>>Proto-Indo-European Religion<<

1. SKY GOD
2. THUNDER GOD
3. WAR GOD
4. KINGSHIP GOD
5.EARTH GODDESS
6.FATE GODDESS
7.LOVE GODDESS
8.MARRIAGE GODDESS
9.NATURAL POWER GOD
10.FOREST/ANIMAL GOD
11.UNDERWORLD GOD
12.PSYCHOPOMP
13.MYSTERY KNOWLEDGE
14.SEA GOD
15.LIGHT/HARMONY GOD
16.FIRE GODDESS
17.WIND GOD
18.MOON GOD
19.SUN GOD
20.DAWN GODDESS
21.DIVINE TWINS
22.LOVE GOD
23.CRAFTSMANSHIP GOD
24.MEDICINE GOD

Generally, GODS and GODDESSES merge over the ages. Given this as a general rule, when looking at the more recent Indo-European mythologies, one will find a total of 24 main gods (in general)

As in the descendant mythologies (religions), each god serves many purposes, both in worship and in everyday life. Amazon.com has a few books which, if you so desire, may allow you to go back to the religion of the "ultimate" ancestors of today's Europeans (save the small Finno-Urgic population: Finland, Hungary, Estonia, and the Basques in Spain) to some degree.

Note: this isn't an attempt to prosletyze, just an attempt to inform you of basically what I have learnt so far from books and webpages on the topic. Not much, unfortunately...

 

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The only ones I know are

Tapio. Finnish God of forest
Xev. Goddess of sciforums.

 

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Joeman: as I stated in my post, Finns are not Indo-Europeans. Generally, I think many people will better recognise Greek gods/goddesses: Helios, sun god, Pan, forest/animal god, etc.

 

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What the hell is Indo European and what is the big deal?

 

Indo-European is used most of the time to refer to the peoples, languages, religions, and cultures of Europe, greater Persia, India, and some parts of Turkestan that have evolved from a common source believed by some to have originated somewhere in Latvia (or maybe it was Lithuania?), but in light of more recent evidence more people believe it came from Turkey in what used to be Anatolia, or somewhere in between the two (some have strange ideas such as placing the origin at Xinjiang Uyghur, the northwesternmost province of China where the Tocharians (an ancient Indo-European peoples that have long since died out) are believed to have once lived, or in Sinai or even in continental Egypt, or in northern Finland.

To give you a general idea of this group:

-Albanian
Albanian
-Anatolian (extinct)
Hittite
Luvian
-Armenian
Armenian
-Baltic
Latvian
Lithuanian
Old Prussian (now extinct)
-Celtic
Welsh
Breton
Irish
Scottish
Celtiberian (aka Gaulish, now extinct)
-Germanic
Icelandic
Norwegian
Faeroese
Danish
Swedish
Frisian
Dutch
English (Modern English, however, gets about 1/2 of the vocabulary from Old Norman French)
German
-Hellenic
Greek
-Indo-Iranian
Romany (gypsy)
Hindustani (Hindi/Urdu)
Punjabi
Marathi
Gujarati
Bengali
Assamese
Kashmiri
Farsi (Persian)
Kurdish
Pushtu (Pashto)
Baluchi
-Italic
Latin (now extinct)
French
Provençal
Portuguese
Spanish
Catalan
Italian
Romansch
Romanian
Faliscan (now extinct)
-Slavic
Belarusian
Russian
Ukrainian
Macedonian
Bulgarian
Serbo-Croatian
Slovene
Kashubian
Polish
Sorb
Czech
Slovak
-Thracian (now extinct)
Thracian
-Tocharian (now extinct)
Tocharian A
Tocharian B

These people's original homelands reach from Portugal in the West, Nepal in the East (unless one considers the extinct Tocharian), India in the South, and Iceland in the North. If one considers where these people are the majority today, they'll find many others in America, Asia, Africa, and Australia/Pacific.

Proto-Indo-European refers to the people that came BEFORE all these people, their common ancestors. The language of the Proto-Indo-Europeans has been reconstructed, as has the religion (to some extent) and parts of the culture.

I find it strange that you ask what the big deal is-- what's the big deal about Christianity? What's the big deal about Atheism? Why does anybody study Greek mythology, or Roman mythology, and to a lesser extent Celtic, Baltic (see Avatar's topic in Latvian Paganism), and Slavic mythology? Personally, I don't see why we call these mythology as we don't have any less proof of these than we do of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, or Atheism. So why do we regard them as myths, as opposed to religions?

 

Well, I took several courses in anthropology in college. I have never heard of Indo-European. We all come from Africa originally. The truth is nobody knows what happened in between then and pre-historic Europe. I was surprised you have to seperate out Finland from whatever term you are trying to define.

 

Joeman-- people do know what happened IN prehistoric Europe, to some extent.

