Fred Woudhuizen

Indo-Europeanization in the Mediterranean Fred Woudhuizen

The author reconstructs the process of Indo-Europeanization in the Mediterranean from the beginning of the Bronze Age, c. 3100 BC, using a protohistorical method combining archaeological data, epigraphy, history, the literary tradition, and linguistics. It can positively be demonstrated that the process of Indo-Europeanization of the north-Mediterranean peninsulas Iberia, Italy, Greece, and Anatolia is of a multi-layered nature. In contradistinction to the current handbooks on Indo-European studies, the focus in this book is on the only fragmentarily preserved languages of the Mediterranean. It is the author's contention that from these languages much can be gained for our general understanding of the process of Indo-Europeanization in this region. This book initiates a paradigm shift: languages formerly considered to be of a non-Indo-European nature turn out to be Indo-European, and the North Pontic and/or Caspian steppes the homeland of Indo-European.