Indo-European Migration Research Articles

The Indo-European (IE) Linguistic Spread and the ‘Homeland Problem’ Revisited

The nineteenth and early twentieth-century intellectual claim to European ancestry stems from the ‘Aryan Myth’—the linguistic equating of Iranians as direct descendants of Aryans, or Indo-Europeans. The historical genesis of the word ‘Aryan’ was influenced by The First Persian Empire (550-330 B.C.E.) in reference to an Iranian homeland, and by nineteenth-century Western linguists’ associations with the ancestral Indo-Europeans (IE).1 Notable philologists examining the ‘homeland problem’ have shown a standard concern towards the accuracy of scholarship on Indo-European origins. Ara (2008) decodes Indo-European origins and spread that gradually led to affiliations between Indo-Iranians and the ‘Aryan’ label. The onomastics approach would suggest that the proto-language left identifiable clues in the landscape itself (Mallory & Adams, 2006, p. 447). Dyen’s (1956) linguistic migration and homeland theory cites a European homeland accepted since the nineteen hundreds. Nichols’ (1997) analysis of the Indo-European migrations from 4,000 to 3,500 B.C.E. points to a locus of language dispersal within western central Asia (p. 134). Mallory (1989) and Kuzmina (1994a) favor a Proto-Indo-European homeland in the Pontic-Caspian steppe region from the fifth to fourth millennium B.C.E.2 (Lamberg-Karlovsky, 2004, p. 142). The accurate whereabouts of the Indo-European and daughter Indo-Iranian language group have been reviewed from various fields and by abundant methodologies, including the eschatological, anthropological, linguistic, and archaeological—all adding to the convoluted nature of scholarship on the Aryan question. The academic search for an Iranian homeland raises the inquiry of how ethnicity and region become tantamount to politicized and prejudiced topics on the account of misappropriations of a linguistic concept. An archaeological and lexicostatistic excavation of the conservative nature to review the genesis of Aryan homeland origins may help diverge from the aggrandized ethnological, ethnographic, and anthropometric evidence that has ramified an essentialist nomenclature of the Indo-Iranians in the eighteen and nineteen hundreds.

TRANSYLVANIA AND THE OF INDO-EUROPEAN MIGRATION PROBLEM. THE ROMANIAN PARADIGM

In this article, I discuss the manner in which the model proposed by Marija Gimbutas regarding the Indo-European migration in Europe was perceived by Romanian specialists. The article is also an extension of my efforts to understand the relations between prehistoric Transylvania and the North-Pontic steppe. Approached from this historiographic perspective, the subject illustrates a situation symptomatic of Romanian archaeology: the lack, with few exceptions, of serious debates on this controversial subject, the frequent repetition of unverified opinions, statements supported by invalid arguments, etc. Keywords: Marja Gimbutas, Indo-Europeanization, North-Pontic steppe, Transylvania, Romania.

ON DECIPHERMENT OF THE INSCRIPTIONS OF LINEAR A IN THE COMMON KARTVELIAN LANGUAGE

The object of this paper is the deciphering of Cretan Linear A (LA) inscriptions. The paper presents a brief background of the ancient population of the Peloponnese, Asia Minor and the Aegean islands before the Indo-European migrations. It is supposed that the indigenous inhabitants of this area were of non-Indo-European and non-Semitic origin, from the Proto-Kartvelian tribes. The study of the linguistic material and graphical qualities of LA, and the phonetic reading of Linear B (LB) script by M. Ventris, granted the correctness of my decipherment of LA inscriptions in the Common Kartvelian (CK).

