Re: a discussion on OIT

From: koenraad_elst
Message: 58842
Date: 2008-05-25

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Andrew Jarrette" <anjarrette@...>
wrote:
>
> Do you believe that the PIE homeland was in India? In my view, what
> you have presented in this posting suggests that one might as well
> take India to be the homeland of PIE.<

Well, I don't "believe" anything in this matter. I've warned my OIT
friends time and again not to be so over-confident, for many pieces
of the puzzle are simply missing as of now. But once in a while I
come across data that seem to contradict the AIT, and I'd like to see
them treated with proper seriousness.


> Would this be supported by
> linguistic, archaeological, and especially genetic evidence?
>
>

I hope you understand that that is too big a question to answer in
one mail, but we'll get back to it. As for the genetic part, I
expect important breakthroughs from genetic findings, but as far as I
know, it's too early for major conclusions there, the science's
findings are not precise enough yet, esp. chronologically. Nothing
I've heard of so far is definitively incompatible with either the AIT
or the OIT. Remember that the group spreading IE may well have been
a fairly small minority both in its homeland and in its land of
settlement, so its genetic footprint need not be all that conspicuous.

Regards,

KE