INDO - EUROPEAN

Ice age Europe: changing environments :

This map depicts Europe when the ice sheets were not at their fullest extent, but when conditions were colder than those of the present day.

Features to be noted are the extension of the coastal plains as a result of the lowered sea level - the British Isles, for instance, are joined to the Continent. Equally, woodland is absent from Northern Europe, which would have been covered by tundra and, in more sheltered parts, pine woods. Deciduous trees would have been restricted to the south of Europe, although dwarf varieties may have survived in some northern areas.

As conditions improved, the vegetation zones would move north. The Baltic Sea was cut off from the North Sea and formed a deep, brackish lake. The warm waters of the Gulf Stream would have been diverted southwards during colder times, enhancing the cooling of the land in north-western Europe. Just as the vegetation zones changed to reflect the variations of climate so too did animal distribution. Present-day patterns became established only 10,000 years ago.

Maps of Indo-European progression in Central Asia - Map 1 c.6000 BC :

The northern edge of the Caucuses Mountains between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea is the most probable homeland for the proto-Indo-Europeans, cut off as they would have been from their fellow Eurasiatic speakers (one branch of the post-glacial Nostratic language group). These other Eurasiatic speakers would have occupied large tracts of territory themselves, probably including the main inland regions between the two seas.

Maps of Indo-European progression in Central Asia - Map 2 c.4000 BC :

The initial expansion of Indo-Europeans took place around 4000 BC, with one group heading southwards towards Anatolia and Northern Mesopotamia. The eastern route down the shores of the Caspian Sea used here is conjectural - they might just have easily used the western route down the Black Sea coast - but it's likely that the coastline offered the safest migratory route, travelling with horses and families and avoiding hostile populations inland. The main body expanded into the Pontic-Caspian steppe, a vast stretch of plains to the north of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. The South IEs probably remained in touch with their northern kin until around 3500 BC.

Maps of Indo-European progression in Central Asia - Map 3 c.3000 BC :

The Indo-Europeans of the Pontic-Caspian steppe began to migrate out of their core territory around 3000 BC, based on estimates of language division, with many going west. Those who remained behind - the Homeland IEs - either remained there permanently (such as today's Ossetians) or migrated eastwards - the East IEs who eventually integrated themselves into the Oxus Civilisation and then probably supplied the Aryans of India and Iran.

Map of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, & Greece 1900-1650 BC :

By the tail end of the Yamnaya Horizon if not before - around 2000 BC - the eastern, satem-speaking Indo-Europeans who would eventually form into the Scythians of the first millennium BC were likely to be 'encouraging' the western centum-speaking Indo-Europeans to leave the Pontic steppe.

The stream of western Indo-European migration had begun at least a millennium before this. They entered into the Danubian river basin after crossing the River Prut (Pruth), congregating along the river's course as far west as Budapest. Elements of what can be termed the South-Western Indo-European group began fanning outwards into Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and so on. There they eventually diverged into separate groups which would become Illyrians (who also bore Italic influences, suggesting no firm dividing line between these two main units of Indo-Europeans), Epirotes, Dorians, Aeolians, Ionians, Macedonians, Thracians, Dacians, Phrygians, and probably Armenians too.

Before that happened though, the proto-Mycenaeans seem to have been amongst the last of the centum-speakers to take to the road, possibly against their will so late was their migration. They proceeded down through the Balkans to enter Greece and create a civilisation that would dominate the Aegean for over half a millennium.

Tribes or groups which were further along the Danube, closer to Budapest, appear to have divided into at least three sub-groups themselves: one which moved into Transylvania, sheltered by the Carpathian Mountains (Otomani cultural territory in the upper centre of the map); the main group in Hungary which gradually filtered further west, becoming the proto-Italics and various smaller groups; and the third group which branched off towards Bavaria and Switzerland to become the proto-Celts.

Map of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, & Greece 1200 BC :

Around the end of the thirteenth century BC the entire eastern Mediterranean region was hit by drought and the loss of surviving crops. Food supplies dwindled and the number of raids by various patchwork groups increased exponentially. By about 1200 BC, this flood had turned into a tidal wave of destruction, abandonment, and migration.

In the case of the South-West Indo-Europeans, that migration meant following what was probably already an active route for low-level movement and also some trade, taking them southwards towards Mycenaean Greece.

They divided along the way (if such divisions didn't already exist), with the Illyrians heading for the west coast, the Epirotes doing the same on the edges of Mycenaean occupation, the Thracians and Phrygians heading towards the eastern coast, the Macedonians slotting in between the two coasts, and the Dorians, Ionians, and Aeolians heading into Mycenae and the islands of the Aegean. The Ionians even ventured through the Bosphorus to begin proto-Greek settlement in the Black Sea region. The Dacians seemingly moved the least - if at all - probably being able to make the most of their increased resources and lower population levels along the Danubian shoreline.