Древнейшая история Предкавказья в свете концепции индоевропейcких миграций (часть 1)

Objectives. The study aims to reconstruct a fragment of the ancient history of Ciscaucasia. Materials. Part 1 provides a complete information on the unique burial complex in Ciscaucasia –– Dzhangar/Ulan-Tolga mound 1, Kalmykia. Methods. Archaeological methods, such as stratigraphic and typological ones, are used to reconstruct the linguistic and cultural situation in the region. Discussions and results. The paper shows that burials within the mound indicate a chronological sequence of migrations from Central and Eastern Europe during the Eneolithic and the Bronze Age. Conclusions. The first migration, supposedly a Tocharian one, is evidenced by burials with zoomorphic scepters. The two subsequent migrations, Indo-Iranian ones, can be associated with Indo-Aryans of Western Ciscaucasia (Novotitarovka version of the Kuban-Dnieper culture with carriages) and Proto-Iranians of Eastern Ciscaucasia (Pit-Grave culture). The third Indo-European migration is mirrored by the Catacomb culture which lasted until the arrival of the Timber-Grave population from the east, apparently evidencing the Iranian Reconquista of the steppe in the 14th – 13th centuries BC.

Древнейшая история Предкавказья в свете концепции индоевропейcких миграций (часть 1)

Goals. The study aims to reconstruct a fragment of the ancient history of Ciscaucasia. Materials. Part 1 provides a complete information on an unusual burial complex in Ciscaucasia –– Dzhangar/Ulan-Tolga mound 1, Kalmykia. Methods. Archaeological methods such as stratigraphic and typological are used to reconstruct the linguistic and cultural situation in the region. Results. The paper shows that burials within the mound indicate a chronological sequence of migrations from Central and Eastern Europe during the Eneolithic and the Bronze Age. Conclusions. The first migration, supposedly a Tocharian one, is evidenced by burials with zoomorphic scepters. The two subsequent migrations, Indo-Iranian ones, can be associated with Indo-Aryans of western Ciscaucasia (Novotitarovka version of the Kuban-Dnieper culture with carriages) and Proto-Iranians of eastern Ciscaucasia (Pit-Grave culture). The third Indo-European migration is mirrored by the Catacomb culture which lasted until the arrival of the Timber-Grave population from the east, apparently evidencing the Iranian Reconquista of the steppe in the 14th – 13th centuries BC.

Y-chromosomal sequences of diverse Indian populations and the ancestry of the Andamanese.

We present 42 new Y-chromosomal sequences from diverse Indian tribal and non-tribal populations, including the Jarawa and Onge from the Andaman Islands, which are analysed within a calibrated Y-chromosomal phylogeny incorporating South Asian (in total 305 individuals) and worldwide (in total 1286 individuals) data from the 1000 Genomes Project. In contrast to the more ancient ancestry in the South than in the North that has been claimed, we detected very similar coalescence times within Northern and Southern non-tribal Indian populations. A closest neighbour analysis in the phylogeny showed that Indian populations have an affinity towards Southern European populations and that the time of divergence from these populations substantially predated the Indo-European migration into India, probably reflecting ancient shared ancestry rather than the Indo-European migration, which had little effect on Indian male lineages. Among the tribal populations, the Birhor (Austro-Asiatic-speaking) and Irula (Dravidian-speaking) are the nearest neighbours of South Asian non-tribal populations, with a common origin in the last few millennia. In contrast, the Riang (Tibeto-Burman-speaking) and Andamanese have their nearest neighbour lineages in East Asia. The Jarawa and Onge shared haplogroup D lineages with each other within the last ~7000years, but had diverged from Japanese haplogroup D Y-chromosomes ~53000years ago, most likely by a split from a shared ancestral population. This analysis suggests that Indian populations have complex ancestry which cannot be explained by a single expansion model.

