From: george knysh
Message: 47311
Date: 2007-02-07
>****GK: So these people are testing "the Kurgan
> > Here is a direct quote from the 2003 paper
> >
> > "Languages, like genes, provide vital clues about
> human history1,2.
> > The origin of the Indo-European language family is
> "the most
> > intensively studied, yet still most recalcitrant,
> problem of
> > historical linguistics"3. Numerous genetic studies
> of Indo-European
> > origins have also produced inconclusive
> results4,5,6. Here we
> > analyse linguistic data using computational
> methods derived
> > from evolutionary biology. We test two theories of
> Indo-
> > European origin: the `Kurgan expansion' and the
> `Anatolian
> > farming' hypotheses. The Kurgan theory centres on
> possible
> > archaeological evidence for an expansion into
> Europe and the
> > Near East by Kurgan horsemen beginning in the
> sixth millennium
> > BP7,8.