And you're surprised I separate Finland? Why? While Finland may be a part of Europe, their genes, their language, and their culture are clearly of Uralic origins (while you can find Swedish loans in all 3, they aren't nearly as numerous as their Uralic counterparts-- plus, it's in the right area: Uralic languages and cultures are also in Estonia, which is fairly close, as well as the Ural mountain range in the former Soviet Union.

 

Well, so is Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

 

Hungary and Estonia, yes, they're Uralic nations/peoples.

However, Latvia and Lithuania form their own distinct branch of Indo-European language/culture/genetics, the Baltic branch. Their language as well as religion (not their modern religion which is basically everybody is Christian, but rather the old pagan traditions) can be traced to a common source some 5000 years back, as can all other Indo-European languages/cultures/religions/genetic groups. However some groups split later than others: Celtic and Italic split off from the group as one branch, but later formed two distinct branches. It's thought that Baltic, Slavic, Germanic, and Indo-Iranian (plus a few smaller ones) form the part of the group that stayed after the Celto-Italics left, the Balts stayed put (according to the most popular theory), the Slavs moved south, the Germanics moved north, and the Indo-Iranians moved extreme southeast (so as to reach Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Iran, the Kurdish parts of the Mideast such as eastern Iraq and eastern Turkey, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan is Central Asia)

Often Baltic and Slavic languages/cultures/peoples/religions are grouped into a somewhat wider grouping under the Indo-European family, Balto-Slavic (of which each is a subgroup) as they're so similar.

 

Yeah, except there hundreds of different versions and they change their stories once a month

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rofl. Yeah.

Generally they just change the details, but actually it's more like this:

different experts maintain different positions, but they generally keep the same position throughout their career, or at least a large part of it.

 

Just thought to bring this to the top and add a little insight as more people might be interested.

The original Indo-Europeans were cattle herders, and there is dental evidence of horse domestication (bits)

The Indo-European peoples deeply interest me 1. because they are the common link between all my ancestors 2. they are mysterious to some degree 3. they are fairly ancient 4. they have a fascinating language and culture

Generally the evidence that has been found of them so far is called evidence of the Stredny Stog culture. It's been found between the Oder River, the Elbe River, and the Vistula River in Ukraine. However many people think that the Indo-Europeans actually lived in Anatolia. Some people think that these were actually two branches of the same people and that they existed in both places.

 

GB-GIL,

One thing I'm finding rather strange. If you're positing common genetic heritage for Europeans and Indians, then there's only 5000 years (about 250 generations' worth) of time for them to develop such differences in phenotype (skin color, facial features, etc.) I find it just a tad unlikely, to put it mildly.

Maybe there was some genetic mixing, but claiming the original Indo-European civilization as a common ancestor is over the top, IMHO. At least genetically speaking.

Otherwise, fascinating stuff.

 

First of all, this isn't a theory. It's fact. (well, basically)

When I say Indians-- I'm referring to East Indians. Not Native Americans. Just wanted to clear that up.

Then there's something else-- the heat in the South Asian subcontinent caused the rapid darkening of the skin of these people. If the same happened for Europeans (ie Germanics, Italics, Hellenics, Celtics, Slavics, Baltics, etc.) but in the other direction, I certainly think this darkening of skin is possible. Do you not propose a common root for the peoples of Scandinavia and the peoples of southern Italy, perhaps 3000 years ago? These people have different skin colours.

In a modern population skin colours don't change nearly as much as we have modern technologies that remove the need for this survival of the man with the best skin colour (ie whichever best suits the sun), but then when people spent much time outside, such things happened much more rapidly. When the Aryans first arrived, it's said that they were still light-skinned people and that they actually discriminated against those people already living there for having darker skin.

 

Chill, I'm not questioning the linguistics or the cultural history, only your assertions of biological "ancestry".

I know which Indians you are referring to.

Heat has nothing to do with it. Genetics and (possibly) natural selection do. They work over time spans much longer than 5000 years. Eskimos (and similar peoples) have dark skin and Asian features; they lived in the arctic for tens of thousands of years. Homo Sapiens is at least 100,000 years old (that is very conservative, based exclusively on already known dated remains.) Civilizations existed all over the Old World 10, 20, 30, 50 thousand years ago.

There can be mixing of populations (hence common alleles), but I severely doubt common descent in this case. Of course, ultimately we are all descended form a single animal. But Europeans and Indians cannot have such an immediate ancestral relationship as you propose.

 

Overdoze, this isn't something I propose, it's something that experts propose and I support. MOST experts propose this, and I support it. So go read a book.

 

References? (Esp. online ones, please.)

 

Well, here I am. Alive indo-european, pure latvian as long my tree has been traced. No experiments allowed.