Indo-European Migrations: Their Origin from the Point of View of Odontology

Undertaken here is a multi-dimensional odontologic analysis of more than 31 ethnic groups of the Mezolithic and Bronze Ages from the territory of Eurasia. On the basis of the received information, cluster analysis was done and has shown the morphologic condensations of ethnoses and vectors of relatives or , conversely , distinctions between them. The anthropological cover of Eurasia, generated during exclusively difficult historical events, is shown. The advancement of the Mediterraneans in the territory of Eurasia was accompanied by not only an inter- action of various cultural elements, but also a mixture - a distribution sometimes at considerable distances from their centre of formation. Having addressed such an important theme, namely the odontological features of the ancient population of Eurasia, the author does not apply for its universal characteristic. Reference to this theme was made in some previous works (Khudaverdyan 2002, 2008, 2009), which showed the participation of the indigenous population of the Near East, the Armenian highlands and Caucasus in the formation of the anthropological (including craniological signs) shape of some tribes and their moving over a wide space. The analysis has allowed to reveal the groups having the greatest similarity on a complex odontologic of markers. This similarity assumes an associativity ethnic and reduction processes in groups which they represent. Similar research gives new arguments for an understanding of ethnic processes in Eurasia. As a source of the additional information results of research represent certain interest in connection with discussion about an origin Indo-Europeans and about a place of their ancestral home.

Humans: Mongolian skeleton, western man: 2,000‐year‐old DNA suggests early Indo‐European migration

Humans: Mongolian skeleton, western man: 2,000‐year‐old DNA suggests early Indo‐European migration

A western Eurasian male is found in 2000‐year‐old elite Xiongnu cemetery in Northeast Mongolia

We analyzed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y-chromosome single nucleotide polymorphisms (Y-SNP), and autosomal short tandem repeats (STR) of three skeletons found in a 2,000-year-old Xiongnu elite cemetery in Duurlig Nars of Northeast Mongolia. This study is one of the first reports of the detailed genetic analysis of ancient human remains using the three types of genetic markers. The DNA analyses revealed that one subject was an ancient male skeleton with maternal U2e1 and paternal R1a1 haplogroups. This is the first genetic evidence that a male of distinctive Indo-European lineages (R1a1) was present in the Xiongnu of Mongolia. This might indicate an Indo-European migration into Northeast Asia 2,000 years ago. Other specimens are a female with mtDNA haplogroup D4 and a male with Y-SNP haplogroup C3 and mtDNA haplogroup D4. Those haplogroups are common in Northeast Asia. There was no close kinship among them. The genetic evidence of U2e1 and R1a1 may help to clarify the migration patterns of Indo-Europeans and ancient East-West contacts of the Xiongnu Empire. Artifacts in the tombs suggested that the Xiongnu had a system of the social stratification. The West Eurasian male might show the racial tolerance of the Xiongnu Empire and some insight into the Xiongnu society.

Molecular insight into the genesis of ranked caste populations of western India based upon polymorphisms across non-recombinant and recombinant regions in genome

Large-scale trade and cultural contacts between coastal populations of western India and Western-Eurasians paved for extensive immigration and genesis of wide spectrum of admixed gene pool. To trace admixture and genesis of caste populations of western India, we have examined polymorphisms across non-recombining 20 Y-SNPs, 20 Y-STRs, 18 mtDNA diagnostic sites, HVS-1 plus HVS-2 regions; and recombining 15 highly polymorphic autosomal STRs in four predominant caste populations- upper-ranking Desasth-brahmin and Chitpavan-brahmin; a middle-ranking Kshtriya Maratha; and a lower-rank peasant Dhangar. The generated genomic data was compared with putative parental populations- Central Asians, West Asians and Europeans using AMOVA, PC plot, and admixture estimates. Overall, disparate uniparental ancestries, and l.1% GST value for biparental markers among four studied caste populations linked well with their exchequer demographic histories. Marathi-speaking ancient Desasth-brahmin shows substantial admixture from Central Asian males but Paleolithic maternal component support their Scytho-Dravidian origin. Chitpavanbrahmin demonstrates younger maternal component and substantial paternal gene flow from West Asia, thus giving credence to their recent Irano-Scythian ancestry from Mediterranean or Turkey, which correlated well with European-looking features of this caste. This also explains their untraceable ethno-history before 1000 years, brahminization event and later amalgamation by Maratha. The widespread Palaeolithic mtDNA haplogroups in Maratha and Dhangar highlight their shared Proto-Asian ancestries. Maratha males harboured Anatolianderived J2 lineage corroborating the blending of farming communities. Dhangar heterogeneity is ascribable to predominantly South-Asian males and West-Eurasian females. The genomic data-sets of this study provide ample genomic evidences of diverse origins of four ranked castes and synchronization of caste stratification with asymmetrical gene flows from Indo-European migration during Upper Paleolithic, Neolithic, and later dates. However, subsequent gene flows among these castes living in geographical proximity, have diminished significant genetic differentiation as indicated by AMOVA and structure.

