Urheimat hypotheses Afroasiatic Urheimat

1 urheimat hypotheses

1.1 levant theory
1.2 red sea/horn of africa theory
1.3 north africa theory
1.4 sahel/sahara theory

urheimat hypotheses
levant theory

supporters of non-north or northeast african origin afroasiatic particularly common among background in semitic or egyptological studies, or amongst archaeological proponents of farming/language dispersal hypothesis according major language groups dispersed farming technology in neolithic. leading linguistic proponent of idea in recent times alexander militarev. arguments , against position depend upon contested proposal farming-related words can reconstructed in proto-afroasiatic, farming technology being thought have spread levant africa.

militarev, linked proto-afroasiatic levantine natufian culture, preceded spread of farming technology, believes language family 10,000 years old. wrote (militarev 2002, p. 135) proto-afrasian language, on verge of split daughter languages , meaning, in scenario, cushitic, omotic, egyptian, semitic , chadic-berber , should dated ninth millennium bc . asiatic origin need not associated exclusively migration of agricultural populations: according linguists, words dog (an asian domesticate) reconstruct proto-afroasiatic words bow , arrow, according archaeologists spread rapidly across north africa once introduced near east i.e. ounan points. scenario fits linguistic evidence 1 in afroasiatic languages introduced africa advanced hunting techniques before subsequent introduction of agriculture.

red sea/horn of africa theory

the horn of africa, particularly area of ethiopia , eritrea, has been proposed linguists origin of language group because includes majority of diversity of afroasiatic language family , has diverse groups in close geographic proximity, considered telltale sign linguistic geographic origin. within hypothesis there several variants:

christopher ehret has proposed western red sea coast eritrea southeastern egypt. while ehret disputes militarev s proposal proto-afroasiatic shows signs of common farming lexicon, suggests afroasiatic languages involved in earlier development of intensive food collection in areas of ethiopia , sudan. in other words, proposes older age afroasiatic militarev, @ least 15,000 years old , possibly older, , believes farming lexicon can reconstructed branches of afroasiatic. but, appearance of linguistic terms such dog, bow, , arrow in proto-afroasiatic makes date earlier 9,500 bc (coinciding end of younger dryas) highly unlikely since dogs appear @ earliest in archaeological record after 12,000 bc in near east, , arrowheads appear after 9,500 bc in africa result of introduction near east. although fact arrowheads found @ lake turkana , microlithic arrowheads appear in southern africa (71,000 bp) , aterian culture (30,000 bp) suggests arrowheads may have been african invention taken near east pre-afroasiatic late glacial migration. @ site of nataruk in turkana county, kenya, obsidian bladelets found embedded in skull , within thoracic cavity of skeleton, suggest use of stone-tipped arrows weapons. after end of last glacial period, use of bow seems have spread every inhabited continent, including new world, except australia.

in next phase, unlike many other authors ehret proposed initial split between northern, southern , omotic. northern group includes semitic, egyptian , berber (agreeing others such diakonoff). proposed chadic stems berber (some other authors group southern afroasiatic languages such cushitic ones).

roger blench has proposed southwestern ethiopia, in or around omo valley. compared militarev , ehret proposed relatively young time-depth of approximately 7,500 years. ehret accepts omotic afroasiatic , sees split of northern languages omotic important development, did not group egyptian or chadic of these.

north africa theory

a more typical proposal semitic offshoot of northern family of afroasiatic languages, including berber, , possibly egyptian. entered levant , possibly spread juris zarins calls syro-arabian nomadic pastoralism complex, spreading south along shores of red sea , northeast around edge of fertile crescent . thought semitic speakers crossed south arabia eritrea.

in contrast, bender proposed on linguistic grounds cushitic (found in horn of africa) shares important innovations semitic , berber, , these 3 split off others, while still near original homeland of afroasiatic.

sahel/sahara theory

igor diakonoff proposed eastern sahara region, southern fringe of sahara.

lionel bender proposed area near khartoum, sudan, @ confluence of blue nile , white nile. details of theory cited controversial, involves proposal semitic originated in ethiopia , crossed asia directly there on red sea. potentially solidify bender s argument, in scholars today believe there relationship between cushitic branch , chadic branch; arguing perhaps chadic descends cushitic.

prior colonialism hausa peoples of present-day niger, nigeria, burkina faso, , chad not united single polity, rather existed sequence of 7 city-states (situated between niger river , lake chad); each own sovereign dynasty named after shared common progenitor known bayajidda, apparently came east great deal of scholars attribute being middle east , though contested. each city-state own entities intertwined through trade, language, religion, customs, , ethnic identity/relations; hence comprising sizable cultural stock had greater trade links larger states , empires such ghana empire, mali empire, kanem-bornu empires, etc.

in current day southwestern chad , northeastern cameroon in lake chad basin, there several ethnic groups speak afroasiatic language similar hausas. known respectively: biu–mandara, tumak, nancere, kera, dangaléat, mukulu, sokoro, etc. hausa, collectively comprise chadic branch of afro-asiatic family. there remnants of civilization on cameroon side of lake chad date @ least sixth century bce; suspected of being remains of late sao civilisation, scholars suspect being result of waves of nubian migrations west africa (further substantiating claims bayajidda hence hausas, came east ). sub-groups such gamergu, kanembu, sokoro, , musgum claim relations 1 descent sao.