# Kurgan hypothesis

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Theory of Indo-European origin

 Scheme of [Indo-European language](/source/Indo-European_language) dispersals from c. 4000 to 1000 BC according to the Kurgan hypothesis. **Center**: [Steppe](/source/Eurasian_Steppe) cultures
  **1**: [Anatolian languages](/source/Anatolian_languages) (archaic [PIE](/source/Proto-Indo-European_language))

  **2**: [Afanasievo culture](/source/Afanasievo_culture) (early PIE)

  **3**: [Yamnaya culture](/source/Yamnaya_culture) expansion ([Pontic-Caspian steppe](/source/Pontic-Caspian_steppe), [Danube Valley](/source/Danube_Valley)) (late PIE)

  **4A**: Western [Corded Ware](/source/Corded_Ware_culture)

  **4B**: [Bell Beaker culture](/source/Bell_Beaker_culture) (adopted by Indo-European speakers)

  **4C**: Bell Beaker

  **5A-B**: Eastern Corded ware; **5C**: [Sintashta culture](/source/Sintashta_culture) ([proto-Indo-Iranian](/source/Proto-Indo-Iranian))

  **6**: [Andronovo](/source/Andronovo_culture)

  **7**: [Indo-Aryans](/source/Indo-Aryans) (**A**: [Mittani](/source/Mittani); **B**: [India](/source/Linguistic_history_of_India))

  **8**: [Greek](/source/Hellenic_languages)

  **9**: [Iranian](/source/Iranian_languages)

  [Proto-Balto-Slavic](/source/Proto-Balto-Slavic)
  **Not shown**: [Armenian](/source/Armenian_language), expanding from western steppe

Part of a series on Indo-European topics Languages List of Indo-European languages Extant Albanoid Albanian Armenian Balto-Slavic Baltic Slavic Celtic Germanic Hellenic Greek Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Nuristani Italic Romance Extinct Anatolian Tocharian Paleo-Balkan Dacian Illyrian Liburnian Messapic Mysian Paeonian Phrygian Thracian Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language Phonology: Sound laws, Accent, Ablaut Hypothetical Balkanic Daco-Thracian Graeco-Albanian Graeco-Armenian Graeco-Aryan Graeco-Phrygian Indo-Hittite Italo-Celtic Thraco-Illyrian Grammar Vocabulary Root Verbs Nouns Pronouns Numerals Particles Other Proto-Albanian Proto-Anatolian Proto-Armenian Proto-Germanic (Proto-Norse) Proto-Italo-Celtic (Proto-Celtic · Proto-Italic) Proto-Greek Proto-Balto-Slavic (Proto-Slavic · Proto-Baltic) Proto-Indo-Iranian (Proto-Indo-Aryan, Proto-Iranian, Proto-Nuristani) Philology Anitta text Hittite inscriptions Hieroglyphic Luwian Linear B Rigveda Avesta Homer Behistun Greek epigraphy Phrygian epigraphy Messapic epigraphy Latin epigraphy Gaulish epigraphy Runic epigraphy Ogham Gothic Bible Bible translations into Armenian Tocharian script Old Irish glosses Albanian Kanun Origins Homeland Proto-Indo-Europeans Society Religion Mainstream Kurgan hypothesis Indo-European migrations Eurasian nomads Alternative and fringe Anatolian hypothesis Armenian hypothesis Beech argument Indigenous Aryanism Baltic homeland Paleolithic continuity theory Archaeology Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Pontic Steppe Domestication of the horse Kurgan Kurgan stelae Kurgan culture Steppe cultures Bug–Dniester Sredny Stog Dnieper–Donets Samara Khvalynsk Yamnaya Mikhailovka culture Novotitarovskaya culture Caucasus Maykop East Asia Afanasievo Eastern Europe Usatove Cernavodă Cucuteni Northern Europe Corded ware Baden Middle Dnieper Bronze Age Pontic Steppe Chariot Yamnaya Catacomb Multi-cordoned ware Poltavka Srubnaya Northern/Eastern Steppe Abashevo culture Andronovo Sintashta Europe Globular Amphora Corded ware Bell Beaker Únětice Trzciniec Nordic Bronze Age Terramare Tumulus Urnfield Proto-Villanovan Lusatian Este South Asia Bishkent Vakhsh BMAC Ochre Coloured Pottery Copper Hoard Cemetery H Gandhara grave Iron Age Steppe Chernoles Europe Thraco-Cimmerian Hallstatt Latial Jastorf Caucasus Colchian Central Asia Yaz India Painted Grey Ware Northern Black Polished Ware Peoples and societies Bronze Age Anatolian peoples (Hittites) Armenians Mycenaean Greeks Indo-Iranians Iron Age Indo-Aryans Indo-Aryans Iranians Iranians Nuristanis Nuristanis East Asia Wusun Yuezhi Europe Celts Gauls Celtiberians Insular Celts Cimmerians Hellenic peoples Italic peoples Germanic peoples Paleo-Balkan/Anatolia Thracians Dacians Illyrians Paeonians Phrygians Scythians Middle Ages East Asia Tocharians Europe Albanians Balts Slavs Norsemen/Medieval Scandinavians Middle Ages Indo-Aryan Medieval India Iranian Greater Iran Religion and mythology Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European mythology Proto-Indo-Iranian religion Historical Vedic religion Ancient Iranian religion Historical Hittite Indo-Aryan Vedic Hinduism Buddhism Jainism Sikhism Iranian Persian Zoroastrianism Kurdish Yazidism Yarsanism Scythian Ossetian Others Armenian European Paleo-Balkan (Albanian · Illyrian · Thracian · Dacian) Greek Roman Celtic Irish Scottish Breton Welsh Cornish Germanic Anglo-Saxon Continental Norse Baltic Latvian Lithuanian Slavic Practices Fire rituals Horse sacrifice Sati Winter solstice/Yule Indo-European studies Scholars Marija Gimbutas J. P. Mallory Institutes Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European Publications Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture The Horse, the Wheel, and Language Journal of Indo-European Studies Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Category v t e

