User:Antidiskriminator/Drafts of articles/Proto-Albanians

The Proto-Albanians or Ur-Albanians[1] were misterious[2] Indo-European people[3] who spoke the proto-Albanian language.

Proto-Albanians were cattle breeders.[4]

Albanian historiography is focused on the research of Proto-Albanians.[5]

Territory edit

It is unknown when exactly proto-Albanians began to infiltrate into ancient Illyria, but it is possible that it happened between second millennium and the middle of the first millennium BC.[6]

Although there is no evidence of actual territory where exactly proto-Albanians lived during Middle Ages they certainly strongly intertwined with Slavs (Bulgarians and Serbs).[7]

Descendants edit

The relation of Proto-Albanians to modern ethnic Albanians has been subject of dispute. Modern ethnic Albanians claim they are lineal descendant of ancient Illyrians and Dacians. This claim is disputed by plausible arguments which say that Albanians are not ancient people because they emerged in period between 14th and 19th century from the mixture of different "ethnic strains".[8] On the other hand, substantial proportion of Slavs that settled Kosovo and adjacent regions also intermingled and interbreed with its previous inhabitants who might be descendants of "Illyrians", Dacians, Dardanians, Thracians or even Proto-Albanians. This makes impossible to draw distinctions between diverse modern ethnic groups on Kosovo and surrounding regions.[9]

References edit

  1. ^ Schwandner-Sievers & Fischer 2002, p. 76:Noel Malcolm: "... Ur- Albanians ..."
  2. ^ Historical contributions. Institut. 1993. p. 325. The path toward the ethnogenesis of Vlachs leads also through symbiosis of that misterious people of the Balkans with the Proto-Albanians, or Albanians and Greeks as the oldest ethnic elements on the subsequent historical territory of the ...
  3. ^ The Journal of Indo-European Studies. Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1985. p. 154. "possibly by other groups of Indo-Europeans who were moving from the east to the west" (judging by"Migrations of Tribes," p. 17, they were Macedonians, Thracians, Phrygians, Proto- Albanians,...).
  4. ^ Orel 2000, p. 267: "Proto-Albanians were cattle-breeders."
  5. ^ Winnifrith 2002, p. 178: "Albanian historians are not very interested in anything except proto-Albanians,..."
  6. ^ Birnbaum & Vryonis 1997, p. 64: "We are, of course, still unable to determine exactly the beginning of the proto-Albanian infiltration into ancient Illyria. The gradual movement into the boundaries of ancient Illyria may have begun as early as the second millennium B.C., and the last waves were in the middle of the first millennium B.C."
  7. ^ Bocchi & Ceruti 1997, p. 103: " Even if we have no evidence of the actual locations of the Albanian populations (or proto- Albanian, or late Illyrian) during the Middle Ages, there is no doubt that Albanians and Slavs (Serbians and Bulgarians) were strongly intertwined."
  8. ^ Bideleux & Jeffries 2007a, p. 513: " very plausible counter-claims that the modern Albanian ethnic group is not ancient but only emerged between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries and that it comprised fresh admixtures of diverse "ethnic strains" ... there can be little doubt that any 'proto-Albanians' who were displaced from Kosova by these large inflows of Slavic settlers would have mingled and interbreed extensively with the other inhabitants of the area to which they were dispersed (including Slavs, Vlachs, Dacians, and Thracians)". Therefore whoever they were, it is highly unlikely that people who supposedly "returned" to Kosova between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries were the "same" as the people who were displaced from Kosova by Slavic settlers ....
  9. ^ Bideleux & Jeffries 2007b, p. 513.

Sources edit