PROTO INDO-EUROPEAN | EURASIATIC | NOSTRATIC

The Indo-European pre-proto-language originated in a homeland in Eurasia by a collection of semi-nomadic clans and pastoral tribes which more or less could understand each other (approx 6th Millennium BCE). As such, we might better conceive of Pre-Proto Indo-European as a group of related dialects which evolved from one group* ( Indo-Uralic ) of another ( Uralo-Siberian ) group of an earlier ( Eurasiatic) group of the proposed primitive Nostratic parent language macro-family ( Vladislav Illich-Svitych ). The Uralo-Siberian regional origins of Haplogroups R1a & N1 reflect the Indo-Uralic cultural interaction of ages past. A Eurasiatic cultural refuge ties in Proto-Altaic nicely, as well. From the very beginning, repeated multi-ethnic additions have helped shape Indo-European's path thru time to the present. Scholars have determined the location based on an extensive reconstructed vocabulary of Proto Indo-European, and the habitat it describes. This was an adaptive language, one with which they sang, joked, loved, lamented and prayed. Linguistic evidence & burial orientation ( SW ) indicates that they prayed to * deiu̯os ( heaven ).

These Proto Indo-European dialects were either of the peripheral tribes, or of the central tribes. Innovations which occurred within the central tribal dialects might not be reflected in some of the peripheral dialects. Migrations due to climate shifts further differentiated the dialects, as various groups dispersed to seek opportunities. Outside influences on the peripheral dialects might not be felt by the central dialects. Multi-ethnic influences were a constant thru many migrations due to climate change. Thus, it is difficult to say what "Proto Indo-European" was like if we do not accept the diversity of that proto language and it's speakers. PIE was a diversity of dialects from a culture of poly-ethnic roots - a hybrid, so to speak, of Steppe and North Caucasian ( R1 ) people. It's a faded puzzle where most of the pieces surviving don't fit together easily. Even today, Europe is much like an unmarked ancient sack of mixed genetic seeds.

The migration from Northeast of the Black Sea (approx. 6th Millennium BCE) to the steppes of Russia and beyond to settle the expanse in the North near the Ural mountain range must have coincided with climatic changes. The "Epoch" or origin of Proto Indo-European in the Samara area of Russia was (approx. 5th Millennium BCE) characterized by slow dissolution of tribal groups dispersing due to climate changes and eventually migrating to distant lands. The spread of Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup R1a1 & B blood type is associated with the spread of the Indo-European languages, especially the Satem branches. The vocabulary of these groups adapted to new environments, but enough "core" terms survived to enable the reconstruction of those terms. Click here for more about the reconstructed terms. It is ironic that there are now more students of PIE than there were speakers.

Close to the homeland of Proto-Uralic, the Lyalovo (5500-3650 BCE) culture on the upper Volga, it is the Khvalynsk culture (5000-3900 BCE) on the middle Volga that spoke variants of PIE. It was itself the local continuation of the Samara culture (5500-4900 BCE), around the present-day Russian city of Samara, which must have spoken an more archaic version of PIE. So now, at any rate, the PIE cradle-land is known with some precision.

From the Samara and Khvalynsk Cultures onward, scholars identify some expansions and migrations in the archaeological, archaeogenetic, and linguistic record. This leads to the secondary joint homeland of all the European branches of IE in the Sredny Stog culture (4300-3350 BCE) in Ukraine, where they follow Proto-Anatolian splitting away ( 4300-3800 BCE ) to later develop the Suvorovo > Ezero cultures of Bulgaria (3700-3300 BCE) on its way to Anatolia, while another branch of Ezero-Cernavoda III becomes part of the polyethnic Balkan-Danubian complex, extending to mixed Lengyels, Yamna, Cucuteni, and groups of later arriving ( ERC ) Usatovo-Cotsofeni migrants (w/ Italic *uR resonant ), which became the Baden Culture ( 3,600-2800 BCE ) of Proto Italic-Celtics-Illyrian-Venetic. Near to Baden Celts, a tumuli w/ stone cist burial horizon ( *Ri resonant ? ) near Ternopil in Galician region of the Ukraine later became the Bilopotok culture, which was replaced by a distinct Satem group SW of the neighboring Middle Dnieper horizon that became the Monteoru culture, which became Celt bordered Dacian, surviving in part today as Albanian. The "Europeanized IE" Corded Ware culture (ca. 3300 BCE) spreads as far as the Netherlands and the Volga, differentiating along the way into regional variants under the influence of various substratum languages like Tripolye "Temematian" or TRB Funnel beaker, becoming the various poly-ethnic Pre-Proto Germanics, Pre-Proto Scandinavians and Middle Dnieper Culture sub-groups of Early-Baltics, Proto-Slavics, and Thracians. From the Middle Don-Volga region somewhere near the Catacomb, Pit Grave, & Pre-Balto-Slavic Satem speakers, a northern branch of the related Volga-Repin Centum ( VRC ) culture by the Urals (perhaps due to a conflict event) began an Trans-Ural exodus towards far southern Siberia to become the Afanasievo culture ( 3500 - 2500 BCE ); apparently contributing to the later various Tocharians ( re: Xinjiang - Xiaohe R1a1a ). Related Middle Dnieper Repins may have contributed influence on the polyethnic TRB - Globular Amphora Euro-Repin-Centum ( ERC ) of Pre-Proto Germanics ( re: " Yuezhi " < + > Old Nord. " Gautar "). Staying behind in Ukraine for a half millennium or so, before they moved on to their respective destinations, the Proto-Greco-Armenians developed from the Catacomb Grave culture, while their eastern neighbors in the Pit-grave / Poltavka culture became the Proto-Indo-Iranians. Some Poltavka Proto-Iranians retained this region while other Proto-Aryans spread to the North along with MVK Catacomb tribes to evolve into the poly-ethnic Sintashta - Arkaim area cultures - intensifying the Ural region metallurgy of, and integrating ( О.Д. Мочалов 2001-2 ) earlier Corded Ware Abashevo - Fatyanovo - Balanovo culture Eastern Balts ( w/ Uralic Volosovo admixture). Some of these poly-ethnic horizons would later develop into the steppe Timber - Grave cultures, while others became the Petrovka culture before turning southeast on their dramatic migration as the Andronovo culture of Siberia and Central Asia (2000-1500 BCE), some groups continued on - gradually amalgamating with BMAC and others beyond, or with the Mitanni of the Middle East, or those in India.