The **Kurgan hypothesis** (also known as the **Kurgan theory**, **Kurgan model**, or **steppe theory**) is the most widely accepted proposal to identify the [Proto-Indo-European homeland](/source/Proto-Indo-European_homeland) from which the [Indo-European languages](/source/Indo-European_languages) spread out [throughout Europe](/source/Indo-European_migrations) and [parts of Asia](/source/Indo-Iranians#Expansion).[1][2] It postulates that the people of a [Kurgan](/source/Kurgan) culture in the [Pontic steppe](/source/Pontic_steppe) north of the [Black Sea](/source/Black_Sea) were the most likely speakers of the [Proto-Indo-European language](/source/Proto-Indo-European_language) (PIE). The term is derived from the [Turkic](/source/Turkic_languages) word *[kurgan](/source/Kurgan)* (курга́н), meaning [tumulus](/source/Tumulus) or burial mound.

The steppe theory was first formulated by [Otto Schrader](/source/Otto_Schrader_(philologist)) (1883) and [V. Gordon Childe](/source/V._Gordon_Childe) (1926),[3][4] then systematized in the 1950s by [Marija Gimbutas](/source/Marija_Gimbutas), who used the term to group various prehistoric cultures, including the [Yamnaya](/source/Yamnaya) (or Pit Grave) culture and its predecessors. In the 2000s, [David Anthony](/source/David_W._Anthony) instead used the core Yamnaya culture and its relationship with other cultures as a point of reference.

Gimbutas defined the Kurgan culture as composed of four successive periods, with the earliest (Kurgan I) including the [Samara](/source/Samara_culture) and [Seroglazovka](/source/Seroglazovka_culture) cultures of the [Dnieper](/source/Dnieper)–[Volga](/source/Volga) region in the [Copper Age](/source/Copper_Age) (early 4th millennium BC). The people of these cultures were [nomadic pastoralists](/source/Eurasian_nomads), who, according to the model, by the early 3rd millennium BC had expanded throughout the [Pontic–Caspian steppe](/source/Pontic%E2%80%93Caspian_steppe) and into [Eastern Europe](/source/Eastern_Europe).[5]

Genetics studies in the 21st century have demonstrated that populations bearing specific [Y-DNA haplogroups](/source/Human_Y-chromosome_DNA_haplogroup) and a [distinct genetic signature](/source/Western_Steppe_Herders) expanded into Europe and South Asia from the Pontic-Caspian steppe during the third and second millennia BC. These migrations provide a plausible explanation for the spread of at least some of the Indo-European languages, and suggest that the alternative theories such as the [Anatolian hypothesis](/source/Anatolian_hypothesis), which places the Proto-Indo-European homeland in [Neolithic](/source/Neolithic) [Anatolia](/source/Anatolia), are less likely to be correct.[6][7][8][9][10]

## History

### Predecessors

Arguments for the identification of the Proto-Indo-Europeans as steppe nomads from the Pontic–Caspian region had already been made in the 19th century by the German scholars [Theodor Benfey](/source/Theodor_Benfey) (1869) and [Victor Hehn](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Victor_Hehn&action=edit&redlink=1) [[de](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hehn)] (1870), followed notably by [Otto Schrader](/source/Otto_Schrader_(philologist)) (1883, 1890).[4][11] [Theodor Poesche](/source/Theodor_Poesche) had proposed the nearby [Pinsk Marshes](/source/Pripet_Marshes). In his standard work[12] about PIE and to a greater extent in a later abbreviated version,[13] [Karl Brugmann](/source/Karl_Brugmann) took the view that the [linguistic homeland](/source/Linguistic_homeland) could not be identified exactly by the scholarship of his time, but he tended toward Schrader's view. However, after [Karl Penka](/source/Karl_Penka)'s 1883[14] rejection of non-European PIE origins, most scholars favoured a [Northern European origin](/source/North_European_hypothesis).

The view of a Pontic origin was still strongly supported, including by the archaeologists [V. Gordon Childe](/source/V._Gordon_Childe)[15] and [Ernst Wahle](/source/Ernst_Wahle).[16] One of Wahle's students was [Jonas Puzinas](/source/Jonas_Puzinas), who became one of Marija Gimbutas's teachers. Gimbutas, who acknowledged Schrader as a precursor,[17] painstakingly marshalled a wealth of archaeological evidence from the territory of the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union) and the [Eastern Bloc](/source/Eastern_Bloc) that was not readily available to Western scholars,[18] revealing a fuller picture of prehistoric Europe.

