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DISCIPLINES IN THE REC0N-STRUCTION OF PREHISTORY
nThe reconstruction of prehistory is presently pursued via two major disciplines, archaeology and comparative linguistics.
nAlthough there have been numerous attempts to generate interdisciplinary results from their merger, the impact on the great majority of professionals has been slight.
nHuman genetics has a way to go before it is really integrated into prehistory
nThere is, moreover, another tool, comparative ethnography, largely unexplored since the 1930s, that has considerable power to shed light on aspects of the past that are quite inaccessible to these other disciplines.
nThis presentation looks at the structure of thinking about prehistory today, the tools that comparative ethnography could  provide and gives an example of its potential contribution.