Many migrations (especially Corded Ware) coincide, as reflected in their Indo-European lexicons, with the new revolutionary technology of the wheeled wagon, dated 3,500-3,250 BCE at numerous excavated sites. It isn't until more than a millennia later that wagon-chariots show up in China. The Beijing Chinese word for wheel is KuLu, which bares an interesting resemblance to a nearby Repin Centum derived Tocharian kokale.

The proto-language dialect of each of these migrating tribes evolved differently from the other dialects. Chalcolithic stone hammer-axes appear in male burials in Bulgaria ( K. Boyadzhiev 2009 ), reflecting new immigrants from the East. Many encountered various different ethnic groups that were assimilated and changed the spoken languages. Poly-ethnic Globular Amphora ( Y-DNA R1a1a- M458 ) was an amalgamation of Danubian Cucuteni-Tripolye with Centum Repins merging with TRB-Funnel Beaker populace. The Satem Middle Dnieper Cultures (Y-DNA R1a1a1-, Z280 multiple variants ), which later yielded Baltic and Slavic, was a "vortex" of multi-ethnicity, a fusion of various Indo-European Satems, some Centums, and assimilated central European indigenous populace ( TRB, Tripolye C2 ). Some dialects lost and later re-established contact with each other, as in the case of East Baltic Fatyanovo-Balanovo and Pre-Vedic Poltavka by Sintashta - Arkaim in the Ural region ( О.Д. Мочалов 2001-2002 ), or E. & W. Baltics and Slavic via Globular Amphora trade. The lexical correspondences between Thracian, Dacian, Baltic, and Slavic imply a large Satem dialect area and similar substrate ( Dacian place name " Clevora ", Lith " Klevas " maple, Lith. place-names "Liepora, Beržorai " w/ distributive -or- suffix ). This explains the complex similarities between those four groups, of which they have many archaic features still worthy of serious study.

Also, some Proto-Indo-European tribes (dialects) maintained tribal -linguistic contact ( sometimes via assimilated substrate) prior to their various distinct Proto-Stages, as in the example of Tripolye C2 and Pre-Baltics/ Pre-Thracian/ Pre-Slavic/ Pre-Germanic GAC, or Pre-Greek Catacomb/ Pre-Tocharian Don-Repin which closely followed a Pre-Graeco/Armeno/Indo-Iranian alliance. The Volga Finnic Erzya / Moksha "Mordvin" languages have loanwords from early Indo-Iranian, East Baltic, and a Tocharian like Ural Volga area Repin Centum language ( VRC ), inferring another contact period. Re: haplogroup U5, Tokharian A " wäs ", Tokharian B " yasa " - gold ( PT *w'esā ), Kamassian " waza ", Uralic Mari " waž ", Votyak " az-veś ", Hungarian " vas ", Mansi " atvės ", Forest Nenets " wyesya ", whereas Sámi " vieške ", Moksha " uśkä ", Estonian " vask " reflect Tokharian A wsā-yok < *w'esā-yāku - gold colored. The distribution of haplogroup U4 in those very same groups reflects the breadth of such exchanges. Seven males tested from the Xiaohe cemetery in the Tarim basin were Y-DNA R1a1a ( Chunxiang Li et al 2010 ), and dated to about 2,000 BCE.

THE BALTIC & URALIC IN VEDIC SANSKRIT / AVESTAN
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Indo-Iranian "Soma" preserved the native N1c1 Uralic word ( Sŏma ) for a hewn wooden mortar-bowl that was used as the dried Fly Agaric ( Amanita muscaria ) was pressed with stones in water ( Skt. "saumya"- soft ). The misnomer was perhaps just a simple case of Balanovo-Volosovo-Garino ( Goldin 1999; 130, ) cross-cultural verbal misunderstanding ( re: EV 141 ) of what was pointed at ( Pliss et al. 2005, Derbeneva et al. 2002 ). Balts ( R1a1a1 Z280 Northern variants, Z92 & N1c1 poly-ethnics ) to this day still partake dried / žalas Amanita muscaria with milk & honey, as they have done for well over four thousand years. It is "Senasis Takas"- The Ancient Way ( Skt. Sanas Takas ).

thousand bur mace - vajra of Uralic Soma - * vẽźras " > Lith. "vėzdras"

That there is possibly a Ural-Baltic Daina, Ratas, or Šapalas in Sanskrit or Avestan should not come as a surprise,
considering Uralic ( re: Sŏma ) is indisputably present. (re: N1c1 Khanty "Sŏma" hewn mortar-bowl )

Such drift of semantics can be seen even today in the English phrase "Do you want to do a bowl?"
The Āryan Soma of the Urals eventually became a later generic term to identify an entheogen.