### Overview

When it was first proposed in 1956, in *The Prehistory of Eastern Europe, Part 1*, Gimbutas's contribution to the search for Indo-European origins was an [interdisciplinary](/source/Interdisciplinary) synthesis of archaeology and linguistics. The Kurgan model of Indo-European origins identifies the Pontic–Caspian steppe as the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) homeland, and a variety of late PIE dialects are assumed to have been spoken across this region. According to this model, the Kurgan culture gradually expanded to the entire Pontic–Caspian steppe, Kurgan IV being identified with the [Yamnaya](/source/Yamnaya) culture of around 3000 BC.[19]

The mobility of the Kurgan culture facilitated its expansion over the entire region and is attributed to the [domestication of the horse](/source/Domestication_of_the_horse) followed by the use of early [chariots](/source/Chariots).[20] The first strong archaeological evidence for the domestication of the horse comes from the [Sredny Stog culture](/source/Sredny_Stog_culture) north of the [Azov Sea](/source/Azov_Sea) in [Ukraine](/source/Ukraine), and would correspond to an early PIE or pre-PIE nucleus of the 5th millennium BC.[20] Subsequent expansion beyond the steppes led to hybrid, or in Gimbutas's terms "kurganized" cultures, such as the [Globular Amphora culture](/source/Globular_Amphora_culture) to the west. From these kurganized cultures came the immigration of [Proto-Greeks](/source/Proto-Greeks) to the [Balkans](/source/Balkans) and the nomadic [Indo-Iranian](/source/Indo-Iranians) cultures to the east around 2500 BC.

## Kurgan culture

### Cultural horizon

Gimbutas defined and introduced the term "**Kurgan culture**" in 1956 with the intention of introducing a "broader term" that would combine [Sredny Stog II](/source/Sredny_Stog_culture), [Pit Grave](/source/Pit_Grave) (Yamnaya), and [Corded ware](/source/Corded_ware) horizons (spanning the 4th to 3rd millennia in much of Eastern and Northern Europe).[21] The Kurgan [archaeological culture](/source/Archaeological_culture) or cultural horizon comprises the various cultures of the Pontic–Caspian steppe in the Copper Age to Early Bronze Age (5th to 3rd millennia BC), identified by similar artifacts and structures, but subject to inevitable imprecision and uncertainty. The eponymous [kurgans](/source/Kurgan) (mound graves) are only one among several common features.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

Cultures that Gimbutas considered as part of the "Kurgan culture":

- [Bug–Dniester](/source/Bug%E2%80%93Dniester_culture) (6th millennium)

- [Samara](/source/Samara_culture) (5th millennium)

- [Khvalynsk](/source/Khvalynsk_culture) (5th millennium)

- [Dnieper–Donets](/source/Dnieper%E2%80%93Donets_culture) (5th to 4th millennia)

- [Sredny Stog](/source/Sredny_Stog_culture) (mid-5th to mid-4th millennia)

- [Maykop](/source/Maykop_culture)–[Deriivka](/source/Deriivka) (mid-4th to mid-3rd millennia)

- [Yamnaya (Pit Grave)](/source/Yamnaya_culture): This is itself a varied cultural horizon, spanning the entire Pontic–Caspian steppe from the mid-4th to the 3rd millennium.

- [Usatove](/source/Usatove_culture) (late 4th millennium)

### Stages of culture and expansion

Overview of the Kurgan hypothesis

Gimbutas's original suggestion identifies four successive stages of the Kurgan culture:[19]

- **Kurgan I**, [Dnieper](/source/Dnieper)/[Volga](/source/Volga) region, earlier half of the 4th millennium BC. Apparently evolving from cultures of the Volga basin, subgroups include the [Samara](/source/Samara_culture) and [Seroglazovo](/source/Seroglazovo_culture) cultures.

- **Kurgan II–III**, latter half of the 4th millennium BC. [Stone circles](/source/Stone_circle), [anthropomorphic](/source/Anthropomorphic) stone stelae of deities. Includes the [Sredny Stog culture](/source/Sredny_Stog_culture) and the [Maykop culture](/source/Maykop_culture) of the northern [Caucasus](/source/Caucasus).

- **Kurgan IV** or [Pit Grave](/source/Pit_Grave) (Yamnaya) culture, first half of the 3rd millennium BC, encompassing the entire steppe region from the [Ural](/source/Ural_River) to [Romania](/source/Romania).

In other publications[22] she proposes three successive "waves" of expansion:

- **Wave 1**, predating Kurgan I, expansion from the lower Volga to the Dnieper, leading to coexistence of Kurgan I and the [Cucuteni–Trypillia culture](/source/Cucuteni%E2%80%93Trypillia_culture). Repercussions of the migrations extend as far as the [Balkans](/source/Balkans) and along the [Danube](/source/Danube) to the [Vinča](/source/Vinca_culture) culture in [Serbia](/source/Serbia) and [Lengyel culture](/source/Lengyel_culture) in [Hungary](/source/Hungary).

- **Wave 2**, mid 4th millennium BC, originating in the [Maykop culture](/source/Maykop_culture) and resulting in advances of **"kurganized"** hybrid cultures into northern Europe around 3000 BC ([Globular Amphora culture](/source/Globular_Amphora_culture), [Baden culture](/source/Baden_culture), and ultimately [Corded Ware culture](/source/Corded_Ware_culture)). According to Gimbutas this corresponds to the first intrusion of Indo-European languages into western and northern Europe.

- **Wave 3**, 3000–2800 BC, expansion of the Pit Grave culture beyond the steppes, with the appearance of the characteristic pit graves as far as modern Romania, Bulgaria, eastern Hungary and Georgia, coincident with the end of the [Cucuteni–Trypillia culture](/source/Cucuteni%E2%80%93Trypillia_culture) and [Trialeti culture](/source/Trialeti_culture) in Georgia (c. 2750 BC).

### Timeline

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- 4500–4000: **Early PIE**. Sredny Stog, Dnieper–Donets and [Samara](/source/Samara_culture) cultures, [domestication of the horse](/source/Domestication_of_the_horse) (**Wave 1**).

