Proto-Indo-Europeans
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| - | :''[[Proto-Indo-Europeans]]'' | ||
| - | Only small fragments of [[Proto-Indo-European poetry]] may be recovered. What survives of their poetry are stock phrases of two or three words, like ''undying fame'' and ''[[immortal]] gods'', that are found in diverse ancient sources. These seem to have been standard building blocks for song lyrics. | ||
| - | Inferring chiefly from the [[Vedas]], there would have been sacrificial hymns, creation myths (such as myths of a [[world tree]]), and hero tales (the slaying of a serpent or a [[dragon]], ''*kʷr̥mis'' by a heroic man or god). | + | The '''Proto-Indo-Europeans''' are the speakers of the [[Proto-Indo-European language]] (PIE). |
| + | PIE is a reconstruction of a prehistoric language, fraught with significant uncertainties and room for speculation, and its speakers cannot be assumed to be a single identifiable prehistoric people or tribe but rather a group of loosely related populations ancestral to the later, still partially prehistoric, [[Bronze Age]] Indo-European expansion movements, by the mid 2nd millennium BC reaching [[Hittites|Anatolia]], [[Mycenaean Greece|the Aegean]], [[Indo-Aryan migration|Northern India]] and likely [[Urnfield culture|Western Europe]]. | ||
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| + | The Proto-Indo-Europeans in this sense likely correspond to populations of the [[Chalcolithic]], or roughly the 5th to 4th millennia BC. Mainstream scholarship places them in the general region of the [[Pontic-Caspian steppe]] in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Some scholars would extend the time depth of PIE or [[pre-PIE]] to the [[Neolithic]] or even the [[last glacial maximum]] and suggest [[Proto-Indo-European Urheimat hypotheses|alternative location hypotheses]]. | ||
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| + | Knowledge of them comes chiefly from [[linguistic reconstruction]], paired with material evidence from [[archaeology]] and [[archaeogenetics]]. | ||
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| + | ==Evidence For Proto-Indo-Europeans== | ||
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| + | The Proto-Indo-Europeans are defined as the people who spoke the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language. Thus the basic information about these pre-historic people arises out of the comparative linguistics of the Indo-European languages as well as the historic record of the spread of the Indo-European languages and the histories of the peoples speaking those languages. This may be augmented by comparing what may be deduced from these languages and histories with studies in archaeology and genetics. That is to say given the information present in the Indo-European languages and the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, one may attempt to link this information with results arrived at in archaeology and genetics to construct a more complete picture of the Proto-Indo-Europeans themselves. | ||
| - | Probably of the greatest importance to the Indo-Europeans themselves were songs extolling great deeds by heroic warriors. In addition to perpetuating their glory (''*ḱléwos''), such songs would also temper the warriors' behavior, since each needed to consider whether his ''undying fame'' would be honorable or shameful. See also ''[[bard]]'', ''[[fili]]'', ''[[skald]]'', ''[[rhapsode]]''. | ||
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Revision as of 23:39, 7 August 2009
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The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). PIE is a reconstruction of a prehistoric language, fraught with significant uncertainties and room for speculation, and its speakers cannot be assumed to be a single identifiable prehistoric people or tribe but rather a group of loosely related populations ancestral to the later, still partially prehistoric, Bronze Age Indo-European expansion movements, by the mid 2nd millennium BC reaching Anatolia, the Aegean, Northern India and likely Western Europe.
The Proto-Indo-Europeans in this sense likely correspond to populations of the Chalcolithic, or roughly the 5th to 4th millennia BC. Mainstream scholarship places them in the general region of the Pontic-Caspian steppe in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Some scholars would extend the time depth of PIE or pre-PIE to the Neolithic or even the last glacial maximum and suggest alternative location hypotheses.
Knowledge of them comes chiefly from linguistic reconstruction, paired with material evidence from archaeology and archaeogenetics.
Evidence For Proto-Indo-Europeans
The Proto-Indo-Europeans are defined as the people who spoke the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language. Thus the basic information about these pre-historic people arises out of the comparative linguistics of the Indo-European languages as well as the historic record of the spread of the Indo-European languages and the histories of the peoples speaking those languages. This may be augmented by comparing what may be deduced from these languages and histories with studies in archaeology and genetics. That is to say given the information present in the Indo-European languages and the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, one may attempt to link this information with results arrived at in archaeology and genetics to construct a more complete picture of the Proto-Indo-Europeans themselves.
