At the Interface of Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics: Indoeuropean Dispersals and the Agricultural Transition in Europe

Indo-European languages are believed to have spread through population movements from the original epicentre. In recent years, this diffusion and divergence of languages from the *proto-Indo-European mother tongue has been identified with the dispersal of farming populations from the region of Anatolia/northern Iran, who are held (e.g. by Renfrew) to have gradually colonised Europe between c. 6000and 3000be. It is here argued that this was not necessarily the case, and an alternative explanation for the divergence of Indo-European languages is presented, based on contact, exchange, trade, and intermarriage. Linguistic models for contact-induced language change, the archaeological evidence for such contacts at the transition to fanning in Europe, and evidence for the adoption of fanning by the local, hunter-gatherer populations are discussed. This leads to the formulation of the 'Neolithic creolisation hypothesis'. The paper finally suggests a scheme for the divergence of the Indo-European languages following this hypothesis and discusses the linguistic implications.