- 4000–3500: The Pit Grave culture (a.k.a. Yamnaya culture), the prototypical [kurgan](/source/Kurgan) builders, emerges in the steppe, and the [Maykop culture](/source/Maykop_culture) in the northern [Caucasus](/source/Caucasus). [Indo-Hittite](/source/Indo-Hittite) models postulate the separation of [Proto-Anatolian](/source/Proto-Anatolian_language) before this time.

- 3500–3000: **Middle PIE**. The Pit Grave culture is at its peak, representing the classical reconstructed [Proto-Indo-European society](/source/Proto-Indo-European_society) with [stone idols](/source/Ukrainian_stone_stela), predominantly practicing [animal husbandry](/source/Animal_husbandry) in permanent settlements protected by [hillforts](/source/Hillfort), subsisting on agriculture, and fishing along rivers. Contact of the Pit Grave culture with late [Neolithic Europe](/source/Neolithic_Europe) cultures results in the "kurganized" [Globular Amphora](/source/Globular_Amphora_culture) and [Baden](/source/Baden_culture) cultures (**Wave 2**). The Maykop culture shows the earliest evidence of the beginning [Bronze Age](/source/Bronze_Age), and Bronze weapons and artifacts are introduced to Pit Grave territory. Probable early [Satemization](/source/Satemization).

- 3000–2500: **Late PIE**. The Pit Grave culture extends over the entire Pontic steppe (**Wave 3**). The [Corded Ware culture](/source/Corded_Ware_culture) extends from the [Rhine](/source/Rhine) to the [Volga](/source/Volga), corresponding to the latest phase of Indo-European unity, the vast "kurganized" area disintegrating into various independent languages and cultures, still in loose contact enabling the spread of technology and early loans between the groups, except for the Anatolian and Tocharian branches, which are already isolated from these processes. The [centum–satem](/source/Centum_and_satem_languages) break is probably complete, but the phonetic trends of Satemization remain active.

### Further expansion during the Bronze Age

Main article: [Indo-European migrations](/source/Indo-European_migrations)

The Kurgan hypothesis describes the initial spread of Proto-Indo-European during the 5th and 4th millennia BC.[23] As used by Gimbutas, the term "kurganized" implied that the culture could have been spread by no more than small bands who [imposed themselves](/source/Stratum_(linguistics)) on local people as an elite. This idea of PIE and its [daughter languages](/source/Language_family) diffusing east and west without mass movement proved popular with archaeologists in the 1970s (the *pots-not-people* paradigm).[24] The question of further Indo-Europeanization of Central and Western Europe, Central Asia and Northern India during the [Bronze Age](/source/Bronze_Age) is beyond the scope of the Kurgan hypothesis, and far more uncertain than the events of the Copper Age, and subject to some controversy. The rapidly developing fields of [archaeogenetics](/source/Archaeogenetics) and [genetic genealogy](/source/Genetic_genealogy) since the late 1990s have not only confirmed a migratory pattern out of the Pontic Steppe at the relevant time[6][7][8][25] but also suggest the possibility that the population movement involved was more substantial than earlier anticipated[6] and invasive.[25][26]

## Revisions

### Invasion versus diffusion scenarios (1980s onward)

Gimbutas believed that the expansions of the Kurgan culture were a series of essentially-hostile military incursions in which a new warrior culture imposed itself on the peaceful, [matrilinear](/source/Matrilineality), and matrifocal (but not [matriarchal](/source/Matriarchy)) cultures of "[Old Europe](/source/Old_European_culture)" and replaced it with a [patriarchal](/source/Patriarchy) [warrior](/source/Warrior) society,[27] a process visible in the appearance of fortified settlements and hillforts and the graves of warrior-chieftains:

The process of Indo-Europeanization was a cultural, not a physical, transformation. It must be understood as a military victory in terms of successfully imposing a new administrative system, language, and religion upon the indigenous groups.[28]

In her later life, Gimbutas increasingly emphasized the authoritarian nature of this transition from the egalitarian society centered on the nature/earth [mother goddess](/source/Mother_goddess) ([Gaia](/source/Gaia)) to a patriarchy worshipping the father/sun/weather god ([Zeus](/source/Zeus), [Dyaus](/source/Dyaus)).[29]

[J. P. Mallory](/source/J._P._Mallory) (in 1989) accepted the Kurgan hypothesis as the *de facto* standard theory of Indo-European origins, but he distinguished it from an implied "radical" scenario of military invasion. Gimbutas' actual main scenario involved slow accumulation of influence through coercion or extortion, as distinguished from general raiding shortly followed by conquest:

One might at first imagine that the economy of argument involved with the Kurgan solution should oblige us to accept it outright. But critics do exist and their objections can be summarized quite simply: Almost all of the arguments for invasion and cultural transformations are far better explained without reference to Kurgan expansions, and most of the evidence so far presented is either totally contradicted by other evidence, or is the result of gross misinterpretation of the cultural history of Eastern, Central, and Northern Europe.[30]

### Alignment with Anatolian hypothesis (2000s)

Main article: [Anatolian hypothesis](/source/Anatolian_hypothesis)

In the 2000s, Alberto Piazza and [Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza](/source/Luigi_Luca_Cavalli-Sforza) tried to align the Anatolian hypothesis with the steppe theory. According to Piazza, "[i]t is clear that, genetically speaking, peoples of the Kurgan steppe descended at least in part from people of the Middle Eastern Neolithic who immigrated there from [Anatolia](/source/Prehistory_of_Anatolia)."[31] According to Piazza and Cavalli-Sforza (2006), the Yamna-culture may have been derived from Middle Eastern Neolithic farmers who migrated to the Pontic steppe and developed pastoral nomadism.[32] Wells agrees with Cavalli-Sforza that there is "*some* genetic evidence for migration from the Middle East."[33] Nevertheless, the Anatolian hypothesis is generally considered incompatible with the linguistic evidence.[34]

