rms2
Regular Member
- Messages
- 304
- Reaction score
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- 0
- Location
- Central Virginia
- Ethnic group
- British/Irish
- Y-DNA haplogroup
- R-L21 (S145, M529)
- mtDNA haplogroup
- U5a2
I think that the case for R1a being connected indeed with the Proto-Indo-Europeans is fairly solid. At least, I would say that the connection with Corded Ware and R1a is pretty obvious: it wasn't in Europe before the Corded Ware period. Which is why I want to ask: what alternative is there realistically to the Kurgan hypothesis? I don't see one, at least if you realize that PIE must have been a language of the Copper Age.
I think R1a has some connection to the eastern spread of Indo-European, but I think it is overly simplistic and premature to make it the y-dna source of all of PIE, especially in the West. There is too much we do not know yet and too much that simply does not make sense if Indo-European is attributed solely to R1a.
The prevalence of R1b in Armenia and eastern Anatolia, which Gamkrelidze and Ivanov argue is the Urheimat of Indo-European (whether or not one agrees with them), and the new Case for Euphratic are factors that should be considered.
It is very possible that the R1a steppe population was Indo-Europeanized under R1b influence and not the other way around.
Aside from all that, I think it highly unlikely that any of the R1a showing up on Maciamo's map in France is Bronze Age Celtic. I just don't see why it should be when it could easily be a combination of Germans, Slavs, White Russian emigres, Jews, etc.