Würm Ice Age (110 000 – 10 000 BCE)

Würm Ice Age : Chronology

Würm Ice Age : Climate Record

Würm : map

Holocene : Climate Record

The Three Diffusion Models of the IE Languages Ursprache (proto-language) Urvolk (first people) Urheimat (homeland) Hypothesis I : Invasionist Hypothesis II : Farming Hypothesis III : Continuity

Archaeologic Cultures in Western Europe during the Holocene

Model I : Invasionist (Kossinna) Theoretician : Gustav Kossinna - 1911 Homeland : Northern Germany Date : 4000 BCE Expansion Mode : Military Conquest → Horse + Bronze Weapons + Wheel Indigeneous Population (AltEuropäische) = peasants + matriarcal (Mother Goddess) Proto-Indo-Europeans : Nomadic Warriors + patriarcal

Model I : Invasionist (Kossinna) - map

Model I : Invasionist (Gimbutas) Theoretician : Marija Gimbutas Homeland : Ukraine 1960 Date : 3000 BCE Expansion Mode : Military Conquest → Horse + Bronze Weapons Indigeneous Population (AltEuropäische) = peasants + matriarcal (Mother Goddess) Proto-Indo-Europeans : Nomadic Warriors + patriarcal

Model I : Invasionist (Gimbutas) - map

Objections Which proofs does the Invasionist Model requires ? An archaeologic culture stretching from the homeland to western Europe and India. No. Items attesting the use of horses in combat. No. Archeologic attestation of significant battles. No. A good reason to move from the homeland : why should they bother to go anywhere else ? No. « The need for conquest ». A highly hierarchized society allowing the constitution of a warrior caste. No.

What do we actually have ? A common lexical stock BUT Very few words are common to ALL the IE languages (around 10) Some words may have been borrowed from neighbouring languages (ex; the numbers) : inheritance vs. borrowing. Common grammatical features (verb and noun flexion, affixation) : very little chance of borrowing

Model II: Neolithic Dispersal Theory (Colin Renfrew) An archaeologic culture stretching from the homeland to western Europe and India : the spread of farming from the Fertile Crescent to North-Western Europe (-7000/-3000 BCE) Items attesting the use of horses in combat. No combat Archeologic attestation of significant battles. No battles A good reason to move from the homeland : the demographic rise occasioned by agriculture. A highly hierarchized society allowing the constitution of a warrior caste. No hierarchized society needed.

Model II: Neolithic Dispersal Theory : principles Hunter-Gatherers : 10km² = 1 people. One side = 3,3km. 30 people = 30 x 10 = 300km². One side = 17km Farming : 1km² = 10 people. 300km² = 3000 people Objections : Many PIE roots are connected with farming. Renfrew’s urvolk did not know farming originally No IE toponymy in the Near-East. No correlation between the alleged migrations and the languages phylogeny *aretrom (plough): aratrum, arazr, ardhr (VI), arklas (Lit), ralo (Pl) *gwrawon (millstone): yugam (Sk), breo (Br.), kvern (Is), zrunuvi (OS) *yugom (yoke): yugam (Sk), igo (OS), juk (Got), ieo (Br), yukan (Hit).

Model III: Palaeolithic Continuity Theory Theoretician : Mario Alinei 1990 Homeland : Refugees in Ice Age Europe (Spain, Balkans, Ukraine) Date : 20 000 BCE Expansion Mode : No expansion Objection : - Where do the substrata languages (Iberian, Basque, Etruscan, Minoan, etc.) come from ?

Summary I- Invasionist : 3000 BCE in Ukraine, military conquest of Europe and Asia (Kossinna – Gimbutas) II- Neolithic Dispersal Theory: 6000 BCE in the Near East, pacific spread of farmers (Renfrew) III- Palaeolithic Continuity Theory : 20 000 BCE in Europe, without migration.