NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 17they have reconstructed a picture of what PIE
culture might have been like and how it could
have spread with the language. Critics consider
this type of linguistic “paleontology” controver-
sial because it is subject to interpretation and
vulnerable to drawing conclusions supported
by weak evidence.
After many years of sifting through languages
that developed out of PIE, linguists reconstruct-
ed an approximate word list of key terms. These
root words convey traits, figures, practices, and
symbols that had high significance across cul-
tures. Sheep would have been important to all
herders, and the PIE word for “sheep” is a root of
that word in Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, Lithuanian,
German, and English. To support theories like
this one, scholars have used archaeological evi-
dence to establish the importance of sheep in a
shared culture.
The word “king” is believed to derive from the
PIE word meaning “to extend one’s arm,” a ges-
ture that connotes giving a command. Scholars
tied these roots together by comparing similar
kingship rituals across disparate cultures. One
custom from ancient Rome involves the sacrifice
of a racehorse and presentation of its tail to the
Regia, wife of the sacred king. In another cus-
tom, parts of a sacrificed horse are brought to the
king in the ancient Indian rite of Ashvamedha.
In a third, an ancient Irish tradition, the king is
symbolically wed to a slaughtered horse. Ritual
links like these, in such different societies, sug-
gest a shared significance across them.Spreading the Word
Studying protolanguages also has geographical
implications, as scholars strive to locate where
PIE culture began. Among academics, there are
a number of theories, but two leading contend-
ers are the Kurgan and the Anatolian hypotheses.
These two draw on a multidiscliplinary approach
and utilize diverse supporting materials
and evidence.
The Kurgan hypothesis was put forward by
the Lithuanian-born American archaeologist
Marija Gimbutas in the 1950s. She believed that
the Indo-Europeans were associated with the
Yamna culture that lived on the Pontic-CaspianDIVINE TRIAD
Flanked by Vishnu
the preserver and
Shiva the destroyer,
the Hindu god
Brahma the creator
smiles in this late
ninth-centuryA.D.
sandstone sculpture
(above). Musée
Guimet, Paris
ERICH LESSING/ALBUMTHE POWER
OF THREE
A STRIKING THEORYW
hile researching ancient
cultures of the Caucasus,
French linguist Georges
Dumézil (1898-1986) rec-
ognized a theme common across Indo-
European cultures, which he termed “tri-
functionality.” Aspects of life—sacred, so-
cial, or economic—tended to be divided into
threes. Dumézil discovered tripartite struc-
tures in most Indo-European peoples, such
as the three original castes of ancient India:
Brahmans (priests and scholars), Kshatriyas
(nobles and warriors), and Vaishyas (mer-
chants). Many religions often feature tripar-
tite structures, such as the Hindu trinity of
gods (left). In Greek myth there are many
triads, such as the Moirai, better known
today as the three Fates, who determined
the beginning, middle, and end of each
mortal’s life. The Holy Trinity of Christianity
may also be an echo of deep, Indo-European
belief systems.