In our country to this day lives a small minority of Livi. They come from the same group as Estonians and Scandinavians. THey lived in this country before Balts came to these regions. (archeological excavations of pottery confirm that).
There are two most know theories from which place Indo-Europeans (including Balts) came from. One is that they originated by the Balkan mountins , other is that they originated in India. Scientists have been studying our languages (Latvian and Lithuininan) because they are thought of as the most ancient and unchanged in Europe and have a visible relation with the Indian old language. Some words are even writen almost the same, not speaking of pronauncination.
I tend to agree the Balkan theory. Can't really explain why.

why thank you GB-GIL Trans-global

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I'm flattered.

You won't believe how many pagans there are in our country. Of course there are much christians also, but not that much. Our culture is actually quite good preserved and old fests traditions are kept alive and celebrated nation wide. Paganism is quite alive in our country. It wouldn't have been so if the germans who finally conquored our country in some 1390 were smarter and tought christianity in the local language. They did it in latin, so nobody understood it anyway and it was like that till the 1800. In 1850 indepoendence movement began , so the old traditions have never really been forgotten. Also we have a large collection of "Dainas" (ancient latvian folk songs that were writen down in 1900s. and they tell a lot about the ancient customs , habits way of life). Amazingly they are sang to this day also. When on excursions or simply going camping with friends (we are yound , computer generation people) we still sing those songs, and not because we are much into pagan ways or smth, they are a part of our culture and are somehow sticked deep in our consciousness. I'm somehow afraid that with the joining with the EU , globalization may badly affect our traditions and somehow preserved culture.

 

DAINAS - ANCIENT FOLKSONGS OF LATVIA

DAINAS - ANCIENT FOLKSONGS OF LATVIA

Did you know that the ancient Latvians, like the Scots, had bagpipes? or that weaving patterns in Scottish tartans have great similarities to ancient Latvian plaids? The pictured Latvian plaid is nearly identical to an ancient Tocharian plaid - ancient European mummies of which have been found in China. Did these ancient peoples share a common origin? [For the linguistic tartans compare Latvian terpins, dim. for terps meaning "tartan", all probably derived from a term similar to Latvian dariba, darina (drana), darita, daritins meaning "worked (product)"), whence Latvian drebes "cloth" and English drapes. The Scottish kilt compares to Latvian kleita ("dress").]

It is perhaps not without reason that Paul Dunbavin, in his book Picts and Ancient Britons: An Exploration of Pictish Origins, suggests on the basis of still further evidence, "that the Picts were ... immigrants from the Baltic." Looking back even further in time, archaeology and a study of ancient skull types clearly shows similar Mesolithic humans (ca. 8000 BC) among the Magdalenians (the cave painters of Lascaux, France), the ancient people of Normandy, Scandinavia, the middle European lowland and Latvia. See Raisa Denisova, The Most Ancient Population of Latvia and Ilze Loze, Indo-Europeans in the Eastern Baltic in the View of an Archaeologist.

Hence, the culture and traditions of the Baltic peoples take on a greater importance for those who wish to study the origins of the cultures of the British Isles and of Western Civilization.

One of the important remnants of ancient Baltic culture is formed by the DAINAS. The word "DAINAS" in Latvian is pronounced exactly like the English "DYNAS" in DYNASTY. The Dainas are unique ancient Latvian "folksongs in verse form - originally intended to be sung". The Dainas relate epic, mythical, astronomical and cultural information. One such verse or "Daina" generally consists of four lines of unrhymed trochaic text (one long syllable followed by one short syllable, etc.).

The Dainas have been passed down over the millennia by oral tradition and cover all aspects of ancient Baltic life, mythology and astronomy. Dainas are called Dainos in Lithuania - where they are far less frequent. In Latvia, the Dainas are most frequent in the highlands. Comparables to the Dainas outside the Baltic are perhaps only found in ancient Mesopotamia in the most ancient Sumerian and Akkadian pantheon. An example is the Agushaya Hymn (Agushaya possibly = Latvian Augðaja "(on) the highest"), an ancient song text which was the dissertation subject of Orientalist Wolfram von Soden, who at that time could not have been aware of any possible Baltic connection. A number of lines in the Sumerian-Akkadian Agushaya Hymn bear strong similarity to texts STILL found nearly unaltered in the Latvian Dainas.

As noted by Hans Rychener, in his book "...und Estland, Lettland, Litauen?", Herbert Lang, Berlin, 1975, p. 24: "The myths of the Lithuanians and Latvians...remind one of the belief systems of the ancient Hindus and Greeks."

Robert Payne, in "The Green Linden, Selected Lithuanian Folk-songs", Voyages Press, N.Y., 1964, writes: "The dainos...represent a form of poetry as ancient as anything on this earth.... They have a beauty and pure primitive splendor above anything I know in Western literature, except the early songs of the Greek Islanders. They seem to have been written at the morning of the world, and the dew is still on them."

