Week 1Archaeology
Out of the Steppe
Caption
Where did Indo-European speakers come from?
The leading model: the Pontic–Caspian steppe, ~4500–2500 BCE. Horses, wheels, wagons, and herding spread a culture and a language family from Ukraine to Europe, Iran and India.
The Anatolian hypothesis still has defenders. This map shows the steppe model.
Short takes
Honest caveat: the map is a schematic of the model, not a precise route. DNA (Yamnaya ancestry) supports the steppe model well for Europe; Anatolian-first views remain debated.
Steppe or Anatolia? Where would you bet the homeland was?
