Archaeology, Genes and Language: The Indo-European Perspective

The article is devoted to the problem of localization of the Indo-European homeland. It is one of the most complicated problems of Archaeology and linguistics, and in recent years has been informed by paleogenetic studies as well. From the Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age, the main cultural impulses that formed the archaeological cultures of Eurasia spread from the Near East. Evidences of migration from the north to the regions where southern Indo-European languages are recorded (Anatolian, Armenian, and Indo-Iranian) are very limited or absent. Archaeologically reconstructed migrations, in general, correspond to the gene flaws from the Near East to Europe, to the Eurasian steppe and to the east, to Iran and India. At the same time, repeated migrations took place in the regions where Indo-Europeans had appeared before, as well as back migrations. Areas of secondary contacts also complicate linguistic reconstruction. Judging by these data, the homeland of the Indo-Europeans was situated on the Armenian Highland, but from there secondary homelands could also form, where individual Indo-European dialects developed or processes of their convergence could take place.