A conversation with Christopher Ehret

[MARAQ DIGAAG]

http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/2.1/ehret.html

 

[Apollo]

He is one of my favourite Suugo Scientists.

 

[MARAQ DIGAAG]

He is one of my favourite Suugo Scientists.

What do you think of his theory about the Afro Asiatic Uhremeit being located in the Horn of Africa ?I have read a lot of opposing theories suggesting an ME origin which seem to make sense but I am no expert in linguistics .

 

[Apollo]

What do you think of his theory about the Afro Asiatic Uhremeit being located in the Horn of Africa ?I have read a lot of opposing theories suggesting an ME origin which seem to make sense but I am no expert in linguistics .

Totally wrong.

Genetic data all points to a more northerly area, probably between Egypt and possibly even Israel.

That ancient DNA from that Ethiopian caveman especially threw away the Horn of Africa theory. Modern Omotics have some West Asian lineages (J1 and K1a1a etc.). Afro-Asiatic seems MENA in origin and not SSA.

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

Totally wrong.

Genetic data all points to a more northerly area, probably between Egypt and possibly even Israel.

That ancient DNA from that Ethiopian caveman especially threw away the Horn of Africa theory. Modern Omotics have some West Asian lineages (J1 and K1a1a etc.). Afro-Asiatic seems MENA in origin and not SSA.

Do Omotics exhibit more Mota-like characteristics in their gene profiles than other Ethiopians? Also if Omotic is now solidly considered an AA language shouldn't the date for PAA be pushed back by several thousand years as it is so divergent from the rest?

 

[James Dahl]

The Afro-Asiatic Uhremeit was probably ancient Egypt. Arabia and the Middle East were originally inhabited by non-Afro-Asiatic speakers particularly the Hurrians in upper Mesopotamia and the Sumerians and Elamites in Arabia and lower Mesopotamia. Afro-Asiatic languages fan out from Egypt in all directions (Semitic languages in the east, Cushitic languages in the south, Amazigh languages in the west, Hausa in the southwest, Egyptian languages in the center) which makes logical sense, whereas an Arabian or Syrian origin doesn't, or there would be more eastern and northern Afro-Asiatic language families if that were the case.

The Semitic historical documents (such as they are, clay tablets and the like) even say this, that Semitic people travelled out of Egypt into the Middle East. The Akkadians write how they migrated to Mesopotamia and learned civilization from the Sumerians. The expansion is probably related to the Green Sahara period about 10,000 years ago where the Sahara desert became a grassland and people confined to the Nile Valley would have struck out for new lands.

 

[cinina]

@James Dahl Aren't you the guy who made abtirsi.com?

 

[James Dahl]

@James Dahl Aren't you the guy who made abtirsi.com?

I am yeah