Saturday, September 06, 2025

The Indo-Europeans Rediscovered: How a Scientific Revolution is Rewriting Their Story

The Indo-Europeans Rediscovered: How a Scientific Revolution is Rewriting Their Story by J. P. Mallory

A mysterious group of "Indo Europeans" spoke a language that is the ancestor of almost half the world's native language. Where did this language come from? Where did the people live? Depending on how the facts are analyzed, very different conclusions can be drawn. Add in desire of some groups to show their ethnic superiority, and things get even more complicated. This book looks at various theories that have been proposed and why they are good and bad. I especially appreciated the examples given with "historical" language. Using some of the techniques used to locate the Indo-Europeans, you could get very misleading locations for the original English or Latin speakers. There are many possible options for a homeland. Is one of them valid? Or are there many? Alas, we don't have an answer sheet.

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