The Oxford Handbook of Archaeology and Language
Published on 26. June 2025
Book
Hardback
992 pages
978-0-19-286835-0 (ISBN)
Description
This volume provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of how archaeology, genes, and language can be combined to shed light on the human past. Our understanding of human prehistory has been revolutionized in recent years by the growth of interdisciplinary perspectives, and particularly by insights from the study of ancient DNA. At a time when the 'Big Data' movement in genetics and archaeology is beginning to make inroads into linguistics, The Oxford Handbook of Archaeology and Language sets the agenda for future research in the discipline of archaeolinguistics.
The handbook is divided into three parts. The first part introduces the basic frameworks of archaeolinguistics, addressing recent trends and new perspectives. Chapters in Part II explore the application of archaeolinguistics to different stages in human history, from hunter-gathering via the adoption of farming and the rise of writing to modern times. Part III features regional case studies from different parts of the world, including not only Indo-European but also Uralic, Transeurasian, Sino-Tibetan, Paleosiberian, Tai-Kadai, Austronesian, Papuan, Australian, Afrasian, Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo, Kalahari Basin, Andean, and Lowland South American languages. In illustrating the extent to which linguistic, archaeological, and genetic histories align or differ, the volume goes beyond the level of 'broad brush' approaches by engaging specialists from a range of disciplines as co-authors, shedding light on language dynamics from multiple perspectives.
The handbook is divided into three parts. The first part introduces the basic frameworks of archaeolinguistics, addressing recent trends and new perspectives. Chapters in Part II explore the application of archaeolinguistics to different stages in human history, from hunter-gathering via the adoption of farming and the rise of writing to modern times. Part III features regional case studies from different parts of the world, including not only Indo-European but also Uralic, Transeurasian, Sino-Tibetan, Paleosiberian, Tai-Kadai, Austronesian, Papuan, Australian, Afrasian, Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo, Kalahari Basin, Andean, and Lowland South American languages. In illustrating the extent to which linguistic, archaeological, and genetic histories align or differ, the volume goes beyond the level of 'broad brush' approaches by engaging specialists from a range of disciplines as co-authors, shedding light on language dynamics from multiple perspectives.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 252 mm
Width: 174 mm
Thickness: 66 mm
Weight
1942 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-286835-0 (9780192868350)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Martine Robbeets is Head of the Language and the Anthropocene Research Group at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Jena and Honorary Professor in the Department of General and Comparative Linguistics at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz. She holds a PhD in Comparative Linguistics from the University of Leiden and a Habilitation in Linguistic Typology from the University of Mainz, and recently completed an interdisciplinary project on the dispersal of the Transeurasian languages, funded by an ERC Consolidator Grant. Her many publications include Diachrony of Verb Morphology: Japanese and the Transeurasian Languages (De Gruyter, 2015) and, co-edited with Alexander Savelyev, The Oxford Guide to the Transeurasian Languages (OUP, 2020).
Mark Hudson is Researcher at the Language and the Anthropocene Research Group at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Jena. He was educated at SOAS University of London, Cambridge University, and the Australian National University, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His recent publications include Conjuring Up Prehistory: Landscape and the Archaic in Japanese Nationalism (Archaeopress, 2021) and Bronze Age Maritime and Warrior Dynamics in Island East Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2022).
Mark Hudson is Researcher at the Language and the Anthropocene Research Group at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Jena. He was educated at SOAS University of London, Cambridge University, and the Australian National University, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His recent publications include Conjuring Up Prehistory: Landscape and the Archaic in Japanese Nationalism (Archaeopress, 2021) and Bronze Age Maritime and Warrior Dynamics in Island East Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2022).
Editor
Research Group Leader, Language and the Anthropocene Research GroupResearch Group Leader, Language and the Anthropocene Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena
Researcher, Language and the Anthropocene Research GroupResearcher, Language and the Anthropocene Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena
Content
Part I. Archaeology, Genes, and Language: Basic Frameworks
1: Martine Robbeets: Archaeolinguistics: Combining archaeology, genes, and language
2: Mark Pagel: Language in human evolution
3: Russell Barlow and Lyle Campbell: Historical comparative linguistics and language classification
4: Bethwyn Evans: Prehistoric language contact
5: Patience Epps and Olesya Khanina: Cultural reconstruction: How to infer the cultural environment of ancestral speakers?