### Anthony's revised steppe theory (2007)

[David Anthony](/source/David_W._Anthony)'s *[The Horse, the Wheel and Language](/source/The_Horse%2C_the_Wheel_and_Language)* describes his "revised steppe theory". He considers the term "Kurgan culture" so imprecise as to be useless, and instead uses the core [Yamnaya culture](/source/Yamnaya_culture) and its relationship with other cultures as points of reference.[35] He points out:

The Kurgan culture was so broadly defined that almost any culture with burial mounds, or even (like the Baden culture) without them could be included.[35]

He does not include the [Maykop culture](/source/Maykop_culture) among those that he considers to be Indo-European-speaking and presumes instead that they spoke a [Caucasian language](/source/Languages_of_the_Caucasus).[36]

## See also

- [Hamangia culture](/source/Hamangia_culture)

- [Varna culture](/source/Varna_culture)

- [Animal sacrifice](/source/Animal_sacrifice)

- [Ashvamedha](/source/Ashvamedha)

- [Shaft tomb](/source/Shaft_tomb)

- [Revised Kurgan theory](/source/Revised_Kurgan_theory)

- [Germanic substrate hypothesis](/source/Germanic_substrate_hypothesis)

**Genetics**

- [Archaeogenetics of Europe](/source/Archaeogenetics_of_Europe)

- [Haplogroup R1a](/source/Haplogroup_R1a)

- [Lactase persistence](/source/Lactase_persistence)

**Competing hypotheses**

- [Proto-Indo-European Urheimat hypotheses](/source/Proto-Indo-European_Urheimat_hypotheses) - [Armenian hypothesis](/source/Armenian_hypothesis) - [Anatolian hypothesis](/source/Anatolian_hypothesis) - [Out of India theory](/source/Out_of_India_theory) - [Paleolithic continuity theory](/source/Paleolithic_continuity_theory)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMallory1989p._185,_"The_Kurgan_solution_is_attractive_and_has_been_accepted_by_many_archaeologists_and_linguists,_in_part_or_total._It_is_the_solution_one_encounters_in_the_''Encyclopædia_Britannica''_and_the_''Grand_Dictionnaire_Encyclopédique_Larousse''."_1-0)** [Mallory 1989](#CITEREFMallory1989), p. 185, "The Kurgan solution is attractive and has been accepted by many archaeologists and linguists, in part or total. It is the solution one encounters in the *Encyclopædia Britannica* and the *Grand Dictionnaire Encyclopédique Larousse*.".

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEStrazny2000163_2-0)** [Strazny 2000](#CITEREFStrazny2000), p. 163. "The single most popular proposal is the Pontic steppes (see the Kurgan hypothesis)..."