All the Satem languages are inherently related, yet differ in various degrees or another. Certain lexical correspondences ( or isoglosses, such as in Lithuanian "šapalas" and Indic "śapharas" - chub-carp / "śāpharikas" - fisherman ) are rather unexpected ( as cognates are absent in Avestan, and even Slavic ), and will require closer scrutiny with the emergence of new archaeological evidence from Sintashta & Arkaim. That a central European culture ( 3,400 BCE - Baden / Globular Amphora ) centered new "wheel" term ( Old Irish masc. sg. roth / pl. rothai, Latin sg. rota / pl. rotae, Albanian diminutive w/ th from a * t > sg. rreth / pl. rrathë ), reflected in Corded Ware East Baltic baritone masc. "ratas / ratai ", was loaned into Finnic languages is uncontested (re: Finnish ratas, North Sámi ráhtis ), but where does a baritone masc. sg. Āryan ráthas - "vehicle" figure in the pre-Sintashta ( 2,100 BCE ) Graeco-Armeno-Indo-Iranian shared lexicon? It doesn't !

3635 - 3370 BCE - wheels on pot, Bronocice, Poland. Note *darža motif. *©jp

Bronocice Poland - Pot pre-3500 BCE - Farmer's Wagons
Note « checked » *darža motif similar to GAS-BALTIC Fatyanovo motif

And why would Indo-Europeans need to rename the wheel? ( PIE: * kʷekʷlos ). Perhaps the assimilated European farmers did it. East Baltic ( LWb allele, R1a1a1 Z280 Northern variants, & Z92, L235 ) Corded Ware Fatyanovo-Balanovo ( 3200 - 1800 BCE ) copper metallurgy in the Urals has it's roots in central European cultural traditions, including Euro-Repin-Centum ( ERC ) Globular Amphora ( Berezanskaja 1971 ), which were ethnic contributors in the multi-ethnic "vortex" of the Middle Dnieper ( eg. R1a1a1- M458 GAS > Czech " pýř " fire embers ) & Fatyanovo cultural horizons. The old Carpathian metal trade of central Europe, & ancient flint or amber trade routes, provided for tribal contacts and cultural exchanges between language groups like Baden pre-Celts, pre-Albanian Dacians and Middle Dnieper Balts / Slavs ( Albanian lopë - cow / Latvian Luops - id ), as well as Triploye C2, TRB & Centum Globular Amphora substratum. To the West of the Middle Dnieper, C-14 dates reflect an amalgamation of ERC Globular Amphora w/ TRB, or Funnel Beaker culture for near a millennium in Poland & Germany ( R1a1a-, M458 ), then along with other Corded Ware variants assimilated Erteboelle natives while on towards Scandinavia, as some GAC did earlier while expanding the flint-amber trade with the Narva of the Baltic region, and their Uralic neighbors. Some outlier GAC Centum speakers were assimilated by the pioneering Satem Balts moving North.

The Centum influenced features of East & West Baltic are like a window into one component of an archaic pre-creolized Proto-Germanic, just as Uralic languages have frozen old Baltic words in time. The Middle Dnieper Repin contribution to poly-ethnic ERC Globular Amphora is reflected by Tocharian / Germanic proclivities, and the ERC Globular Amphora substratum ( "GAs " ) influence on variations in the Baltic languages ( klau- / šlav-, or akmuo- / ašmuo- ) and their lexicons ( peku ). Albanian also exhibits inconsistencies with Satemization, perhaps due to bilingual dynamics. The study of Baltic languages provides a unique perspective for Tocharian / Proto-Germanic Repin-Centum investigations. Trade networks between ERC GAC subgroups were conduits for isoglosses even beyond the other Balts in the West. Comb & Pit Ware ( N1c1 ) amber contacts & Uralic bilingual substratum may be a phonetic impetus for dative plural "-M-" type linguistic transitions away from a "-B-" ( Baltic žambas / Estonian hammas ), as well as the use of chamotte ceramic admixture. The Dative Plural / -m- / from / -b- / probably reflects early Baltic area GAC trade network contact / dialects. Language is not genetic, it is acquired. Note N1c1 ( N-M178 ) Baltic speakers in Lithuania & Latvia, or R1a1a ( w/ Z92, LWb ) Uralic speakers in Estonia, or Yoeme speakers of " Yoi Noki ".

