Indo-European migrations

Indo-European migrations were prehistoric movements and expansions of populations whose languages belonged to the Indo-European family, spreading related languages across Europe and parts of Asia.

Proto-Indo-European homeland: The proposed region where Proto-Indo-European was spoken before its daughter languages dispersed. Its location determines which prehistoric dispersal models can explain the language family’s spread.
Yamnaya culture: A Copper Age and Early Bronze Age archaeological culture of the Pontic-Caspian steppe, known for kurgan burials. Its spread has been associated with major westward and eastward movements in steppe-origin models.
Indo-Aryan migration: The movement of Indo-Aryan-speaking groups into the Indian subcontinent during the second millennium BCE. It is a major eastern branch of the broader dispersal and remains central to South Asian history.
Ancient DNA: Genetic material recovered from ancient biological remains and used to study past populations. It documents ancestry changes that can be compared with archaeological and linguistic chronologies.
Kurgan hypothesis: The hypothesis that Proto-Indo-European originated among Pontic-Caspian steppe pastoralists and spread through migrations. It links steppe pastoralism and expansion to the spread of Indo-European languages.
Corded Ware culture: A widespread European Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age archaeological culture known for cord-impressed pottery and single-grave burials. Its emergence coincides with substantial steppe-related ancestry in parts of central and northern Europe.
Greco-Aryan migrations: Proposed movements associated with the early spread of Greek and Indo-Iranian languages from earlier Indo-European communities. The early histories of Greek and Indo-Iranian illustrate distinct branches whose exact routes remain debated.
Linguistic paleontology: The reconstruction of past environments and material culture from vocabulary inherited by related languages. Reconstructed terms offer clues about the societies and landscapes associated with early Indo-European speakers.
Anatolian hypothesis: The hypothesis that Proto-Indo-European spread from Anatolia with the expansion of early farming. It proposes an earlier, farming-led alternative to steppe-centered migration models.
Bell Beaker culture: A late third-millennium BCE archaeological phenomenon spread across much of western and central Europe. In Britain, its arrival accompanied a major change in ancestry, illustrating migration’s demographic effects.

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