Hermanis Rathfelders, in his many writings in Acta Baltica, wrote that the Latvian Dainas were extremely ancient, preceding the milling of grain, so that the mythological and astronomical Dainas may reach back many thousands of years in time.

Oral Tradition and the Dainas

The Dainas as ancient verses were handed down through oral tradition from generation to generation in Latvia, often at great cost.

During one stage of German occupation of Latvia in the 16th century, women caught reciting the Dainas were burned at the stake as witches, which only solidified the cultural resistance more than ever.

In the 18th century the famous German writers Johann Gottfried von Herder and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe devoted serious attention to the Latvian Dainas, which surely helped to generate Herder's interest in his later "Essay on the Origin of Language", as well as "Oldest Records of the Human Race" and his collection of Folk Songs ("Volkslieder").

Through his contact with the Latvian Dainas, Herder may also have developed his theory that the poetry of legend was the "soul of history" - or, as written in the Encyclopaedia Britannica "[Herder] considered poetry to spring from the natural and historical environment" of man. At the end of his life, Herder was thus a great opponent of the modern developing "classical movement" in German literature, which estranged poetry from its place as a historical record, leading to a modern misinterpretation of antique sources which has persisted down to the present day, not just in Mesopotamia, but also in the misinterpretation of the Dainas.

Kriðjanis Barons and the Dainas

In 1878 a group of Latvian intellectuals in Moscow decided to collect and publish the "best" of the Latvian Dainas, not fully realizing the immensity of the task before them. They had no idea that so many Dainas existed. The last volume of their collection, Latvju Dainas, was thus in fact published in St. Petersburg only 40 years later. [See Archives of Latvian Folklore]

The best known of the three initial "collectors" of Dainas is Kriðjanis Barons, who was the main coordinator of the project to collect, classify and publish the Dainas. Barons was born on October 31, 1835 in Latvia. He attended schools in Dundaga (German Dondangen), Kurzeme (German Kurland viz. Courland), Ventspils (German Windau) and Jelgava (German Mitau). From 1856 to 1860 he studied mathematics and astronomy in Tartu (German Dorpat), Estonia (German Estland). When Barons passed away on March 8, 1923, he was celebrated by thousands as a national hero, for having collected 35,800 Dainas, including 182,000 variants, for a total of 217,800 verses.

But this was not the end of the matter. Collection of Dainas continued through the 20th century, and there are now a total of ca. 2,000,000 (two million) collected verses, counting variants. As written by Vilmos Voigt, it is the greatest such collection of ancient folksongs in the world - and yet the population of Latvians in Latvia has never exceeded 2,000,000 people, so this must be a very old tradition.

Barons dealt with the Dainas over decades and thus began to understand their essence. He wisely organized the Dainas according to the events of the mythical, astronomical and agricultural year - to which their content is in fact well suited and from which they surely originated. One of the Dainas even speaks of "ice hills" - perhaps glaciers of the most recent glacial period - so that the Dainas may be among the oldest human records.

Dainas were grouped by assigned subject matter and each "basic unique" Daina was assigned a number starting with 1 and today reaching about 60,000, not counting the variants, which bring the total to well over 2,000,000. This classification system is retained on this web site.

A new edition of the Dainas is being prepared by linguists in Latvia according to a new system of classification [See LTK, "Das bäuerliche Jahr im Volkslied", Deutsche Tagespost, No. 85, p. 10, July 16, 1985]. If the new system departs from the ancient scheme of calendric feasts and astronomical events in favor of "modern" views of poetry (such as Herder correctly opposed) - the new compilation may well be less "authentic" than the older versions, and thus less useful for historical study. But we shall see.

I just wanted to add that new Dainas are created by our nation, so those aren't dead songs/tradition.
I myself have created several ones.

moe on dainas->
http://www.latinst.lv/dainas.htm#Role

dainas on cd's (if anyone ever interested)
http://www.latviansonline.com/diski/diski-folk02.shtml

 

INDO-EUROPEANS IN THE EASTERN BALTIC IN THE VIEW OF AN ARCHAEOLOGIST

Ilze Loze

INDO-EUROPEANS IN THE EASTERN BALTIC IN THE VIEW OF AN ARCHAEOLOGIST



The prehistoric appearance of Indo-Europeans in the Eastern Baltic region is generally thought to be linked with the establishment of the first pre-Baltic and early Baltic territory. This process has been studied both on the bases of archaeological materials and on the basis of the territory in which Baltic hydronyms are found.1 There has been a search for specific components that may have contributed to the establishment of Indo-European linguistic groups, archaeological or other cultural groups, or various anthropological types.2

A key element in the Indo-europeanization of the Eastern Baltic, as well as territories to its East and Southeast, was definitely the appearance of Corded Ware culture,3 an element which has still not lost its significance in this region.4