Poly-ethnic Narva-Globular Amphora outliers added substratum cultural influence ( Brjussow 1957; Ozols 1962; Česnys et al., 1990 ) to Fatyanovo-Balanovo, contributing a " residual " non-Satem substratum vocabulary of their central Euro-Repin Centum ( ERC ) words like "pẽku " - livestock ( vs.Satem Lith. "pešti ", OCS "pьsъ " ) into East Baltic. The impact of a Centum Globular Amphora poly-ethnic substratum ( GAS ) also influenced the incongruities in Baltic Satemization & partial RUKI ( eg. Finnish "laiha ", GAS Lith. "liesa", ipo *lieša ). Make no mistake, the impact of this Centum / Satem tango went both ways ( GAS > pre-proto Germanic 11,12 leftover term & 1,000, etc.). Balanovo jewelry from the Urals also emulates specific designs of a Central European provenance, perhaps derived from the integrated poly-ethnic Globular Amphora substratum of Fatyanovo-Balanovo and Middle Dnieper. Fatyanovo-Balanovo pottery often exhibits unique trademark *darža "checkered" double row diamond ceramic ornamentation motifs not found on the steppes ( О.Д. Мочалов 2001-2002 ), thus allowing their contacts to be tracked - even into Sintashta & beyond - to Kandahar valley's Mundigak Period VI ceramics in Afghanistan ( Kuz'mina 2007, p. 716, fig 101, # 14 / re: Lith. piešalas, Sanskrit peśalas ). The "parallel lines " motif may well represent a *darža, or a tilled garden plot ( re: Finnish tarha < Fatyanovo ) of barley or hemp ( *©jp ), evoking comparison to a similar motif on the famous Bronocice pot ( see above ). This European farmer's motif was perhaps inherited from early Dnieper Satems or the more probable Fatyanovo-Balanovo GAS ( re: Perkūnas velar below ). Corded Ware Fatyanovo-Balanovo Ural copper metallurgy preceded Corded Ware Abashevo and later Sintashta metalworking, predating them by near half a millennium. Unique Fatyanovo checkered *darža East Baltic motifs on Andronovo pottery - and even on Mundigak VI ceramics in Kandahar valley, Afghanistan. Cool !!!

Trademark "checked" ceramic, with *darža -"tilled plot", motif of Fatyanovo-Balanovo pottery. * ©jp
Trademark Fatyanovo-Balanovo
" checked " ceramic / " *darža " motif *©jp
Trademark Fatyanovo-Balanovo "checked" rhombus / " *darža " motif *©jp
FATYANOVO / MUNDIGAK VI

The terminology of the typical dual wheeled cart ( Lith. dviratis ) of the early East Baltic Fatyanovo-Balanovo (Goldina 1999) farmers & metallurgist-woodsmen and multi-cultural Abashevo successors may have been a quasi-bilingual source for a unique northern imported term, " ratH2as > * ratʔas > ratas " wheel ( *- circa 2,400 BCE ), for an Āryan masculine singular " * ratʔas > ráthas ", upgraded intact as a nominative singular word for the new chariot of the Abashevo - Sintashta era metallurgic bonanza. Semantic incongruity is a hallmark of loanwords in traditional linguistics. The Baltic amber sun disc talisman, or solar halo ( rẽtis ) wheel - Saulės Ratas, is found distributed in central European cultures, particularly the Centum Globular Amphora ( R1a- M458, Z282 ) - which also contributed substratum to Fatyanovo, which in turn eventually contributed to the Corded Ware Abashevo culture and finally poly-ethnic Sintashta / Arkaim ( О.Д. Мочалов 2001-2002 ). If the Sun's wheel became the Sun's chariot - Saulės Ratas became Sauryās Rathas. "Saule" is also a common traditional Kazakh & Central Asian ( Afghan, Kyrgyz, etc. ) female name. The meaning of the name is translated as sunlight, or Sun, just like the feminine East Baltic Saulė, which is also used for a female name. Another coincidence? ... Again?

Saulės Rẽtis ( Amber Solar Halo-Wheel ) = Linear B ideogram 243
Saulės Ratas
Sauryās Rathas

Vedic Sanskrit has the somewhat (15 times ) obscure word "Dhēnā ", meaning "hymn, song", which reflects East Baltic "Daina ", meaning "dance > song". From IE *dei- ("move, spin, whirl") we have Latvian "deinis " dancer, "daiņa " restless person, "dainēt / daināt " to dance, sing, "deja" dance, Lithuanian "dainuoti "to sing" ( vs. somuoti ) clearly illustrating the core Baltic etymology (It is also attested in West Baltic toponyms). But creole Vedic "Dhēnās" hymn-prayer, lacks any such "dance" etymology. The Avestan "Daēnā " ( Middle Persian "Dēn" ) is even more semantically vague - "that which is revealed, revelation". This implies a loanword, and like in Vedic - a word without a clear etymology. The closet indigenous Indo-Iranian cognate is Avestan "Dian", meaning "fast" (re: Grk. " δινεύω " whirl ). Scholars interpret the actual pronunciations of the old Vedic Sanskrit "Dhēnā" and Avestan "Daēnā " as "Dainā". Eventually, an East Baltic Fatyanovo-Balanovo "daina " provided a term for the new Monotheism ( Daēnā ) that was later emulated to it's West. Small world.

An East Baltic Fatyanovo-Balanovo loanword proposal for post-Sintashtan dhēnā, śapharas, and especially ráthas, is not only linguistically practical, it is archaeologically probable ( О.Д. Мочалов 2001-2002 ). We do know the Corded Ware Abashevo cheek-pieces were copied - but what else? Given the " boatload " of Corded Ware influenced artifacts at Sintashta and Arkaim (re: ceramics with talc / chamotte & unique *darža "checkered" diamond rhombus trademark design-motifs ), continuing on thru Alakul', Fedorovo & Mundigak VI, maybe one or two Corded Ware words leaked out. Just maybe. To quote M. Witzel (2003) quoting J.P. Mallory (2002) "there are still degrees of geo-linguistic plausibility".

