The authors point out that these dates, which are only approximate,
are not inconsistent with the dates established by other methods for
the various archaeological cultures which are thought to be associated
with Indo-European languages. For example, the date for the Tocharian
break-off corresponds to the migration that gave rise to the Afanasievo
culture; the date for the Balto-Slavic–Indo-Iranian break-up may be
correlated with the end of Corded Ware culture around 2,100 or 2,
BCE; and the date for Indo-Iranian corresponds to that of the Sintashta
archaeological culture, frequently associated with Proto-Indo-Iranian
speakers.
Steppe hypothesis
See also: Indo-European migrations
The steppe hypothesis seeks to identify the source of the Indo-
European language expansion as a succession of migrations from
the Pontic–Caspian steppe between the 5th and 3rd millennia BCE.[44] In
the early 1980s,[45] a mainstream consensus had emerged among Indo-
Europeanists in favour of the "Kurgan hypothesis" (named after
the kurgans, burial mounds, of the Eurasian steppes) placing the Indo-
European homeland in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of
the Chalcolithic.[46][2]
Gimbutas' Kurgan hypothesis
Main article: Kurgan hypothesis
According to the Kurgan hypothesis as formulated by Gimbutas, Indo-
European speaking nomads from Eastern Ukraine and
Southern Russia expanded on horseback in several waves during the
3rd millennium BCE, invading and subjugating supposedly peaceful
European Neolithic farmers of Gimbutas' Old Europe.[note 8] Later
versions of Gimbutas' hypothesis put increasing emphasis on