6: Soren Wichmann: Linguistic phylogeography
7: Michael Dunn: Linguistic dating
8: Peter Bakker: Prehistoric language change in social context
9: Rune Iversen and Felix Riede: Culture change in archaeology
10: Paul Heggarty and Adam Powell: Bayesian phylogenetics in language prehistory - and archaeology
11: Chiara Barbieri and Paul Widmer: Advances in population genetics and language history: How large datasets and ancient DNA changed the picture
12: Ruth Mace: The relationship between genetics, language, and culture
Part II. Archaeology, Genes, and Language across Time
13: Nicholas Evans: Archaeolinguistics and the languages of hunter-gatherers
14: Peter Bellwood: Farming and language dispersals consequent upon the oldest developments of food production
15: Mark Hudson, Rasmus Bjorn, and Robert Spengler: Bronze Age and languages
16: Haicheng Wang: Ancient states and the rise of writing
17: Mark Hudson, James Harland, and Alison Crowther: Archaeology and language dynamics in the medieval and early modern eras
18: Martine Robbeets and Mark Hudson: Language and the Anthropocene
Part III. Archaeology, Genes, and Language across Space
19: Alexander Lubotsky and Tijmen Pronk: Indo-European archaeolinguistics
20: Outi Vesakoski, Elina Salmela, and Henny Piezonka: Uralic archaeolinguistics
21: Martine Robbeets, Mark Hudson, and Chao Ning: Transeurasian archaeolinguistics
22: Ben Potter and Edward Vajda: Palaeosiberian archaeolinguistics
23: David Bradley, Li Liu, Chao Ning, and Rita Dal Martello: Sino-Tibetan archaeolinguistics
24: Jian-Xin Guo, Zhi-Quan Fan, Wen-Jiao Yang, and Chuan-Chao Wang: Tai-Kadai archaeolinguistics
25: Matthew Spriggs, Paul Geraghty, and Yue-Chen Liu: Austronesian archaeolinguistics
26: Antoinette Schapper, Dylan Gaffney, and Nicolas Brucato: Archaeolinguistics of Papuan languages
27: Claire Bowern, Bastien Llamas, Luisa Miceli, Raymond Tobler, and Peter Veth: Australian archaeolinguistics
28: Christopher Ehret, David Schoenburn, Steven A. Brandt, and Shomarka O. Y. Keita: Afrasian archaeolinguistics
29: Gerrit J. Dimmendaal and Hiba Babiker: Nilo-Saharan archaeolinguistics
30: Koen Bostoen, Peter Coutros, and Carina Schlebusch: Niger-Congo archaeolinguistics, including Bantu
31: Tom Gueldemann, Andrew Smith, and Vladimir Bajic: The archaeolinguistics of Kalahari Basin area languages
32: Matthias Urban, Chiara Barbieri, and Kurt Rademaker: Archaeolinguistics of the languages of the Andes
33: Rik van Gijn, Leonardo Arias, and Jonas Gregorio de Souza: Archaeolinguistics of language families and contact areas of Amazonia
1: Martine Robbeets: Archaeolinguistics: Combining archaeology, genes, and language
2: Mark Pagel: Language in human evolution
3: Russell Barlow and Lyle Campbell: Historical comparative linguistics and language classification
4: Bethwyn Evans: Prehistoric language contact
5: Patience Epps and Olesya Khanina: Cultural reconstruction: How to infer the cultural environment of ancestral speakers?
6: Soren Wichmann: Linguistic phylogeography
7: Michael Dunn: Linguistic dating
8: Peter Bakker: Prehistoric language change in social context
9: Rune Iversen and Felix Riede: Culture change in archaeology
10: Paul Heggarty and Adam Powell: Bayesian phylogenetics in language prehistory - and archaeology
11: Chiara Barbieri and Paul Widmer: Advances in population genetics and language history: How large datasets and ancient DNA changed the picture
12: Ruth Mace: The relationship between genetics, language, and culture
Part II. Archaeology, Genes, and Language across Time
13: Nicholas Evans: Archaeolinguistics and the languages of hunter-gatherers
14: Peter Bellwood: Farming and language dispersals consequent upon the oldest developments of food production
15: Mark Hudson, Rasmus Bjorn, and Robert Spengler: Bronze Age and languages
16: Haicheng Wang: Ancient states and the rise of writing
17: Mark Hudson, James Harland, and Alison Crowther: Archaeology and language dynamics in the medieval and early modern eras
18: Martine Robbeets and Mark Hudson: Language and the Anthropocene
Part III. Archaeology, Genes, and Language across Space
19: Alexander Lubotsky and Tijmen Pronk: Indo-European archaeolinguistics
20: Outi Vesakoski, Elina Salmela, and Henny Piezonka: Uralic archaeolinguistics
21: Martine Robbeets, Mark Hudson, and Chao Ning: Transeurasian archaeolinguistics
22: Ben Potter and Edward Vajda: Palaeosiberian archaeolinguistics
23: David Bradley, Li Liu, Chao Ning, and Rita Dal Martello: Sino-Tibetan archaeolinguistics
24: Jian-Xin Guo, Zhi-Quan Fan, Wen-Jiao Yang, and Chuan-Chao Wang: Tai-Kadai archaeolinguistics
25: Matthew Spriggs, Paul Geraghty, and Yue-Chen Liu: Austronesian archaeolinguistics
26: Antoinette Schapper, Dylan Gaffney, and Nicolas Brucato: Archaeolinguistics of Papuan languages
27: Claire Bowern, Bastien Llamas, Luisa Miceli, Raymond Tobler, and Peter Veth: Australian archaeolinguistics
28: Christopher Ehret, David Schoenburn, Steven A. Brandt, and Shomarka O. Y. Keita: Afrasian archaeolinguistics
29: Gerrit J. Dimmendaal and Hiba Babiker: Nilo-Saharan archaeolinguistics
30: Koen Bostoen, Peter Coutros, and Carina Schlebusch: Niger-Congo archaeolinguistics, including Bantu
31: Tom Gueldemann, Andrew Smith, and Vladimir Bajic: The archaeolinguistics of Kalahari Basin area languages
32: Matthias Urban, Chiara Barbieri, and Kurt Rademaker: Archaeolinguistics of the languages of the Andes
33: Rik van Gijn, Leonardo Arias, and Jonas Gregorio de Souza: Archaeolinguistics of language families and contact areas of Amazonia