Any model of IE expansion has to explain
how northern and central Europe became IE-speaking. The "steppe impulses"
of the classical Kurgan scenario appear questionable, while there is at present
good evidence of the spread of the Globular Amphora culture from
north-central into eastern Europe ca. 3000 BC, and an even earlier (4000-2900
BC) penetration of western Ukraine of by the southestern branch of the Funnel
Beaker culture. A consistent picture emerges if we observe that the Funnel
Beaker culture displays most of the material and sociopolitical
elements attributed to the "IE culture" as reconstructed on the basis
of linguistic palaeontology (including wheeled transport, farming, villages with
longhouses, palisaded fortifications, emergence of low-level hierarchical
societies, etc.). It is therefore tempting to attribute it to early
IE-speakers.
The Funnel Beaker culture collapsed (in
different ways in different regions ca. 3200-2900) because of an unfavourable
combination of climatic and anthropogenic changes, but some groups within its
area developed a new style of subsistence, depending more upon herding and
transhumance than sedentary farming. This way of life assured them some
considerable success in colonising the steppe (especially after domestic horses
became available). This process, perhaps combined with the
Indo-Europeanisation of indigenous communities, led to the formation of the
eastern block of Indo-European languages (the Satem languages, with the later
Proto-Balts/Slavs in the forest-steppe zone of Eastern Europe, the Indo-Iranians
in the steppes, and minor Satem groups roughly along the Black Sea coast). The
Proto-Tocharians and the Proto-Greeks were presumably the first groups to
move east, perhaps during the the Funnel Beaker times if not earlier (see
below), the Greeks spending some time in the vicinity of the Tripolye
culture and staying close enough to the Indo-Iranians,
Proto-Armenians and Proto-Albanians for a vaguely defined Sprachbund to
emerge.
My further claim is that, since the
Funnel Beaker culture emerged within the northwestern part of the central
European Linear Pottery area, there was continuity, at least in terms of
linguistic descent, between Linear Pottery and Funnel Beaker communities.
Depending on how early the Proto-Greeks and the Proto-Tocharians separated, it
is either the Funnel Beaker culture or the central European Linear Pottery
culture that can be correlated with the most recent common ancestor of the
extant non-Anatolian IE languages.
Linear Pottery farmers colonised the
loess belt of the North European Plain moved towards the Black Sea along
the Dniester Valley during the period 5500-4500, after migrating rather rapidly
from the Middle Danube Valley (later regional variants derived
from the Linear Pottery culture expanded via similar routes, though much
less widely). Note the chronological coincidence with the Black Sea event,
perhaps not entirely accidental; note also that this is the only part of the
scenario where I agree with Renfrew and rely on a Neolithic wave of advance
model to explain the thorough initial IEisation of north-central Europe.
Accordingly, it is in the Middle Danubian region that the "ultimate" PIE
homeland can be located, assuming that the (very distant) ancestors
of Anatolian-speakers were the IEs who stayed behind. What happened to them
later is a whole nother question.
That's it in a nutshell. Comments
welcome.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2001 4:47 PM
Subject: [tied] Danubian homeland?
Dear Piotr,
Clearly the Danube valley is very
significant in IndoEuropean history in any
case. I am very interested to
hear about why you favor it as the
homeland.
Thanks,
Mark