Asturrulumbo
Elite member
Recently I have been thinking about the Beaker-IE problem, and it seems to me that it was in its origins non-IE, due to its origin in Iberia (see map) and its continuation of megalithism in western Europe. However, I have also come to acknowledge that in central Europe, the Bronze Age (Unetice Culture) begins without a break from the Beaker Culture. This is why I have come to think that the Beaker culture was not a homogeneous linguistic entity. I would propose that (taking from this map) the "eastern" subgroup of the Beaker culture could be "Proto-Italo-Celtic"-speaking.
But then this, of course, does not resolve the question: How did the Indo-Europeans reach this region? In my opinion, to answer this, we have to go back to the Chalcolithic; with the Cernavoda Culture:
This brings us to the Baden Culture:
After the Baden Culture, Central Europe (see chart) was briefly influenced by the Corded Ware culture (in the strict sense of the term, see map):
So, in conclusion, there is in my opinion strong evidence for the affiliation of proto-Italo-Celtic speakers with the eastern part of the Beaker Culture.
What do you think?
But then this, of course, does not resolve the question: How did the Indo-Europeans reach this region? In my opinion, to answer this, we have to go back to the Chalcolithic; with the Cernavoda Culture:
Encyclopedia of Indo-European CultureThe Cernavoda I culture is a late Copper Age culture (c 4000-3200 BC) of eastern Romania and Moldova, situated primarily in the lower Danube region. The culture occupied the previous territory of the Gumelnita culture, part of the continuum of east Balkan tells that had been occupied since the early Neolithic. According to the Kurgan theory of IE origins, the earlier Neolithic culture was destroyed and a hybrid "kurganized" culture involving local and steppe elements was created. The latter is seen in the shift from stable tell settlements to hill-top settlement and defensive architecture (Cernavoda I was surrounded by three ditches), the disappearance of painted wares and their replacement by coarse ware pottery, especially employing shell-temper and/or decorated with cord impressions (both features of steppe ceramics), the abandonment of surface buildings for timber semi-subterranean houses, and the occasional presence of the horse. In Moldova, the Cemavoda culture is attested by cemeteries where the deceased were placed in the flexed position on their left (less frequently right) sides in a pit that might have been elaborated with a timber or stone structure. The covertng of the deceased and the bottom of the burial chamber with ocher as well as the tumulus erected over the grave, sometimes with a stone kerb, are all traits also encountered among the steppe cultures. According to the "Kurgan theory", subsequent steppe migrations pushed the Cernavoda culture south and west where its western variant played a part in the formation of a "Balkan-Danubian complex" of cultures, among which the Baden culture is quite prominent. In the eastern part of its distribution in Moldova, the Cernavoda I culture is one of the components that underlies the foundation of the Usatovo culture.
Cemavoda II and Cernavoda III refer to later cultures in the same general vicinity, the first perhaps reflecting an intrusive steppe culture and the latter a continuation of Cernavoda I into the early Bronze Age. In the historical period, the area of the Cernavoda culture was occupied by Dacian and Thracian-speaking populations.
This brings us to the Baden Culture:
S. Milisauskas, European Prehistory (2011)Baden culture sites occur in Hungary, northwestern Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, eastern Austria, and southern Poland and they date between 3500 and 2800 BC (Horváth et al., 2008) (Fig. 9.1). The earliest phase is called Boleráz and is dated 3500–3300 BC. Sherratt (2006) noted that the first occurrence of wool-bearing sheep and wheeled vehicles coincides with the appearance of the Baden culture. He emphasized that “The Baden culture thus marks one of the major transformations in European prehistory – even if the origin of some of its critical features is to be found outside Europe, and indeed can be traced back beyond to the areas which saw the beginnings of writing and city-life,”...
EIECThe Baden culture is frequently discussed in association with the spread of Indo-Europeans because it possesses a number of cultural traits that have been regarded as diagnostic markers of IE society: the (occasional) use of small fortified settlements, houses with apsidal ends (suggesting a pastoral ancestry), wheeled vehicles, clay vessels suggesting both drinking sets (in containers whose use has been associated with the consumption of dairy products or alcoholic beverages, sexual dimorphism in burial rite with males interred on their right sides and females on their left, and cult vessels displaying solar symbols. Within the Kurgan model of IE origins, the Baden culture is seen to serve as a vehicle for its expansion and consolidation in the central Balkans while those supporting a central European homeland seek the genetic roots of the Baden culture in the earlier TRB and linear Ware cultures. The bearers of the Baden culture have been variously identified with speakers of languages ancestral to the Celtic, Italic, Illyrian and Venetic languages.
After the Baden Culture, Central Europe (see chart) was briefly influenced by the Corded Ware culture (in the strict sense of the term, see map):
So, in conclusion, there is in my opinion strong evidence for the affiliation of proto-Italo-Celtic speakers with the eastern part of the Beaker Culture.
What do you think?