Idea of PIEan expansion - "business takeovers" on major scale

It's not impossible that Renfrew is right. However, for that ot be
so, the Indo-European languages would need to have remained
unchanging or barely changing for thousands of years. Even Basque
doesn't take that long to change - compare some of the inscriptions
from Early Roman-Era Iberia in languages related to Basque! Also,
attributing the spread of agriculture to the Proto-Indo-Europeans
seems like an attempt to glorify them.

On the other hand, Gimbutas makes the PIEan culture into a savage
one that introduced war into a part of the word that didn't know a
thing of it, and forced a father-worshiping culture on mother-
reverers. That idea of "Old Europe" is far too utopian. No, there
were surely wars; name one culture that hasn't ever fought a war. As
for the Indo-Europeans, it seems quite likely, from reconstructed
words about reciprocity and equivalent exchange, that there was much
trading between their culture and the Old European cultures of
goods, and as is known, where goods are transfered, so are words and
some customs.

Is it possible that the Indo-Europeans were in fact merely
aggressive businessmen? That the expansions Mrs. Gimbutas speaks of
are major eras of trade with the cultures of Old Europe? The Indo-
Europeans might well have set up trading posts in urban centres of
Old Europe, or as close to those as existed. Whether or not there
were subsequent military incursions is up for grabs, but is it
possible that the Indo-Europeans trusted these trading partners
enough to take some of their women as wives? This would allow the
mixture of cultures that is seen in every branch of Indo-European,
but since this was taking the woman in, the children would be
brought up in the Proto-Indo-European tradition, while being told
Old European stories by their mothers.

Since the archaeological record rarely shows a SUDDEN change from
one culture to another, the idea of trading with and gradual
absorption of cultures by the Proto-Indo-Europeans seems to work. If
there are archaeological clues pointing to war and such, this might
still be Proto-Indo-European in origin - BUT IT COULD EQUALLY BE A
NON-PIEan INVASION.