One hypothesis about the arrival of Indo-Europeans in the Eastern Baltic, Belarus and Central Russia has been proposed by Marija Gimbutas, who has pointed to the Baltic Littoral Piemare culture as the nucleus of Western Baltic culture while linking the beginnings of Eastern Balts with the Middle Dnieper, Fatjanovo and Balanovo cultural groups. She also accepts the idea that bearers of Globular Amphora culture participated in this process.5 The Indo-europeanization of the Eastern Baltic has been seen as part of a larger process of Indo-europeanization in Europe.6 Links have been drawn with the three-phase expansion of bearers of the Kurgan culture from the steppes of the Black Sea shores and the forested steppes of Ukraine toward Middle Europe (between 4400 and 2800 BC). From there, the second cradle of Indo-Europeans, these people saw the transformation of Globural Amphora, Corded Ware and Baden-Vuchedol cultures and continued their movement to the South and the North, as well as to the Northeast. This hypothesis is based on the identification of a specific economic regime, point out that the bearers of Indo-Europeanization were semi-nomadic and pastoral in their survival strategy. A different economic model is at the basis of a second hypothesis about Indo-Europeanization and its genesis 6,500 years before Christ (there have been calibrated datings of radioactive carbon), when the earliest representatives of land cultivation survival strategies began to migrate gradually from Asia Minor (Anatolia) through the Balkans toward Middle Europe and then on toward the North.7

Another hypothesis has emerged more recently and involves placing a center of Neolithization in the region of the Dnieper rapids, utilizing archaeological and genetic arguments and specifying the biological transformation of populations in the region well before any Anatolia impact in the Balkans.8

These and other issues of Indo-europeanization, as well as their link with Neolithization, are fairly important in contemporary scientific literature. The purpose of this article is to look at the true possibilities which exist to find answers to these questions in light of the various discoveries that have been made in the Eastern Baltic region over the last several decades.

In this connection, the first issue that must be reviewed is economic changes in the region which occurred between 3300 and 2000 BC, in order to be able to evaluate the role of these changes in the process of Indo-europeanization.

The Indo-European question in Eastern Baltic

( A view of an archeologist)

Figure captions: Corded ware cultures (CWC) 1 - the earliest and early stage of CWC, 2- the distribution of stray finds of the aerliest and early CWC, 3 - Estonian CWC, 4 - Piemare culture (Rzucewo, Haffküsten -kultur), 5- Kujavska- East Poland culture, 6 - Zlota, 7- Lubacewska, 8- Fatjanovo and 9 - Middle Dnieper culture.

The appearance of land cultivation

A reconstruction of the vocabulary used by Proto-indoeuropeans shows that they were herders and farmers who were familiar with the plow, who raised wheat and flax, and who were familiar with horses, bulls, pigs and sheep.9

The appearance of land cultivation and associated processes is among the most widely discussed topics in the literature. The question is of importance in the Eastern Baltic, where only research done in the last several decades (including interdisciplinary research) has provided a look at this economic sector in its earliest phase.

We can specify and model the process whereby agriculture came to the Eastern Baltic by accepting that the process was peaceful and grounded in impulses gained from farmers in southwestern territories.10

An expression of this economic system can be found in the use of early agricultural tools to clear forestland, plow and loosen the earth, gather crops and grind grain, as well as in the discovery of cereal and hemp grains in the cultural strata of the Neolithic period.

The Lubâna lake basin in Eastern Latvia, as well as the Ðventoji lagoon and Nida on the Lithuanian shoreline are the main regions where early agricultural efforts were made. These processes must be linked closely to changes in the social structure, ideology and language of society at that time. The Neolithic cultures of these regions, which during the process of Neolithization were representatives of the Post-Narva, Globular Amphora and Corded Ware cultures, drawing some influence from the Funnel Beaker culture; it is from their cultural environment that specialists have been able to draw conclusions about changes which occurred in that period.

If we accept that agriculture initially arrived in the Lubâna lake basin as the result of diffusion, with local Post-Narva tribes acquiring skills from the Funnel Beaker culture,11 then we must give a different interpretation to the early agricultural activities of settlements in the Ðventoji lagoon and Nida area. In that case these activities must be linked to the activities of bearers of the Globular Amphora culture who brought new forms of agriculture to the people of the Post-Narva culture.12

Archaeological attributes (specific flint-thin butted axes, wooden hoes, earth looseners made of animal horns, flint sickle-shaped knives, grindstones and stone mortars and pestles), as well as the presence of wheat and hemp pollen in the spore-pollen spectra at a region in the Lubâna lake basin where Neolithic settlements were particularly concentrated (the Zvidze settlement), all suggest that land cultivation efforts were first implemented in the region ca. 3300-3000 BC.13

The discovery of wooden plows, stone hoes and other agricultural tools, as well as seeds from Italian millet two-grain wheat and hemp, meanwhile, suggests that early land cultivation was a fundamental branch of economic activity along the Lithuanian shoreline at a later time (ca. 3030-2580 BC).14

The aforementioned Funnel Beaker culture (which spread across a territory that reached from the Netherlands to Poland and from Germany to Denmark and Sweden) and the later Globular Amphora culture, which covered the northern part of Middle Europe, were both cultures in which people maintained an agrarian or an agrarian pastoral economic system.

