Re: Indo-European Origins and Geography

To Christopher Culver:

Excuse me if I'm rushing ahead without providing sufficient
explanation. The point at my site is that people travel only where
geography and abscence of other obstacles allow. Hence, the idea that
we can calculate the most natural migration routes just looking at the
map.
Now, most scholars agree that IEs moved into Europe from the Black Sea,
the steppes or the Danube estuary. Right? Right. Now, if there were no
mountains in Europe, then we'd get a smooth Prakrit-like distribution
of languages centered around rivers, just as we have in India. But
because there are the Carpathians, the initial PIE group split into
group A that went to the north along the Wisla and Odra (the
Proto-Germanics) and finally turned up in southern Danmark by c. 1200
BC (just as you say), and group B, which went along the Danube (the
hypothetical Italo-Celts which is not attested well in linguistics
because it could have existed only for a short time). As this subgroup
B ran into the Alps it split up into subgroup B1 which turned to Italy
(Italic languages), and subgroup B2 that went along the upper Danube
between the Alps and Sudeten and finally showed up as the Celts in
eastern France by about 1000 BC.
My am I so certain about it? Because this follows from geography data.
This seems to be the most natural migration trail across Europe when
you move from the Black Sea region.
Do you see what I mean?

.

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