Kurgan hypothesis of Indo-European origins
Hipótesis de los kurganes sobre el origen indoeuropeo
- Date
- 1956 · confidence high
- Place
- Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
- Credited to
- Marija Gimbutas
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Gimbutas proposed in 'The Prehistory of Eastern Europe' that the Pontic-Caspian steppe was the homeland of the Proto-Indo-European peoples, who expanded from there with the kurgan (burial mound) cultures. She synthesized Soviet archaeology, then little accessible in the West, with historical linguistics, and it remains the most accepted explanation today, reinforced by 21st-century genetic studies.
There is still academic debate over whether the expansion happened through invasion or gradual diffusion.
What it led to
- Dominant explanation of Indo-European origin and expansion
- 21st-century genetic confirmation
- David Anthony's revision (2007)
Built on
- Earlier steppe-origin proposal by Otto Schrader