Deriving calibrations for Arawakan using archaeological evidence

Interface Focus, vol. 13, pp. 20220049

Abstract

This paper identifies time calibration points for accurately rooting and dating the phylogeny of Arawakan, the largest Indigenous linguistic family of the Americas. We present and model a methodology for extracting calibration points from the archaeological record, based on principles of geographical overlap between archaeological sites and Arawakan peoples, and on continuity in material culture between archaeological finds and modern Arawakan practices. Based on a consensus model of the expansion of the Arawakan family from Central Amazonia, we focus on archaeological finds in Arawakan expansion zones, where Arawakan material culture abruptly appears in a given region, and where only a single major Arawakan subgroup/clade is present. We find 12 calibration points from archaeological sites in Arawakan expansion zones and also identify more recent calibration points from the historical record based on first mentions of ethnonyms and early sources of lexical data.

Authors 7

1. Lev Michael corresponding

   University of California, Berkeley

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley CA 94720, USA

2. Fernando Orphão de Carvalho

   Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

   Affiliation as printed

   Departamento de Antropologia, Museu Nacional - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 20940040 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

3. Thiago Costa Chacon

   Universidade de Brasília

   Affiliation as printed

   Departamento de Linguı́stica, Português e Lı́nguas Clássicas, Universidade de Brası́lia, 70910-900 Brasília, Brazil

4. Konrad Rybka Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

5. Andres M. Sabogal

   New Mexico Highlands University

   Affiliation as printed

   Language Learning Center, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, New Mexico 87701, USA

6. Natalia Chousou‐Polydouri

   University of Zurich

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Comparative Language Science and Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland

7. Gereon Alexander Kaiping

   University of Zurich

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Comparative Language Science and Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland

   Department of Geography, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland