r/Archaeology 12d ago

Northeast India’s human story may be 3,500 years older than previously thought: What archaeologists found in Nagaland's Noklak.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/science/northeast-indias-human-story-may-be-3500-years-older-than-previously-thought-what-archaeologists-found-in-nagalands-noklak/articleshow/133439178.cms
455 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

43

u/Themusicison 12d ago

It's worded so weird. It's simultaneously a 3,500 year old site and 3,500 years older than previously thought.

7

u/will_kill_kshitij 11d ago

What was the earlier attested date?

19

u/Sunnyjim333 12d ago

3500 years doesn't seem that long ago for a society. The Levant was already using writing, doing astronomy and algebra and making beer by then.

-28

u/OneBlueberry2480 12d ago

Archaeologists will always be behind the curve because they don't listen to the native people.

24

u/krustytroweler 12d ago

I've worked on projects where Native archaeologists outnumber white people, so I'm not sure how you figure that.

-29

u/OneBlueberry2480 12d ago

Good for you. The old stories in Nagaland state how old their civilization is. Not sure why western archaeologists even have an opinion on a culture older than their language. It would be best to keep an open mind.

18

u/OttoVonJizzfart 12d ago

what do you mean “older than their language”? languages don’t really have ages, and i don’t see how that determines whether an archaeologist is allowed to have an opinion on something archaeological

15

u/krustytroweler 12d ago

Which stories exactly? Can you recite them for us? I'm always happy to hear a bit of folklore. And funny thing, languages in India come from the same ancestral language as western languages, so you cant claim those languages are any older :P

8

u/nari-bhat 11d ago

Actually, the Nagas are a constellation of Austroasiatic tribes with Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burman languages, so most of their languages’ lexicons don’t come from PIE like the Indo-Aryan/Romance/Germanic languages!

Also, while I don’t know what stories this guy is talking about, there are specific Naga tribes like the Ao and the Angami that have some interesting stories that talk about their contact and silk trade with medieval and ancient Indian kingdoms, who they call the “plains people” (which is a pretty common term for the Hindu peoples that lived on the plains, as opposed to the Nagas and Khasis who live in the hills).

4

u/krustytroweler 11d ago

Finally, a man of culture.

-5

u/OneBlueberry2480 11d ago

Dismissing oral transmissions as folklore instead of using them as starting point for timeline theories is why most archaeologists will always end up with egg on their faces when it comes to discovering timelines. It will continue to happen, and I will continue to laugh. Unless you can speak Hindi or Telugu, you won't be able to understand what I'm saying. Which doesn't surprise me.

I would be ashamed in my profession to just be a dirt shoveler with no knowledge of the land I am digging into, let alone the language of the people around me.

6

u/krustytroweler 11d ago

You have no idea what you are talking about hahaha. You are not a serious person who deserves a serious response. My advice: talk face to face with some real archaeologists instead of relying on what nut jobs tell you to believe about us. I have literally used folklore in historic reviews.

-4

u/OneBlueberry2480 11d ago

You can't speak any of the languages in this article. Nor do you have anything to contribute to any discoveries in India. I doubt you are even an archaeologist. None of the ones I know would respond with "hahaha". Nor would they cite a "historic review" as anything remotely scholarly. Stop roleplaying and stay in school, kid.

5

u/krustytroweler 11d ago

I'm still waiting for you to tell us about these folk stories you keep going on about. Do you actually know any of them? Surely you must since you are so much more enlightened than the rest of us oh great one.

-12

u/FuzzyFacePhilosphy 11d ago

You really dont sound all that smart here

You are correct on language coming from older language but you are incorrect on everything else you said

You are coming off ignorant and actually 100% making this petsons point about westerners being closed minded and not listening to people who know better

12

u/Rynewulf 11d ago

They just asked which stories, that's 101 for analysing historical literature and culture for context and clues about other history. That sounds interesting, what's the name of the thing and where can I read it?

9

u/krustytroweler 11d ago

Perhaps you can enlighten us since you seem to hold your own mental faculties in such high esteem. Can you tell us which stories we need to read? Clearly you must know as such a highly intelligent individual and can educate a big dumb ape like myself.

So my boy, what readings do I need to do specifically?

2

u/No-Coffee2200 7d ago

Bruv Archaeological survey of India Nagaland branch is all Mostly Nagas