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Renfrew, Colin (1990). *Archaeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins*. CUP Archive. pp. 37–38. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-521-38675-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-38675-3).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_4-1) Jones-Bley, Karlene (2008). "Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Indo-European Conference, Los Angeles, November 3–4, 2006". *Historiographia Linguistica*. **35** (3): 465–467. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1075/hl.35.3.15koe](https://doi.org/10.1075%2Fhl.35.3.15koe). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0302-5160](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0302-5160).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGimbutas1985190_5-0)** [Gimbutas 1985](#CITEREFGimbutas1985), p. 190.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHaak_et_al.2015_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHaak_et_al.2015_6-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHaak_et_al.2015_6-2) [Haak et al. 2015](#CITEREFHaak_et_al.2015).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-nature.com_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-nature.com_7-1) Allentoft; et al. (2015). ["Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia"](https://depot.ceon.pl/handle/123456789/13155). *Nature*. **522** (7555): 167–172. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2015Natur.522..167A](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015Natur.522..167A). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1038/nature14507](https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnature14507). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [26062507](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26062507). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [4399103](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:4399103).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ReferenceA_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ReferenceA_8-1) Mathieson, Iain; Lazaridis, Iosif; Rohland, Nadin; Mallick, Swapan; Patterson, Nick; Roodenberg, Songül Alpaslan; Harney, Eadaoin; Stewardson, Kristin; Fernandes, Daniel; Novak, Mario; Sirak, Kendra (2015). ["Genome-wide patterns of selection in 230 ancient Eurasians"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4918750). *Nature*. **528** (7583): 499–503. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2015Natur.528..499M](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015Natur.528..499M). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1038/nature16152](https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnature16152). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1476-4687](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1476-4687). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [4918750](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4918750). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [26595274](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26595274).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Narasimhan, Vagheesh M.; Patterson, Nick; Moorjani, Priya; Rohland, Nadin; Bernardos, Rebecca; Mallick, Swapan; Lazaridis, Iosif; Nakatsuka, Nathan; Olalde, Iñigo; Lipson, Mark; Kim, Alexander M. (2019). ["The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6822619). *Science*. **365** (6457) eaat7487. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2019Sci...365t7487N](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019Sci...365t7487N). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1126/science.aat7487](https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.aat7487). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0036-8075](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0036-8075). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [6822619](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6822619). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [31488661](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31488661).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Shinde, Vasant; Narasimhan, Vagheesh M.; Rohland, Nadin; Mallick, Swapan; Mah, Matthew; Lipson, Mark; Nakatsuka, Nathan; Adamski, Nicole; Broomandkhoshbacht, Nasreen; Ferry, Matthew; Lawson, Ann Marie (2019-10-17). ["An Ancient Harappan Genome Lacks Ancestry from Steppe Pastoralists or Iranian Farmers"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6800651). *Cell*. **179** (3): 729–735.e10. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1016/j.cell.2019.08.048](https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.cell.2019.08.048). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0092-8674](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0092-8674). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [6800651](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6800651). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [31495572](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31495572).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Grünthal, Riho; Kallio, Petri (2012). *A Linguistic Map of Prehistoric Northern Europe*. Société Finno-Ougrienne. p. 122. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-952-5667-42-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-952-5667-42-4).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Karl Brugmann, *Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen*, vol. 1.1, Strassburg 1886, p. 2.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Karl Brugmann, *Kurze vergleichende Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen*, vol. 1, Strassburg 1902, pp. 22–23.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Karl Penka, *Origines Ariacae: Linguistisch-ethnologische Untersuchungen zur ältesten Geschichte der arischen Völker und Sprachen* (Vienna: Taschen, 1883), 68.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Vere Gordon Childe, *The Aryans: A Study of Indo-European Origins* (London: Kegan Paul, 1926).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Ernst Wahle (1932). *Deutsche Vorzeit*, Leipzig 1932.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** Gimbutas, Marija (1963). [*The Balts*](https://web.archive.org/web/20131030062207/http://www.vaidilute.com/books/gimbutas/gimbutas-02.html). London: Thames & Hudson. p. 38. Archived from [the original](http://www.vaidilute.com/books/gimbutas/gimbutas-02.html) on 2013-10-30.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEAnthony2007[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidnLIufwC4szwCpgPA18_18,_495]_18-0)** [Anthony 2007](#CITEREFAnthony2007), pp. [18, 495](https://books.google.com/books?id=nLIufwC4szwC&pg=PA18).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGimbutas1956_19-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGimbutas1956_19-1) [Gimbutas 1956](#CITEREFGimbutas1956).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-blenchspriggsIII181_20-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-blenchspriggsIII181_20-1) Parpola in [Blench & Spriggs 1999](#CITEREFBlenchSpriggs1999), p. 181. "The history of the Indo-European words for 'horse' shows that the Proto-Indo-European speakers had long lived in an area where the horse was native and / or domesticated.([Mallory 1989](#CITEREFMallory1989), pp. 161–163). The first strong archaeological evidence for the domestication of the horse comes from the Ukrainian Srednij Stog culture, which flourished *c.* 4200–3500 BC and is likely to represent an early phase of the Proto-Indo-European culture ([Anthony 1986](#CITEREFAnthony1986), pp. 295f.; [Mallory 1989](#CITEREFMallory1989), pp. 162, 197–210). During the [Pit Grave](/source/Pit_Grave) culture (*c.* 3500–2800 BCE), which continued the cultures related to Srednij Stog and probably represents the late phase of the Proto-Indo-European culture – full-scale pastoral technology, including the domesticated horse, wheeled vehicles, stock breeding and limited horticulture, spread all over the Pontic steppes, and, *c.* 3000 BCE, in practically every direction from that centre ([Anthony 1986](#CITEREFAnthony1986); [Anthony 1991](#CITEREFAnthony1991); [Mallory 1989](#CITEREFMallory1989), vol. 1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** [Gimbutas 1970](#CITEREFGimbutas1970), p. 156: "The name *Kurgan culture* (the Barrow culture) was introduced by the author in 1956 as a broader term to replace [something] and [Pit-Grave](/source/Pit-Grave) (Russian *Yamnaya*), names used by Soviet scholars for the culture in the eastern Ukraine and south Russia, and [Corded Ware, Battle-Axe](/source/Corded_ware), [Ochre-Grave](/source/Ochre-Grave), [Single-Grave](/source/Single-Grave) and other names given to complexes characterized by elements of [Kurgan](/source/Kurgan) appearance that formed in various parts of Europe".

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBojtar199957_22-0)** [Bojtar 1999](#CITEREFBojtar1999), p. 57.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th edition, 22:587–588

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** [Razib Khan](/source/Razib_Khan) (28 April 2012). ["Facing the ocean"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130609041146/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2012/04/facing-the-ocean/). *Discover Magazine Blog – Gene Expression*. Archived from [the original](https://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2012/04/facing-the-ocean/) on 2013-06-09.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ncbi.nlm.nih.gov_25-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ncbi.nlm.nih.gov_25-1) Reich, David (15 March 2019). ["The genomic history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past 8000 years"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6436108). *Science*. **363** (6432): 1230–1234. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2019Sci...363.1230O](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019Sci...363.1230O). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1126/science.aav4040](https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.aav4040). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [6436108](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6436108). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [30872528](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30872528).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-26)** Preston, Douglas (December 7, 2020). ["The Skeletons at the Lake"](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/14/the-skeletons-at-the-lake). *The New Yorker*. No. Annals of Science. Retrieved 13 February 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGimbutas19821_27-0)** [Gimbutas 1982](#CITEREFGimbutas1982), p. 1.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGimbutas1997309_28-0)** [Gimbutas 1997](#CITEREFGimbutas1997), p. 309.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-29)** Gimbutas, Marija (1993-08-01). ["The Indo-Europeanization of Europe: the intrusion of steppe pastoralists from south Russia and the transformation of Old Europe"](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00437956.1993.11435900). *WORD*. **44** (2): 205–222. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/00437956.1993.11435900](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00437956.1993.11435900). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0043-7956](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0043-7956). [Free PDF download](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00437956.1993.11435900).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMallory1989185_30-0)** [Mallory 1989](#CITEREFMallory1989), p. 185.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECavalli-Sforza2000_31-0)** [Cavalli-Sforza 2000](#CITEREFCavalli-Sforza2000).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-32)** [Piazza & Cavalli-Sforza 2006](#CITEREFPiazzaCavalli-Sforza2006): "...if the expansions began at 9,500 years ago from Anatolia and at 6,000 years ago from the [Yamnaya culture](/source/Yamna_culture) region, then a 3,500-year period elapsed during their migration to the [Volga](/source/Volga_River)-[Don](/source/Don_River_(Russia)) region from Anatolia, probably through the Balkans. There a completely new, mostly pastoral culture developed under the stimulus of an environment unfavorable to standard agriculture, but offering new attractive possibilities. Our hypothesis is, therefore, that Indo-European languages derived from a secondary expansion from the [Yamnaya culture](/source/Yamna_culture) region after the Neolithic farmers, possibly coming from Anatolia and settled there, developing pastoral nomadism.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-33)** [Wells & Read 2002](#CITEREFWellsRead2002), p. [*[page needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources)*]: "... while we see substantial genetic and archaeological evidence for an Indo-European migration originating in the southern Russian steppes, there is little evidence for a similarly massive Indo-European migration from the Middle East to Europe. One possibility is that, as a much earlier migration (8,000 years old, as opposed to 4,000), the genetic signals carried by Indo-European-speaking farmers may simply have dispersed over the years. There is clearly *some* genetic evidence for migration from the Middle East, as Cavalli-Sforza and his colleagues showed, but the signal is not strong enough for us to trace the distribution of Neolithic languages throughout the entirety of Indo-European-speaking Europe."