The Copper Age in Northern Italy

During the period between the IVth and IIIrd millennia BC, profound changes for the ancient populations inhabiting the northern region of Italy occurred. The first Indo-European migrations were altering the ethnographic characteristics and, with the production of the first copper artifacts, the Neolithic Age was drawing to an end. The most significant testimony of that dramatic period is unquestionably the Ötztal iceman. In addition, many other valuable archaeological sites, such as Alba (Cuneo, Italy), have been discovered. Although Alba produced the oldest evidence of copper objects in a Neolithic context (5380 ± 40 BP; GX-25859-AMS), more recent discoveries have underlined the importance of this archaeological site. In this paper we will report on a series of radiocarbon measurements of bone remnants which, combined with morphologic, stratigraphic, paleoanthropologic, and paleopathologic studies, have allowed us to gain new insights into the culture and chronology of the European Copper Age.

Anatolian Languages and Indo-European Migrations to Greece

Anatolian Languages and Indo-European Migrations to Greece

Cist burials of the Kumaun Himalayas

In the Kumaun region of Uttar Pradesh, India, on the southern slopes of the Himalaya are cist burials, as well as megalithic monuments. Radiocarbon dates from the cists now hint at their going back to the 3rd millennium BC, and linguistic affinities would associate them with early Indo-European migrations into the western and central Himalaya regions.

Using genes to track down Indo-European migrations.

Using genes to track down Indo-European migrations.

Human migrations and linkage disequilibrium ofHL-A system

A migration with admixture of genes in two populations inducesHL-A linkage disequilibrium or Δ when gene frequencies in the two populations are dissimilar. Since theHL-A linkage disequilibrium disappears very slowly, this factor could be used to recognize some migrations. In the recent migration of American Negroes, a dilution of Caucasoid disequilibrium is noted. By the presence of Δ values, a study of possible migrations around the world is reported and a brief comparison with other methods of research into population origins is discussed in connection with the European ecosphere: a well-known expansion axis is found from East to West (probably due to the Indo-European migration), which ends with admixture with various local Western European populations. Another expansion of genes is noted from the North of Europe towards the Southwest.

Ecology and Peace Research

Starting with Johan Galtung's 'Structural theory of aggression', the article empha sizes the ecological background of conflicts, particularly conversion of energy through plants and animals. The role of the horse is dealt with more extensively and exemplified by pastoral nomads, Plains Indians, etc. Group conflicts seem to be concomitant to the introduction of new mechanisms of conversion of energy. One of the most striking characteristics of industrialism is precisely the constant and strongly accelerating stream of new methods of converting energy. 'The white race' has been considered beyond comparison the most warlike of all 'races', and there is much evidence to suggest that its warlike traditions lead back even to the earliest Indo-European migrations in Late Neolithic time and the Bronze Age. As the acquisition of new instruments of conversion of energy seems to promote belligerence - whereas again war means an enormous stimulus to technological development - the 'output — feedback - input' model probably should be applicable to the study of war. Since war is a structural phenomenon apparently endemic in Western industrialized countries, their structures, and accordingly their values, have to be changed in correla tion to inter-state structures in the direction of social and economical equality. This would mean values which make for cooperation rather than rivalry; creative, constructive activity instead of aggression.