IIndo-Eurasian Research List

Below are some tentative posting guidelines for the Indo-Eurasian_Research List (jointly moderated by Michael Witzel and Steve Farmer). Note at the end the short list of the types of topics we'd like to see discussed (in some orderly way) in the forum; other members will of course have their own ideas depending on their research interests.

Please remember to sign your name at the end of each post: the List does not allow anonymous postings.

This is a research group (open to the public) for specialists in Indology, Iranology, Central-Asian studies, and premodern comparative history. It is not a 'chat' group or anything-goes scholarly message board. Some of the researchers in the List at times use slow connections from scattered parts of the world, with the result that the purposes of the List (to attempt to resolve major issues in our fields of interest) will be defeated if the List is overwhelmed by large numbers of low-quality posts. Initially, as a trial, we'd like to ask members to monitor themselves so that no more than (say) roughly 15 posts total are made on the List in any 24-hour period -- covering ideally no more than one or (at a maximum) two major topics on any given day.

If you see the numbers of posts going over 15 on a hotly debated topic, simply hold off making your post until traffic slows down. Above all, don't pick this time to try to introduce a new thread. In good Roundtable fashion, discussion will be allowed to go on for as long as necessary, so the delay will only help and not hurt us in the long run.

2. All posts should involve major topics of wide scholarly interest.

Because of the limitation on the number of posts, all posts should deal with topics of major interest to the fields covered in the List. Generally, before the beginning of the week, the moderators will suggest possible topics for discussion for the next week. For a rough idea of what we have in mind by 'major' and 'wide interest', see the tentative list of topics that we offer at the end of this web page (the list is meant to be suggestive and not inclusive).

3. Rules are made to be broken: the need to lighten up.

The strong anarchical (or Voltairean) sides of the three moderators lead us to despise restrictions like those we have imposed in Rules #1 and #2, so we welcome occasional well thought-out, satirical, barbed off-topic posts whenever the time is ripe -- of the sort exemplified by Robert Zydenbos' post on Vimanas on 8 April 2005. (What is any List that touches on premodern India without a discussion of ancient Indian aircraft/spacecraft?) Given the absurdity of half of what passes for premodern scholarship on the Web and popular press, these posts have a serious purpose beyond that of comic relief. No more than (say) 1 or 2 posts maximum of this sort should ever appear on any given day. Maybe more should be allowed on nationalistic or religious holidays or in honor of the next Bush-Rice-Cheney invasion of the Near East (part of the ongoing attempts of the U.S. to reconstruct the Persian empire).

4. Advanced researchers get precedence, but eventually everyone at some point can get a word in.

Once again, because of the need to limit the number of posts and topics, in major discussions the moderators will give strong precedence initially to the posts of researchers who are doing advanced work in the areas of research currently being examined by the List. As discussions proceed, and the thread continues, the floor will be opened increasingly to questions and comments from other researchers or others watching the discussions.

5. Rudeness, ad hominem comments, and needless polemics are not allowed.

Since we encourage discussion on the List of controversial issues that deviate sharply from traditional views of history, feelings at times may get heated. Because of the nature of the List, great care must be made to focus exclusively on ideas and not on the persons putting forward those ideas. No posts will be allowed through that include rude remarks, ad hominem comments, or 'flames', no matter what their source. At worst, such posts will be simply rejected. At best, they will be returned to the senders asking them to remove all personal remarks before reposting.

Below are examples of the the kinds of unsettled issues that we would call 'major' and of 'wide interest' that we want to deal with on the List; some of them reflect the current research interests of the three Moderators. Obviously, other List members will have their own topics in mind, and we will periodically ask them to outline them on the List.

There is no need for us to deal with them in any order -- and we want to emphasize that we do not intend for this List to deal exclusively with topics in early antiquity in the Old World (we are starting there, but we plan to expand our chronological and geographic reach over time). In any event, the floor is open to discussion of any topics of interest in any period in premodern history -- so long as those topics reflect the most advanced data available.

Literate and non-literate urban civilizations in antiquity; early script issues in general.
Vedic and Avestan canonization processes.
Issues involving the synchronization of Indian with Near Eastern and Chinese chronologies.
The role played by the Persian empire, Aramaic, and light-weight writing materials in cross-cultural religious and philosophical transformations of the last half of the first millennium BCE.
Topics (ancient and medieval) involving trade routes, urbanization, and cultural transmission.
Archaeological and historical distortion, political and religious propaganda, and national and international media.
New excavations in SE Iran (and in general any new archaeological studies underway).
All matters of general concern involving historical linguistics in Eurasia, historical India, and Iran, etc.
Long-range connections between Eurasia (understood in the largest sense, including China and Japan), India, Iran, and Mediterranean cultures.
Any studies dealing with the links between exegetical or commentarial processes in developments in premodern philosophy, cosmology, or religion (for examples of what we mean by this, see http://www.safarmer.com/neuro-correlative.pdf.
Broad theoretical models in comparative religion, philosophy, and mythology.
Issues involving layering or stratification in ancient Indian and Iranian texts; also dating issues related to such processes.
Issues involving geographical constraints on ancient political and cultural developments.
Issues involving continuity and discontinuity in general in Indian, Iranian, and Eurasian culture.
The odd archaeological 'black hole' in Iranian, Central Asian, and Indian urbanization between the early 2nd millennium BCE and the mid 1st millennium BCE.
The role of Gandhara as a 'syncretic node' in the long-range transmission of cultural influences, in early scholastic traditions, etc.
The origins and development of early Buddhist traditions.
Studies of slow chanting and (later) high-fidelity mnemonics.
Comparative history of funerary practices.
Pan-Eurasian mass migrations of the 2nd - mid 1st millennia BCE: Will the 'Aryan Invasion Theory' ride again?
Topics of specialized interest to other researchers on the List.

M. Witzel and S.Farmer
Revised December 2005

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