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEAnthonyRinge2015_34-0)** [Anthony & Ringe 2015](#CITEREFAnthonyRinge2015).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-DA306_35-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-DA306_35-1) [Anthony 2007](#CITEREFAnthony2007), pp. 306–307, "Why not a Kurgan Culture?"

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEAnthony2007297_36-0)** [Anthony 2007](#CITEREFAnthony2007), p. 297.

## Bibliography

- Anthony, David W (1991). "The Archaeology of Indo-European Origins". *The Archaeology of Indo-European Origins*. **19** (3–4): 193–222. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0092-2323](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0092-2323).

- Anthony, David W. (2007). [*The Horse, The Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World*](/source/The_Horse%2C_the_Wheel_and_Language). Princeton University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-691-05887-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-691-05887-0).

- Anthony, David W.; Bogucki, Peter; Comşa, Eugen; Gimbutas, Marija; Jovanović, Borislav; Mallory, J. P.; Milisaukas, Sarunas (1986). "The "Kurgan Culture," Indo-European Origins, and the Domestication of the Horse: A Reconsideration". *Current Anthropology*. **27** (4): 291–313. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1086/203441](https://doi.org/10.1086%2F203441). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0011-3204](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0011-3204). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [2743045](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2743045). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [143388176](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:143388176).

- Anthony, David W.; Ringe, Donald (January 2015). ["The Indo-European Homeland from Linguistic and Archaeological Perspectives"](https://www.academia.edu/10597023). *Annual Review of Linguistics*. **1** (1): 199–219. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1146/annurev-linguist-030514-124812](https://doi.org/10.1146%2Fannurev-linguist-030514-124812).

- Anthony, David; Vinogradov, Nikolai (1995). "Birth of the Chariot". *Archaeology*. **48** (2): 36–41. [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [41771098](https://www.jstor.org/stable/41771098).

- Blench, Roger; Spriggs, Matthew, eds. (1999). *Archaeology and Language*. Vol. III: *Artefacts, languages and texts*. London: Routledge.

- Bojtar, Endre (1999). *Foreword to the Past: A Cultural History of the Baltic People*. Budapest: Central European University Press.

- Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca (2000). [*Genes, peoples, and languages*](https://books.google.com/books?id=PhBjQgAACAAJ). Farrar Straus & Giroux. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-86547-529-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-86547-529-8).

- [Gimbutas, Marija](/source/Marija_Gimbutas) (1956). *The Prehistory of Eastern Europe. Part I: Mesolithic, Neolithic and Copper Age Cultures in Russia and the Baltic Area*. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum..

- [Gimbutas, Marija](/source/Marija_Gimbutas) (1970). "Proto-Indo-European Culture: The Kurgan Culture during the Fifth, Fourth, and Third Millennia B.C.". In Cardona, George; Hoenigswald, Henry M.; Senn, Alfred (eds.). *Indo-European and Indo-Europeans: Papers Presented at the Third Indo-European Conference at the University of Pennsylvania*. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 155–197. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8122-7574-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8122-7574-8)..

- [Gimbutas, Marija](/source/Marija_Gimbutas) (1982). "Old Europe in the Fifth Millenium B.C.: The European Situation on the Arrival of Indo-Europeans". In Polomé, Edgar C. (ed.). *The Indo-Europeans in the Fourth and Third Millennia*. Ann Arbor: Karoma Publishers. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-89720-041-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-89720-041-1).

- [Gimbutas, Marija](/source/Marija_Gimbutas) (Spring–Summer 1985). "Primary and Secondary Homeland of the Indo-Europeans: comments on Gamkrelidze–Ivanov articles". *Journal of Indo-European Studies*. **13** (1&2): 185–201.

- Gimbutas, Marija (1997). Dexter, Miriam Robbins; Jones-Bley, Karlene (eds.). [*The Kurgan Culture and the Indo-Europeanization of Europe: Selected Articles from 1952 to 1993*](https://books.google.com/books?id=hCZmAAAAMAAJ). Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph Series. Vol. 18. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-941694-56-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-941694-56-8)..