Alakul' pottery with Baltic "checked" *darža motif of Fatyanovo
"People lie. The evidence doesn't lie" - Grissom.

"Some ornament traits let us to link Sintashta with northwest forest Fatyanovo culture".
( Oleg Mochalov - Samara State Pedagogical University, Institute for History and Archaeology of Volga region, Samara, Russia)
- The origin of Sintashta culture ceramic / Ceramic through the Millennia: methods, approaches, results - 2008 -

Post Sintashta chariot rock carvings - 1800 BCE ?

One period of earlier mutual contact coincides with the more poly-ethnic "Europeanized IE" Corded Ware culture zone ( R1a1a- M417, Z283, Z282 ) after the advent of the wheeled wagon. It was perhaps a combination of climate change ( re: the Blytt-Sernander Sub-Boreal phase ) and the revolution of the new oxen drawn wagon which prompted the widespread Corded Ware migrations. Interaction between central European Dniester Tripolye C2 and the northern Dnieper Tripolye C2, TRB, and Globular Amphora populace may well account as a medium of some archaisms ( re: tauras ), cognates, and as a trade conduit for innovations ( dative plural "m" < phonetics of Uralic N1c1 bilinguals? ) in poly-ethnic East Baltic ( re: mtDNA N1a1 ), as well as a link for traditions of central European copper metallurgy. The combination of kurgan and flat graves, reflecting the integration of Tripolye C2 with I.E. steppe ethnicities ( eg. Centum Usatovo-Tripolye ), is found in the diverse Middle Dnieper cultures ( R1a1a1-, Z280 multiple variants ), Fatyanovo-Balanovo ( LWb allele, R1a1a1 Z280 Northern variants, & Z92, L235 ), and Corded Ware Abashevo. Sintashta kurgans account for about a third of the burials - the rest are, interestingly enough, flat graves. Estonian CWC Fatyanovo ceramics exhibit a protruding or projecting rim, as does later Corded Ware Abashevo pottery ( re: mtDNA N1a1a1 294 < ? GAS ). Volosovo & Balanovo pottery are even found in the same room. Words were spoken. Corded Ware Abashevo integration at Sintashta is indicated by various artifacts, including unique *darža "checkered" diamond rhombus designs ( О.Д. Мочалов 2001-2002 ) & talc in ceramics from the Volosovo N1c1 admixture with the Corded Ware Balanovo & Abashevo, and the foreign mycologic sŏma tradition of these quasi-trilingual misfits. Fly Agaric is the fruit of the forests, not the wide open steppes. The Fatyanovo-Balanovo forest dwelling quasi-trilinguals stubbornly clung to their Euro-farmer identity, and never did quite fit ( ārya- ) in. A genetic study of the genealogy of Eurasian taurine cattle ( J Kantanen et all., 2009 ) suggests a relationship between taurine breeds of the Baltic ( Fatyanovo ) region and Sakha ( Andronovo ) cattle, or Yaroslavl - Siberia.

Then there is the intriguing Baltic Perkaunis, Votiak Perkino, Erzya Pəŕgəńä, Vedic Parjanya legacy - the Ural elephant in the room, so to speak. Why are Parjanya cognates with an "alpine" velar plosive absent in the multitude of other surrounding Iranian-Dardic-Nuristani Satem languages and dialects, - or even related Satem Slavic? See below. Note Pashto "Perūney ", Slavic "Perun ", Nuristani "Pärun " vs. Gas Lith. " Perkūnas ". Slavic Ruki & velarless Perun' vs. Gothic alpine Fairguni suggest a ERC GAC velar plosive borrowed from a P-Celtic influenced *Perku- < alpine *Kerku- was assimilated into Baltic Perkūnas-Perkaunis-Perkōns type variants ( Greek " Κέρκυρα ", Lith. "Kerkūrė "- mountain summit ), and at an early date. Uralic " residuals-loanwords " agree ( Finnish Perkele & Votiak Perkịno ). Archaeological support for such a linguistic assertion is beyond debate. And that zone of Centum / Satem contacts has been thoroughly dated with C-14. If linguists can ignore pots, they can ignore DNA. But an odd "alpine" velar < plosive might actually elicit curiosity. Don't hold your breath.

