This group is mainly intended for premodern specialists. All can join, but professionals get priority in posting: amateurish posts won't be sent on to the List. Posting guidelines at:

http://www.safarmer.com/Indo-Eurasian/rules.html

The List's outlook is secular, progressive, and global: we don't post notes that reflect nationalistic or fundamentalist views.

Areas covered include India, China, Iran, C. Asia, the Ancient N. East, SE Asia, Korea, Japan, and Europe. Discussion of other areas including Africa and Mesoamerica and cross-cultural studies are encouraged. Members include archaeologists, historians, linguists, anthropologists, art historians, specialists in premodern religion, comparativists, cultural neurobiologists, population geneticists, and researchers in many other fields. Core members are located in S. Asia, Iran, China, Russia, E. and W. Europe, Australia, Japan, and the US.

The List is run by M. Witzel, S. Farmer, L.M. Fosse, and B. Fleming, representing diverse areas in S. Asian studies, linguistics, comparative history/religion/mythology, and cultural neurobiology.

The List was specifically designed to encourage critical discussion of major unresolved issues in premodern studies. To that end, no posts are ever allowed that claim anything on 'authority' or that make ad hominem attacks on other posters. Posts may be edited to clarify meaning or improve formatting; no changes are ever made to any evidence.

Postings of pre-prints, queries, and announcements are welcome. On weekends discussion is encouraged of lighter issues (e.g., pseudo-archaeology) and global political issues of interest in our fields.

The List is loosely modeled on the Harvard Roundtables on the Ethnogenesis of S. and Central Asia, organized by M. Witzel. The 2005 Roundtable was held in Kyoto. The 2006 meeting was in Beijing, the 2007 meeting in Edinburgh, the 2008 meeting in the Netherlands, and the 2009 meeting again in Kyoto. The 2010 meeting was held at Harvard.