- [Gimbutas, Marija](/source/Marija_Gimbutas); Dexter, Miriam Robbins (1999). *The Living Goddesses*. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-520-22915-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-520-22915-0).

- Haak W, Lazaridis I, Patterson N, Rohland N, et al. (2015). ["Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5048219). *Nature*. **522** (7555): 207–211. [arXiv](/source/ArXiv_(identifier)):[1502.02783](https://arxiv.org/abs/1502.02783). [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2015Natur.522..207H](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015Natur.522..207H). [bioRxiv](/source/BioRxiv_(identifier)) [10.1101/013433](https://doi.org/10.1101%2F013433). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1038/nature14317](https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnature14317). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [5048219](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5048219). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [25731166](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25731166).

- Krell, Kathrin (1998). "Gimbutas' Kurgans-PIE homeland hypothesis: a linguistic critique". *Archaeology and Language*. vol. II. Blench and Spriggs.

- [Mallory, J. P.](/source/J._P._Mallory) (1997). "Kurgan Tradition". *[Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Encyclopedia_of_Indo-European_culture&action=edit&redlink=1)*. London: Fitzroy Dearborn. pp. 338–341. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1-884964-98-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1-884964-98-2).

- [Mallory, J. P.](/source/J._P._Mallory) (1989). [*In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology, and Myth*](https://archive.org/details/insearchofindoeu00jpma). London: Thames & Hudson. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-500-27616-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-500-27616-1)..

- [Mallory, J. P.](/source/J._P._Mallory) (1996). Fagan, Brian M. (ed.). *The Oxford Companion to Archaeology*. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-507618-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-507618-4).

- Piazza, Alberto; Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi (2006). ["Diffusion of genes and languages in human evolution"](https://web.archive.org/web/20081211073628/http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/piazza06evolang.html). *Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Evolution of Language*. pp. 255–266. Archived from [the original](http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/piazza06evolang.html) on 2008-12-11. Retrieved 2023-10-11.

- Renfrew, Colin (1999). "Time depth, convergence theory, and innovation in Proto-Indo-European: 'Old Europe' as a PIE linguistic area". *Journal of Indo-European Studies*. **27** (3–4): 257–293.

- Schmoeckel, Reinhard (1999). *Die Indoeuropäer. Aufbruch aus der Vorgeschichte* [*The Indo-Europeans: Rising from pre-history*] (in German). Bergisch-Gladbach (Germany): Bastei Lübbe. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [3-404-64162-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/3-404-64162-0).

- Spinney, Laura (2025-03-13). *Proto*. London: William Collins. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-00-862652-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-00-862652-5).

- Strazny, Philipp, ed. (2000). *Dictionary of Historical and Comparative Linguistics* (1st ed.). Routledge. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-57958-218-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-57958-218-0).

- Wells, Spencer; Read, Mark (2002). [*The journey of man: a genetic odyssey*](https://books.google.com/books?id=WAsKm-_zu5sC&pg=PA168). Princeton University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-691-11532-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-691-11532-0).

- Zanotti, D. G. (1982). "The Evidence for Kurgan Wave One As Reflected By the Distribution of 'Old Europe' Gold Pendants". *Journal of Indo-European Studies*. **10**: 223–234.

## External links

- [Humanjourney.us, *Proto-Indo-European: The World’s Parent Language*](https://humanjourney.us/field-note/proto-indo-european-the-worlds-parent-language/)

v t e Proto-Indo-European language Phonology Accent Centum and satem Glottalic theory Laryngeal theory s-mobile Sound laws asno law boukólos rule *kʷetwóres rule Bartholomae's Grassmann's Osthoff's Pinault's Siebs's Sievers's Stang's Szemerényi's Weise's Morphology Root Ablaut Thematic vowel Particles Verbs Copula h₂e-conjugation Aorist Present Nasal infix Narten presents Reduplicated presents *éye-presents *sḱé-presents Desideratives *ye-presents Nominals Adjectives Caland system Vṛddhi Pronouns Numerals Vocabulary Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (IEW) Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben (LIV) Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme (LIPP) Nomina im Indogermanischen Lexikon (NIL) Indo-European Etymological Dictionary (IEED) Artificial compositions Schleicher's fable The king and the god Homeland Kurgan hypothesis Schleicher theories Anatolian hypothesis Armenian hypothesis Outdated theories: Beech argument North European hypothesis Salmon problem See also Society Mythology Migrations Indo-European studies

v t e Bronze Age ↑ Chalcolithic Bronze Age Abashevo culture Aegean civilization Andronovo culture Apennine culture Armorican Tumulus culture Atlantic Bronze Age BMAC Bronze Age Britain Bronze Age Europe Canegrate culture Catacomb culture Chinese Bronze Age Cycladic culture Deer stones culture Deverel–Rimbury culture Elp culture Ewart Park Phase Ezero culture Glazkov culture Argaric culture Hallstatt culture Helladic period Indus Valley Civilisation Late Jomon Karasuk culture Liaoning bronze dagger culture Lusatian culture Minoan civilization Mumun pottery period Mycenaean Greece Nordic Bronze Age Okunev culture Ordos culture Penard Period Samus culture South-Western Iberian Bronze Srubnaya culture Tagar culture Tarim Basin Terramare culture Trzciniec Tumulus culture Únětice culture Urnfield culture Wessex culture Wilburton-Wallington Phase Bronze Age (North Caucasus and Transcaucasia) Kurgan Koban Kura–Araxes Shulaveri–Shomu Colchian Trialeti-Vanadzor Maykop culture Leyla-Tepe culture Jar burial Khojaly–Gadabay ↓ Iron Age

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kurgan hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurgan_hypothesis) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurgan_hypothesis?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.