Perunaš / Peraunas
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Perunaš, a knotty boulder-cliff Hittite deity ( Myth of Ullikummi, Ivanov 1958; 108-9 ) closely resembles the Middle Dnieper culture's velar-less "knotty" Peraunas cumulonimbus we all know and love ( Slavic Perunŭ, Czech Peraun, Polabian Peräune- ). An interesting parallel exists with Sanskrit velar-less Paru / Parv-ata "mountain" ( Hittite Peru, Perunant-, Avestan Paruuatā ), that was also used for a cloud, especially a massive knotty cumulonimbus cloud cluster, the kind which usually precedes violent Spring thunderstorms ( RV 1.64.11 ). Spring Thunderstorms were associated with the Taurus constellation ( Latv. Vērsis ), and it's Pleiades star cluster ( Pashto Perūne ). An affiliation of Peraunas with cumulonimbus thundercloud clusters, geologic uplifts, lightning-bolts and magic "ceraunium" stones ( Tocharian kärweñe, pāreṃ ) is still noted. Neighboring Catacomb Culture provides a later Greek Keraunos - thunderbolt ( Grk. Poimenes / Lith. Piemenes, Kerauninkas ). Lithuanian kerauti translates as "to make magic, sorcery". Globular Amphora & Northern Dnieper Satems assimilate, uniquely blending the Satem Peraunas cloud cluster & Centum alpine Perkūnija by "tying the knot" of sky & earth. Perkaunas-Perkūnija unite the poly-ethnic Baltic GAs Centum & Satem farmers, which also head East with the new ERC alpine velar wedding attire, as Uralic words record. Perkaunas adopts the mycological magic orphans of the forest folk along the way to the Urals with the Fatyanovo-Balanovo metallurgic pioneers. Sintashta was still just an empty meadow. For paru / peru " jointed, knotty " etymology, see Karl Hoffman 1974. In addition, I note Sanskrit Paru - knotty ( esp. of reed, or cane ) and Lith. Peras - jointed plant shoot ( e.g. of reed ) cluster, as well as a cluster of white "knotty" larvae, or brood cluster, bear close etymological affinities ( for -as vs.-us, note Lith. Vėjas vs. dialect Vėjus ). This "cluster" could be of stones, clouds, rock, eggs, sprouts, larvae, chicks, church goers, reeds or stars. From the eggs & seeds of Nostratic > PIE * per- to bear, begets the "cluster". That cluster becomes a cloud ( Czech Peraun, Latv. Per(k)aunis ), or if stone ( Hittite Perunaš ), becomes a mountain ( Perunant-, Paruuatā ). Many things are native to the vast steppes of Russia - with the notable exception of alpine peaks. The visual connection of a puffy cloud cluster with a tight cluster of cute fluffy chicks or squirming larvae ( Lith. Peras ) may be easily comprehended by a native Oaxacan, but many scholars to date just don't get it. Distant snowcapped mountains resembled the towering clouds of the earlier endless steppes. Perūne, Perōni, Peräune, Peraun, Perunŭ, Perunaš are all related "cluster" cognates. GAS influenced Perkons & Parjanya are also related, and especially to each other - due to specific inter-ethnic Volga-Ural contact. ©Virdainas ( Mochalov O.D. 2001-2 « checked » ornaments )

Sunny side up, scrambled, or over easy?
Pashto Perūne cluster

Oaks are "strikingly" knotty, as are firs, fingers, posts, backbones, ribs, cliffs and clouds. Oaks are also, like mountains ( re: Fairguni ), "strikingly" tall, or as they say in Hittite, Parku-, or Tocharian Pärk--, and "long" when felled ( Tocharian Pärkär- again ) - as when one makes a 26 ft. dugout canoe - or perga - pergas ( Finnish haapio < Fatyanovo aspen canoe ). ( Greek Πέργ- implies a European substratum "p" inclination for expected "b". ) Khotanese bulysa also prefers the horizontal orientation. A Proto-Kartvelian dialect root for acorn, dialect for oak, reflects *ḳrḳo-, which bares a striking similarity to Italic "Kerkus " cork oak ( with many branches ), Venetian "Querquerni ", Thucydides' mountain " Kirkine ", Celtic alpine "Hercynia " > Gothic mountain Fairguni, > O.N. "Fjörgyn", Greek " Κέρκυρα ", Lith. "Kerkūrė "- hill, mountain summit, Lith " Kerkulė " many branched stump ( trunk ), Lith " Kerkutys " branching trunk, Lith. "Keras" bush ( with many branches ), Welsh "Perth " bush ( with many branches ), Old Norse "Fjörr " tree, etc, etc, etc. Lith. kerkoti - to " stick " out - like the "alpine" velar in Perkons or Parjanya, *darža « checked » Alakul' & Mundigak VI Afghan pottery, or z280 Northern variants by Samara & points East. Initial, or medial Q > T? > P is early Lengyel / BBC, influencing GAC, TRB traders, & Baden outliers. Follow the Money. Jātarūpa amber. Lengyel / Bell Beaker culture creole influence is easily perceived in various numerals, such as Breton: pemp, Swedish: fem, Old High German: fimf, Oscan: pompe - 5, or Welsh: pedwar, Old English: fēower vs. Lithuanian: keturi, Sanskrit: chatur- 4. ( Greek Πέργ- implies a Balkan area substratum "p" inclination for expected "b". ). The 2,800 BCE Corded Ware / GAC connection of O.N. "alpine" "Fjörgyn" & E. Baltic elevated "Perkūnija" is fairly obvious, given current archaeological & DNA evidence. Perūne, Perōni, Peräune, Peraun, Perunŭ, Perunaš are all related "cluster" cognates ( re: Lith. Peras - brood-larvae-sprout cluster ). GAS influenced Perkaunis & Parjanya are also related, and especially to each other - due to Sintashta-Arkaim era, Volga-Ural region inter-ethnic contact. ( Mochalov O.D. 2001-2 ) The arboreal *Perkus & Unicorns are just myths. Roth, ratas, rathas. Embrace the Chaos. ©Virdainas

