| This hypothesis that early
Indo-European languages were spoken in north India with Pakistan
and on the Iranian plateau at the sixth millennium BC has the merit of harmonizing symmetrically with the
theory for the origin of the Indo-European languages in
Europe. It also emphasizes the continuity in the Indus Valley and
adjacent areas from the early neolithic through to the floruit of the Indus Valley civilization.(*49)
In addition, it does not mean that the Rig Veda dates from the
Harappan era. Harappan culture resembles that of the Yajur Veda
and the Brahmanas, or the later Vedic era. If anything the Rig Veda
appears to reflect the pre-Indus period in India, when the Sarasvati
river was more prominent.
46, 47, 48, 49. C.
Renfrew, ARCHAEOLOGY AND LANGUAGE (New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1987), pp. 182, 188, 190, 196.
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