On the origin of R1a and R1b subclades in Greece

An article published in PLoS ONE, Y-chromosomal analysis of Greek Cypriots reveals a primarily common pre-Ottoman paternal ancestry with Turkish Cypriots, by Alexandros Heraclides and colleagues, insists on the potential origin of R1b and R1a lineages in Greece from Indo-European migrations, albeit with strong regional (and thus most likely temporal) differences. From the article’s discussion:

Although the exact origins and migratory patterns of R1a and R1b are still under rigorous investigation, it seems that they are linked to Bronze Age migrations from the Western Eurasian Steppe and Eastern Europe into Southern (including Greece) and Western Europe[61]. Apparently, such

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Wiik’s theory about the spread of Uralic into east and central Europe, and the Uralic substrate in Germanic and Balto-Slavic

I recently wrote about how Wiik’s model was wrong in supporting a Mesolithic European Vasconic-Uralic harmony – genetically based on the modern distribution of R1b vs. N1c haplogroups -, and thus also the disruption of this harmony by Indo-Europeans (supposedly a population of R1a-lineages invading central Europe from a Balkan homeland).

Romanticism does this quite frequently: it makes us believe in some esoteric fantasy, like the ethnic continuity of our ancestors in the region we live (and a far, far greater original territory that has been unfairly diminished by invaders), providing us with strong links to support our artificial … Read the rest “Wiik’s theory about the spread of Uralic into east and central Europe, and the Uralic substrate in Germanic and Balto-Slavic”

Heyd, Mallory, and Prescott were right about Bell Beakers

Sometimes it is fun to read certain “old” papers. I have recently re-read some important papers that predicted what we are seeing now in aDNA analysis with surprising accuracy:

– Harrison & Heyd (2007): “We predict that future stable isotope and ancientDNA analyses of Beaker skeletal material will support our view that immigration played an important role in the Europe-wide Bell Beaker phenomenon”. – Duh, obvious, right? Wrong. Read the whole paper. It was already becoming a classic in the study of the Bell Beaker culture before the latest research on Bell Beaker aDNA, and it will be … Read the rest “Heyd, Mallory, and Prescott were right about Bell Beakers”

Indo-European demic diffusion model, 2nd edition, revised and updated

It has been three months since I published the first paper on the Indo-European demic diffusion model.

In the meantime, important pre-print papers with samples of Bell Beaker and South-Eastern European cultures compel me to add new data in support of the model. I have taken this opportunity to revise the whole text in a new paper, Indo-European demic diffusion model, 2nd edition, and also some of the maps of Indo-European migrations, which are now hosted in this blog.

I have made changes to some of the old blogs I had, like this one, … Read the rest “Indo-European demic diffusion model, 2nd edition, revised and updated”

Prometheus Engineer language in updated alternative version of A Grammar of Modern Indo-European

As we announced yesterday at Dnghu, our book A Grammar of Modern Indo-European, Third Edition has been revised, and the new version of the Proto-Indo-European lexicon has been added and it is available now online and printed at Amazon, without the Etymology section – it is therefore a cheaper, more handy manual.

But, more importantly, we have added a new section and published a parallel Prometheus Edition – Engineer language of the grammar, that includes unprecedented content with discussion of Prometheus’ recreated Late Proto-Indo-European dialect of the Prometheus/Alien/Predator fiction universe. There is also a printed version … Read the rest “Prometheus Engineer language in updated alternative version of A Grammar of Modern Indo-European”

New Edition of “A Grammar of Modern Indo-European” Published

A new full-revised version of Dnghu‘s main book, A Grammar of Modern Indo-European, Third Edition, has been published.

Details on the revision are found at the Indo-European Linguistics blog.

Information on this major release and all subsequent changes will be published at Dnghu’s site on Indo-European Language Grammar. Files containing Proto-Indo-European vocabulary will be found at the Proto-Indo-European lexicon‘s site.

If you like the files, please recommend them to your friends in your social networks!

The official site where all newest version’s files and formats published should be found will be from now on indo-european.info… Read the rest “New Edition of “A Grammar of Modern Indo-European” Published”

A Grammar of Modern Indo-European, Second Edition, published online, and its printed version available at Amazon

The latest version of A Grammar of Modern Indo-European, version 4, Second Printed Edition, was published online some days ago. It includes a lot of minor corrections, new examples and sections, and hundreds of pages of Indo-European words and their etymology. It is – as always – licensed under a dual CC-by-sa and GNU FDL.

It has been eventually approved for its printed version at Amazon, and is now available for purchase. The general features of the printed edition are as follows:

Page Count: 824
Price: 19.99$
Binding Type: US Trade Paper
Trim Size: 7″ x

… Read the rest

Accession of Turkey to the European Union: A Quick Reference of Common Pros and Cons

Spanish President (i.e. Prime Minister) José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero promised he will personally support Turkey’s accesion to the European Union for 2010, because – he says – “that great country has been waiting for too long at the doors of Europe”. That is probably a follow-up of his concept of the Alliance of Civilizations, which was created within the UN thanks to his personal promotion, mainly with the support from Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Common criticism to Turkey’s membership by Europeans include:

1. Turkey is not in Europe, and the European Union should only accept European

… Read the rest

About the European Union’s arcane language: the EU does seem difficult for people to understand

Mark Mardell asks in his post Learn EU-speak:

Does the EU shroud itself in obscure language on purpose or does any work of detail produce its own arcane language? Of course it is not just the lingo: the EU does seem difficult for people to understand. What’s at the heart of the problem?

His answer on the radio (as those comments that can be read in his blog) will probably look for complex reasoning on the nature of the European Union as an elitist institution, distant from real people, on the “obscure language” (intentionally?) used by MEPs, on … Read the rest “About the European Union’s arcane language: the EU does seem difficult for people to understand”