There are two competing hypotheses for the origin of the
Indo-European language family. The conventional view places the homeland
in the Pontic steppes about 6000 years ago. An
alternative hypothesis claims that the languages spread from Anatolia
with
the expansion of farming 8000 to 9500 years ago.
We used Bayesian phylogeographic approaches, together with basic
vocabulary
data from 103 ancient and contemporary
Indo-European languages, to explicitly model the expansion of the family
and test these
hypotheses. We found decisive support for an
Anatolian origin over a steppe origin. Both the inferred timing and root
location
of the Indo-European language trees fit with an
agricultural expansion from Anatolia beginning 8000 to 9500 years ago.
These
results highlight the critical role that
phylogeographic inference can play in resolving debates about human
prehistory.
Bouckaert, Remco, Philippe Lemey, Michael Dunn, Simon J. Greenhill, Alexander V. Alekseyenko, Alexei J. Drummond, Russell D. Gray, Marc A. Suchard, and Quentin D. Atkinson. ‘Mapping the Origins and Expansion of the Indo-European Language Family’. Science 337, no. 6097 (August 24, 2012): 957–960. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6097/957.full