There are various views with respect to the economic structure of the Corded Ware cultures which participated in the Neolithization of the Eastern Baltic. Some authors have accepted that in Middle Europe, these people were land cultivators,15 but others deny this, suggesting instead that these were nomadic and pastoral peoples. This latter idea has gained increasing credence in Europe. In order to gain a better idea of the role of this specific culture in the Neolithization process, let us first point to the changes which this culture brought into the cultural environment of Neolithic residents of the Eastern Baltic.

Until now the economy of the Corded Ware culture in the Eastern Baltic has been described mostly as an agrarian and pastoral economy, even though there has been no emphasis on any specific indicators in explaining the implementation of land cultivation.16

Archaeologists more recently have made discoveries, among them grindstones used to grind cereal seeds (both upper and lower stones were found at a rate of some 40 per 100 m2 at Abora, in the Lubâna lake basin), stone mortars and pestles, and manual grindstones (large lower stones). This suggests that during the time between 3000/2897 - 2300/2100 BC, initial land cultivation skills came into the middle part of the Eastern Baltic region.17 It is possible that this process was stimulated by the arrival of early bearers of the Corded Ware culture into the cultural territory of the Post-Narva culture in the Lubâna lake basin.18 Here, as in the territory of the Piemare culture in coastal Lithuania, they established a local cultural group with new elements, especially in terms of a special sort of clay ware that has become known as corded ware. However, the Corded Ware culture preserved earlier types of tools, including flint arrows and spear tips, as well as stone battle axes of the shafthole type.19 It can be assumed that it was in this period (around 3000-2500 BC) that early agricultural processes began to stabilize gradually.20

However, the hemp, wheat and oats, as well as millet and flax, which were grown by the later Piemare culture in coastal Lithuania (along the shore of the Ðventoji lagoon and in Nida) suggest that this economic sector was intensified in the period between ca 2400 and 1960 BC.21

These facts, which have been learned in the last several years, indicate that the Eastern Baltic became part of the early agricultural zone much sooner than had been assumed previously, as much as 800 years earlier. The link with specific Neolithic cultures allows specialists to view this process on a common Neolithization background, marking the gradual nature of the process, as well as the order in which grain cultures were introduced.

In other words, if the Proto-indoeuropeans really engaged in land cultivation, then the appearance of the Proto-indoeuropeans in the Eastern Baltic could not have happened earlier than the aforementioned dates.

The domestication of horses

The horse appeared as a domesticated ritual animal in Rigveda, and the sacrifice of horses was a central ritual in Vedic mythology.22

The presence of domesticated horses in the Eastern Baltic territory of the Corded Ware culture has been probably confirmed by the discovery (at the Abora site in the Lubâna lake basin) of a single-hole bridle cheek piece made of horn. That suggests that people learned to ride horses in the period between ca 3000/2800 and 2300/2200 BC.23

Archaeologists have found the presence of 17 horses in late Neolithic settlements in the Lubâna lake lowlands of the middle region of the Eastern Baltic. Archaeological finds at these settlements (Abora, Lagaþa, et al), their link to the larger complex of the Corded Ware culture, as well as the discovery of horse bones in the northwestern part of Lithuania (Ðkarnale, Daktariðke and Doòkalnis) and at the Nida settlement in Kursius split, all mean that there can be no doubting the domestication of these animals.24

Domesticated horses have also been discovered near burial grounds from the Corded Ware culture in the Middle Dnieper region (the first burial mound at the Païika gravesite near Hodosovich, and in the 82nd burial mound of the Streïica burial grounds).25 In the area of the Fatjanovo culture, by comparison, domesticated horses have been found only in burial grounds from a later historical period (Volosovo-Daòilovka, Balanovo).26

Neither in the Eastern Baltic nor in the aforementioned Corded Ware culture territory, however, have scientists found any indication that domesticated horses prevailed over other types of household animals, as was the case in the Srednij Stoga settlement from the Aeneolithic period and the Bronze Age, as well as at a cult location at Dereivka. Animal skulls found there had structural specifics which made it possible to compare them to the skulls of tapan s, thus discovering that the animals in question were domesticated.27 This research has also allowed specialists to propose a hypothesis that there were two territories in southeastern Europe in which domesticated horses could be found—the eastern and the western territory, the latter of which had a relatively low percentage of domesticated horses, while the former had a percentage as high as 80% in some locations. This suggests that domesticated horses may have come to the western territory from the eastern region.

