"Our multivariate approach does not define the biological identity of an ancient Aryan population, but it does indicate that the Indus Valley and Gandhara peoples shared a number of craniometric, odontometric and discrete traits that point to a high degree of biological affinity... Evidence of demographic discontinuities is present in our study, but the first occurs between 6000 and 4500 BC (a separation of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic populations of Mehrgarh) and the second is after 800 BC... In short, there is no evidence of demographic disruptions in the northwestern sector of the subcontinent during and immediately after the decline of the Harappan culture. If Vedic Aryans were a biological entity represented by the skeletons from Timargarha, then their biological features of cranial and dental anatomy were not distinct to a marked degree from what we encountered in the ancient Harappans... All prehistoric human remains recovered thus far from the Indian subcontinent are phenotypically identifiable as ancient South Asians."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from the United StatesAnthropologists from the United StatesCornell University facultyUniversity of California, Berkeley alumni
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Kenneth A. R. Kennedy: “Have Aryans been identified in the prehistoric skeletal record from South Asia?”, in George Erdosy, ed.: The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia, p.49. quoted in Elst, Koenraad (1999). Update on the Aryan invasion debate New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. quoted in M Danino, I.3. Genetics and the Aryan Issue in : History of ancient India / editors, Dilip K. Chakrabarti and Makkhan Lal. v. 3
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kenneth_A._R._Kennedy
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Kenneth A. R. Kennedy
Kenneth Adrian Raine Kennedy (June 26, 1930 – April 23, 2014) was an anthropologist who studied at the University of California, Berkeley. He was Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Anthropology and Asian Studies in the Division of Biological Sciences at Cornell University. Among his areas of interest have been forensic anthropology and human skeletal biology. He died in Ithaca, New York on April 23, 2014.
16 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Kenneth A. R. Kennedy →
Related Quotes
"Kennedy also refers to a “biological continuum [... with] the modern populations of Punjab and Sind,” agreeing in thi…"
"With closest biological affinities outside the Indus Valley to the inhabitants of Tepe Hissar 3 (3000–2000 BC), these…"
"K. Kennedy (1984), however, who was able to examine all three hundred skeletons that had been retrieved from the Indu…"
"[The ancient Harappans] are not markedly different in their skeletal biology from the present-day inhabitants of Nort…"
"Not only is the skeletal evidence nil, but "if invasions of exotic races had taken place by Aryan hordes, we should e…"
"[Kennedy also notes the anthropological continuity between the Harappan population and that of the contemporaneous Ga…"
"How could one recognize an Aryan, living or dead, when the biological criteria for Aryanness are non- existent? (Kenn…"
"[Kenneth A.R. Kennedy reaches similar conclusions from his physical-anthropological data:] “Evidence of demographic d…"
"Both Gobineau and Chamberlain transformed the Aryan concept, which had its humble origins in philological research co…"
"A recent study by Hemphill, Lukacs and Kennedy (1991) supports the thesis that ancient Gandhärans and Harappans share…"