Re: Time-depth of Indo-European

--- David Steel <valrkirin2@...> wrote:

> ... R. Gray and Q. Atkinson using a method of cognate analysis
> generate a date of 8,700 bp for a split between the Hittite branch
> and all other branches of the Indo-European family. ...
> As I recall from Mallory's "In Search of the Indo-Europeans" there
> is a different linguistic consensus, that Proto-Indo-European
> fragmented later, perhaps between 6000 and 5000 bp. ...

The likeliest date the Nostratic splitting into PIE etc is when north
Europe and Central Asia became inhabitable as the Ice Age ended.
After then, we need enough time for PIE to evolve to as it was when
PIE split into the IE languages.