The End of the Oxus Civilization,” 507–8.

169 Cunliffe, The Scythians.

170 Irannejad, “The Old Avesta.”

171 Cereti, “Xiiaona- and Xyôn,” 65.

172 Frye, The Heritage of Central Asia, 171–2.

173 P’jankova, “Central Asia in the Bronze Age.”

174 Итина, История степных; Kuz’mina, The Origin, 238–41.

175 Bonora, “The Oxus Civilization,” 735–6.

176 Garner, Das Zinn der Bronzezeit, 295–7.

177 Luneau, “The End of the Oxus Civilization.”

178 Parpola, “The Coming,” 209 f.; The Roots, 94 f.

179 Parpola, “The Coming,” 217–24.

180 Hoffmann, “Vedische Namen,” 142.

181 Parpola, The Roots, 105.

182 Parpola, “The Coming,” 261–2.

183 Schwartz, “Transformations.”

184 apud Skjærvø, “Aždahā.”

185 Watkins, How to Kill a Dragon.

186 Witzel, “Slaying the Dragon,” 272.

187 Schwartz, “Transformations.”

188 Khaleghi-Motlagh, II: 67–101.

189 Irannejad, “Kavis,” 252–5.

190 Parpola, The Roots, 259–60.

191 Parpola, “The Coming,” 211–7.

192 Muradov, “The Architecture.”

193 Parpola, The Roots, 97.

194 For a survey of the connection of the Oxus Civilization and the Indo-Iranian borderland, see Mutin and Lamberg-Karlovsky, “The Relationship.”

195 Parpola, The Roots, 97.

196 Witzel, “The Home of the Aryans.”

197 Jamison and Brereton, The Rig Veda, 416.

198 Bergman, Archaeological Researches; Zhang, “Is Shuma.”

199 Narasimhan et al, “The Formation.”

200 Аванесова, Бостон VI.

201 Narasimhan et al, “The Formation.”

202 Parpola, The Roots, 97–8.

203 Hintze, “The Migrations.”

204 see Humbach and Faiss, Zarathushtra and his Antagonists.

205 Oettinger, “Jungavestisch Naotara-.”

206 Minorsky, “Tūrān,” 879.

207 cf. Абаев, “Скифский,” 42 ff.

208 Lurje, “SOGDIANA ii. Historical Geography.”

209 apud Minorsky, “Tūrān.”

210 Gershevitch, “An Iranist's View,” 55.

211 Khaleghi-Motlagh, I: 293, 331, and 353.

212 Minorsky, “Tūrān,” 880.

213 Khaleghi-Motlagh, V: 216 f.

214 Tafażżolī, “DEŽ-E RŪYĪN.”

215 Markwart, Wehrot und Arang, 160–4.

216 Eidem, “The Kingdom,” 142.

217 Von Dassow, State and Society, 96–7; 268–314.

218 Humbach and Ichaporia, Zamyād Yašt, 138; cf. Panaino, “A Daevic Speech.”

219 Nyberg, Die Religionen, 263, 300; Wikander, Der arische Mannerbund, 87; on mairiia see most recently Ahmadi, “An Indo-Iranian”; Daryaee, “The Iranian Männerbund.”

220 Gnoli, Zoroaster’s Time & Homeland, 75.

221 Witzel, “Aryan and non-Aryan Names.”

222 Burrow, “The Proto-Indoaryans,” 132–3.

223 Гулямов et al. 1966.

224 Bonora, “The Oxus Civilization,” 754.

225 Ibid.

226 Лев, “Погребение.”

227 Кузьмина, Классификация, 299.

228 Sachau, Chronology of Ancient Nations, 40–1.

229 Irannejad, “Kavis,” 270–1.

230 Atwood, “Huns and Xiōngnú.”

231 Sinor, “The Establishment.”

232 Payne, “The Making of Turan,” 27.

233 Cereti, “Xiiaona- and Xyôn.”

234 Golden, “The Turkic World,” 538.

235 Payne, “The Making of Turan,” 30.

236 Yarshater, “Iranian National History,” 409.