In East Baltic Mythology, Perkūnas-Perkaunis-Perkons is closely associated with the Bull. In Nuristani Mythology, Pärun is a war god ( kariaunas ). In Pashto, Perūne is the Pleiades star cluster ( re: Old Prus. Perōni - group, Lith. Peruotas - brood cluster, Peras - brood-larvae-sprout cluster ). The reason Perkūnas-Perkaunis is associated with the Bull is due to the ancient correlation of the Taurus constellation's importance to the agricultural Dnieper Satem Tripolye R1a1a- Z280 substratum of East Balts. The Taurus constellation ( Latv. Vērsis ) signaled the start of the growing year, and the arrival of Perkaunis' loud Thunder storms. The Pashto Pleiades Perūne star cluster is in ( you guessed it ! ) - the Taurus constellation ( Casino "ding-ding-ding" sounds ). The stars brought the rain of the Bull representing the magic of fertility to the Z280 Satem farmers. When the Satem East Balts assimilated the poly-ethnic Globular Amphora-post-Narva substratum with their pre-Fairguni, a Centum "alpine" velar was added to Peraunas by his alpine wife Perkunija, hence the E+W poly-ethnic Perkūnas-Perkaunis-Perkons. Uralic "loanwords" attest to this antiquity of the East Baltic "alpine" velar plosive variant. Perkūnas was very important to farmers, unlocking the start of a new growing year by his loud return. In Lithuania, the first ritual plowing of the Spring was done by two sacred black ( kirsna- ) bulls. His two stones ( not red ) release fire. The goatish echoes of flying snipes before a storm warn of his arrival. Stricken lightning locations are šventas. The *darža "checkered" ceramics ( Mochalov O.D. 2001-2 « checked » ornaments ) in Sintashta and Alakul' pottery track contacts with Fatyanovo-Balanovo Z92 farmers. Parjanya later appears in the Rig Veda as an peripheral, obscure deity, even though he is a son of Heaven ( Divas putrāya ). He is associated with Soma, Vāyu, and has Bull ( Latv. Vērsis ) symbolism. He gladdens the Earth. He has a trace of a misplaced "alpine" velar unlike Pashto Perūne ( Pleiades - in Vērsis ! ) star cluster, Pärun, or Peraun / Perunŭ cloud cluster. Parjanya has lost his militaristic affinities & exploits. Early Mitanni contacts may connect Ashur / Marduk to the Asuras / Maruts. There were no copyrights back then. Like the wheel itself, this "core" IE myth is probably just another export of southern agricultural civilizations, which the evolving shepherd-nomads of the open sky ( deivas ) steppes found compelling. The characters themselves, and even their props, appear plagiarized. Old habits are hard to break. The blissful Elysian fields of Valhalla, Latv. veļu, Tocharian A walu, reflect an archaic steppe culture, and a nomadic shepherd vintage. The "evil serpent " import and various keraunophobic oriented belief systems have remained quite popular to this day. It is the hero Indra who now frees the cattle from the "Vala" cave, slays the Vritra "ahi-" serpent, and throws the "wheel" of the "kerauninkas" Kāvya Uśanas ( Latv. milna < *mildna, O. Prus. E-52 mealde, Balto-Slavic *meld- / *mald- / *mild-, Tocharian kärweñe ). See Proto-Baltic for more detailed info.

Let it Rain
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In the old Baltic dainos folksongs, Perkūnas was to wed the Laumė Indraja. One role of Indraja is as a mushroom guide spirit. Vedic Parjanyas is the father of Soma. The Abashevo used talc in their ceramics, as was common with their Uralic neighbors. The pottery of the two cultures have been found in the same room. Note ( N1c1 ) Mari " paŋgə" mushroom, Udmurt " paŋχəl- / paŋχət- " to howl and "carry on" after partaking of Fly Agaric. The Lithuanian version " Ar prisiėdęs musmirių ", refers to the partaking of the Fly Agaric mushroom, and exhibiting a skewed, altered state of reality. It is a quite common, courteous way of calling someone stone crazy. If they ate too much dried - žalas Fly Agaric mushroom, and there upon glare ominously "wild-eyed ", howl ecstatically, see " the Unseen", & "carry on" - that person would be labeled "aršus ". The Avestan term for " an ecstatic, seer " is " ǝrǝšiš ", which is a close cognate to Sanskrit " ṛṣiḥ "- a Seer. Back in the Ural forests, Uralic Khanty still has a word " sŏma " for a hewn wooden mortar-bowl, as well as one for the partaking of Amanita muscaria. Mixed Balanovo-Volosovo sites were mediums of cross-cultural interaction for sharing ethnic customs preceding, and contributing to Sintashta, which influenced Alakul' ( Grigory'ev 2000 ) groups ( О.Д. Мочалов 2001-2002 - re: Fatyanovo-Balanovo "checkered" ceramic designs > Sintashta ). Sharing the Uralic hewn sŏma-mortar-bowl with it's entheogenic contents, like a diplomatic cross-cultural peace pipe, evidently sparked it's legendary admiration. The misnomer was perhaps just a simple case of cross-cultural Balanovo-Volosovo verbal misunderstanding. "... mmm, sŏma good "! Uh-oh. East Baltic neuters did not require a final consonant. They still don't. Fatyanovo-Balanovo is the link, the panta, between the two disparate cultures of Poltavka and Volosovo. Fatyanovo-Balanovo *darža checkered diamond rhombus pottery connects Poltavka & Volosovo, revealing the conduit for cultural exchange. This would all be quite coincidental if these people had never met - but, they did. Archaeology has already provided the where, when, and why. Let it rain.