Classic osteological and microscopic analysis of the tooth structure of horses, as well as semiotic analysis of zoomorphic images, point to another center where horses were domesticated—the Kukuteni-Tripolye cultural territory in southeastern Europe in the 5th and 4th millennia BC.28

The Indo-European protolexicon contained a term for horse, which makes it possible that the animal was known among early Indo-Europeans. The fact that discoveries of horse bones in Anatolia or in Greece have never been dated earlier than 4000-3000 BC, however, has allowed historical linguists to access paleo-osteological skills in concluding that the Proto-indoeuropean linguistic continuum did not end sooner than ca 2500 BC.29

It is important that people from the later phases of the Srednij Stoga Aeneolithic and Bronze Age culture were the most ancient users of corded impressions on clay surfaces, and these impressions have been interpreted as signs of the great importance which cords had among people of that time (cords were used to tame horses and oxen, to prepare harnesses, etc.).30 Later these impressions were taken over by every single Corded Ware culture group in Europe.

The role of the horse in the Fatjanovo Corded Ware culture territory was probably assistance in herding livestock, which suggests that the people from this culture had methods for livestock herding that were typical of forest eco-systems and that were not nomadic or pastoral in nature.31 The role of the livestock herder was particularly important. Herders were often buried with their dogs.

Judging from the wear on the pre-molar teeth of a stallion found at the Srednij Stoga Dereivka settlement from the Aeneolithic and Bronze Age, people rode horses extensively and regularly—perhaps as much as 5 hours a day for 70 days straight.32

The discovery of this domestication of horses in the aforementioned eastern regions of southeastern Europe allows us to assume that horses were domesticated by all Corded Ware cultures in Eastern Europe, including those of the Eastern Baltic, and this suggests that specialists should think again about the type of economic regime which the bearers of Corded Ware culture and their successors had in the Eastern European forests and steppes.

The horse, as a means for moving quickly and suddenly during livestock herding and at other times, nevertheless was not always used in the Corded Ware culture territory as a tamed animal. The small number of animals found at the settlements of the Lubâna lake lowlands (17 animals) suggests that horses were also eaten.

Ideology and social organization

Initial implementation of farming, as well as early taming of horses and other animals, brought along with them a certain amount of ideological change. Symbols were replaced, and rituals common to agricultural and livestock-tending communities were instituted.

Changes in the ideological sphere brought with them the implementation of solar and lunar symbols, as well as those of the Taurus constellation (this has been found in amber and bone jewelry).33 These were linked to the observation of the cycles of the agrarian calendar, especially the time for spring sowing of crops.34 The last of these symbols has been found throughout Europe, especially in the continent's southern reaches—Peloponesia, Tesalia, et al.35

These symbols of Neolithization appeared in particularly great numbers when the bearers of Corded Ware culture began to arrive in the area. During this period, people mass-produced round jewelry of bone with ridged edges (a solar symbol), as well as moon-shaped pendants (lunar symbol) and women's ornaments in the form of round amber pendants (the Tauran symbol).36 These symbols replaced local cultural traditions and have been found not only in the central part of eastern Latvia (the Lubâna lake basin), but also in the Kursius split (Jodkrante). The symbol for a sown field was a rhomboid figure with a circular impression in its middle that was placed on the surface of clay pots, as well as other specific impressions which are reminiscent of similar symbols found in the Kukuteni-Tripolye cultural territory, and this evidences the rural nature of these symbols.

There have been several discoveries of the economic attributes of farmers and livestock herders in the Neolithic period in the Eastern Baltic, among them evidence that the ox was a ritual animal, which are of particular interest in the context of comparative or historical linguistics. Among them are a model of an ox cart that has been found at Ðventoji 4 in coastal Lithuania,37 as well as a series of amber ornaments produced by bearers of the Globular Amphora culture which contained elements reminiscent of a wagon and which, on the basis of fairly rational images found in Scandinavian cave drawings, can be deemed to represent a team of harnessed oxen.38 This reminds us of the investment which historical linguists have made in reconstructing the environment and language of the Proto-indoeuropeans, because the word for "wagon" can be found in all six of the early Indo-European languages.39

The aforementioned model of an ox cart was carved of wood, and its size did not exceed 0.58 meters. Specialists have also found traces of ox horn at the place where the harness was fastened.40

Changes in symbolism also occurred in the themes of zoomorphic bone and horn sculptures. Figural representations of grass snakes and bears (Abora, Tamula), as well as beavers (Abora) and other animals have been found.41

Inhabitants from this period also carried ornaments fashioned from the tusks of wild boar. These ornaments were placed into people's graves when they were buried.42 Split boar tusks were also used to shape figures of birds and beavers (Abora, Eiòi).

The earliest anthropomorphal clay figure that has been found depicted a woman (Ièa), while the oldest anthropomorphal horn sculpture was of an athletic man (Abora).

When agriculture came to the region, changes also occurred in the social sphere. A group of community members emerged who were buried with a variety of special burial attributes, including stone battle axes, ornamented shields for the protection of the hands, and laces of amber beads. The fact that this status could be inherited along patriarchal lines is evidenced by the fact that special attributes have also been found in the graves of small children, including amber pendants and amber carvings of snakes at Abora, as well as a carving of a bear in a grave at the Tamula settlement.43

Changes in language

The Indo-europeanization of the Eastern Baltic region cannot be seen in full only on the basis of archaeological materials. A review of the cultural groups in the region must also be done.

The appearance of a new type of economy, i.e., of Neolithization, in the westernmost reaches of the forest zone of Eastern Europe, including the Eastern Baltic, and all of the consequences which this process brought in terms of ideology and social structure, may all be linked with the spread of Indo-European languages. This is all the more likely because the process involved the very earliest communities of farmers and livestock herders, who established contacts among themselves or who were late arrivals in the local Eastern Baltic cultural environment, bringing with them gradual changes in language.

If we accept that the implementation of agriculture in the area occurred gradually, that it started in the eastern part of Latvia (the Lubâna lake basin) between 3300 and 3000 BC, and that somewhat later (3030-2580 BC) it came to the Ðventoji lagoon of coastal Lithuania, albeit with a different social structure, including wooden hand plows and models of ox carts, then we can conclude that Indo-europeanization may also have occurred in a gradual fashion. It brought technical innovation in a variety of areas, and this allowed local communities to expand their vocabularies, either changing existing terminology or accepting completely new words.

Changes in language are modeled in various ways in the archaeological literature—as demographic expansion, as domination of an elite, etc. Some authors feel that changes in language may also be indicative of social strategy.44

Most recently specialists have moved away from the divergence of language in the traditional understanding of the term and have instead begun to look at the convergence of language, i.e., the gradual change in language which occurs when outside contacts are made.45 This approach may offer greater opportunities to interpret the process in the archaeological sphere: There have already been attempts to link the spread of Indo-European languages directly with the arrival of agriculture and livestock herding, as had previously happened among hunters and gatherers who established contacts with Neolithic culture representatives who had an agricultural or an agricultural and pastoral lifestyle. This thesis has been extensively argumented and has been accepted in previous research.46

It must be pointed out, however, that this is only one of a number of possible routes by which we can study the Indo-European issue. Research of the implementation of agriculture and livestock tending in the Eastern European forest zone has become active only recently, and along with innovations in the social and ideological sphere, we may also discover new opportunities to model changes in language.

The fact that the center of Neolithization moved to the Dnieper rapids region47 means that we must devote far more attention to the Dnieper river than has been done until now. The fact that regions of the Middle Dnieper and the Upper Dnieper were subjected to processes of Indo-europeanization has been discussed in the literature extensively, but the question remains whether the process perhaps did not occur only by way of central Europe, instead coming directly up the Dnieper river.

Given that linguistic and economic changes can be viewed together (this has been accepted in the Indo-europeanization models proposed by M. Gimbutas and C. Renfrew) we must note that the Indo-europeanization of the Eastern Baltic was not concluded by representatives of Globular Amphora and Corded Ware culture who arrived in the region. Their successors, who were representatives of hybrid cultures from the Piemare region in coastal Lithuania and the Lubâna lake basin (people who had a specific method of manufacturing and ornamentation corded ware), continued the process through the Aeneolithic period, as well as the early Bronze Age, because the permanent implementation of the new economic branch could only have happened in that period. In that case the process may also have involved other cultures from the period, including the Northern Belarussian culture which has been found at some settlements near the Lubâna lake basin, as well as the Marjanov culture from the Middle Dnieper. These cultures appeared in the archaeological map of Eastern Europe quite recently, and chronologically they correspond to the period of the Bell Beaker culture in Central and Western Europe. Perhaps it is this period in the forest zone of Eastern Europe which contains new possibilities in resolving the Indo-European question. We must not, however, forget that in addition to the ancient Indo-Europeans, the territory in question also hosted Finno-Ugric cultures and their successors.

There is some evidence that a new cultural unit was established in the Eastern Baltic forest zone in the early period of the Bronze Age.48 Specialists have pointed to the appearance of ceramic ware with signs of the Fatjanovo culture in late Volosovo culture settlements between the Volga and the Oka basin (more recently this has been deemed an example of Saghar ceramic ware), and to the fact that a special Saghar culture was established in the Middle Oka basin which had technological and ornamental methods reminiscent of the Fatjanovo Corded Ware culture.49 It is also true that these elements spread to the Lubâna lake basin,50 to settlements in Northern Belarus,51 and to the left shore of the Polesje (the Desna, Seima and Soþa basin), as well as its right shore (the Pripet basin).52 These cultures established a cultural and historical situation which quite possibly provided a greater or lesser framework for the further spread of Indo-europeanization.