"Balto-Slavic" is a generalization of the diverse poly-ethnic Middle Dnieper culture horizon of regionally related, distinctly archaic, Satem dialects - somewhat like collectively describing the nearby neighboring proto "Graeco-Armeno-Aryan" cultural horizon, or the central European poly-ethnic Centum proto "Celto-Italic" dialects. Peripheral contingents of Centum Globular Amphora ( Brjussow 1957; Ozols 1962 ), Corded Ware, TRB & Lengyel, Tripolye C2 peoples, outlying Carpathian & Maykop metal traders, and Dnieper Repins may well have also contributed to the multi-ethnic "vortex" that was becoming the diverse Middle Dnieper culture horizon ( note R1a1a- Z280 sub-branches ) and related Fatyanovo culture - imbuing them with an "retro" centralist character from the collective peripheral archaisms - on an already retro-core Satem (re: RUKI, absent perfect reduplication). This explains why one finds a unique Celtic-East Baltic term, separate Greek-East Baltic isoglosses, or Indo-Iranian-East Baltic isoglosses. The Corded Ware Eulau ( GAS type w/ R1a- M458 Y-DNA ) connection to two Shughnans in Asia highlights the Abashevo Corded Ware component of Sintashta & Arkaim ( Mochalov O.D. 2001-2 « checked » ornaments ). Mycenaean mtDNA had a match in SE Poland. CWC GAs? MVK-Monteoru romance ? Structured linguistic theories are a poor match to interpret the formative chaos of the past with the multicultural Middle Dnieper culture horizon and related Fatyanovo & Abashevo migrations. DNA has come of age. Embrace the chaos.

From historical accounts and ancient traditions, it is certain that hemp use was more than just for cord, cloth, and seed food. Reading from the archaeological record, one can associate dates starting at 3,200 to 2,300 BCE with various material artifacts and increased plant ( hemp and wheat ) pollens that appear to indicate the arrival of "Baltic" speaking farmers in the region around present day Lithuania and Latvia. Recent archaeological finds of Triticum and Cannabis pollen circa 5,600 BCE from the Akali Neolithic Narva-Kunda settlement in East Estonia (2006 A. Poska, L. Saarse) place the use of Cannabis cultivation in the Baltic region much further back into antiquity than even the Corded Ware era. Baltic cannabis use for nets and medication is over seven thousand years old, or perhaps older, since the region was part of it's native range. A high incidence of Pan-Baltic Y-DNA from the haplogroup N1c1 [old name N3] with allele DYS19*15 indicates Baltic admixture with older Uralic substrate, as does haplogroup U4 ( Lith šeškas, Mari šāškə, Veps hāhk, re: Sanskrit śaśakas ) & the rare LWb allele blood marker - which is unique to East Baltic people like Fatyanovo. The Tocharian mummies of the Tarim Basin also share Haplogroup U4, as do the Kalasha people of North Pakistan, as well as some lineages in India. The uncommon LWb allele gene is more specifically a peculiar East Baltic related genetic marker that appears to have been rare or absent in West Baltic speaking peoples. The archaic nature of the distinction between East and West Baltic ( or Slavic, for that matter ) is well supported by Y-DNA ( R1a1a- Z280 Z92 vs L366 ), skeletal-cranial remains, archaeological artifacts, and by the disparity of the unique rare LWb allele gene between them. >>> LWb PDF <<<. Elevated CCR5 DELTA32 mutation frequencies are also found among modern Balts & Uralic speakers. MtDNA H1 frequencies are very, very low among Lithuanians and virtually non-existent with the Sámi. In Lithuania, mtDNA H1 is mainly confined to only Northern Žemaitians. The Aukštaičiai ( LT Highlanders ), like the Sámi, have none. South Aukštaičiai R1a1a has a 61.8% frequency ( Kasperavicuite et al., 2004 ). Less the above referenced genetical info be misinterpreted as some form of encrypted "cracker-code-speak", I will stress that the fiction of ethnic or racial "purity & superiority" is clinical insanity, and definitively reflects a quantifiable low IQ by conservative adherents ( G. Hodson et al., 2012 ). People are people - some individuals shine, some hide in their cruel fear. Most of our DNA is African. As my friend Robbin said, " It's all good ".

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* The Seroglazovo culture may have been an Indo-Uralic group of related Pre-Proto Indo-European dialects
located in areas by the Ural River near the Caspian lowlands around the 7th-8th millenium B.C.E.

* Baltic " Deivas " - The Divine Spirit of Heaven, influenced Finnish " taivas " & Estonian " taevas " heaven, perhaps Sámi " taiw ", and also Hungarian " táj " - Khanty " tai ".
The often ignored semantics of East Baltic celestial " Deivas " are illustrated in phrases from Latvian dainās ( eg. " Saule noiet dievā " - Nav saulīte dievā gaiša ).

* The round "kurgan" mound tradition of the Buddha's Śākya tribe in Nothern Bihar, India also resembles Śaka Steppe kurgans of Eurasia & Russia.
The Digha Nikaya of the Tipitaka Pali Buddhist canon describes Siddhartha Gautama as having very blue eyes ( Pali: abhi nila netto ).
The Chinese described Bodhidharma as " 藍眼睛的野人 "