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Pasi Malmi & Tommaso Iorco (2024)

Mapping the past with processual archaeology, quantitative diffusionism, and evolutionary linguistics

Peer reviewed by: 

Professor Sambulo Ndlovu (linguistics and onomastics)

Dr. Stephanie Blankshein (archaeology)

Dr. Andrey Podgurenko (history)

Dr. N.N. (genetics)


ISBN:   972-952-69579-9-9

Pages: 292

Price:   Download free of charge during a limited promotion period

Printed book:   Will be available via Amazon.com soon


Abstract: According to this study, one or more cultures of the Indian Subcontinent disseminated genes, words, names, symbols, customs, and artefact styles towards Western Europe 3000–50 BCE. One possible route for the diffusion of influence would have been the Mediterranean Sea. This route is supported by historical sources, according to which there was a canal that connected the Red Sea to the Nile sporadically 1850–50 BCE and according to which some Indians had sailed to Germania ~50 BCE. Historical sources also report Indigetean colonies such as Indika in northern Iberia. In addition, there seem to be lexical similarities between the Basque language and the Dravidian languages, which indicates migration of loanwords from India to Iberia, although the descent of words from an unknown proto-language is also possible.


All of these findings, however, can be also explained by migrations from India to Western Europe via the sea route around Africa. According to archaeological evidence, this route advanced from India to East Africa 3000–2500 BCE. Based on the Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History there would have been migrations between India and East Africa 3000-1850 BCE, and from the coasts of the Indian Ocean to Namibia ~850 BCE, Morocco ~710 BCE, and Western Europe 710–38 BCE. This route matches with Philostratus according to whom the Indians founded 60 cities to Sub-Saharan Africa 1550–1070 BCE. In addition, the migrations around Africa are supported by linguistic data, according to which Dravidian words and linguistic features migrated to East Africa at the beginning of the first millennium BCE and to West Africa at some point of time 3000–500 BCE. After these migrations, an Indian colony still existed at the Atlantic coast of Sub-Saharan Africa ~50 BCE, according to Juba of Numidia. The connection between India and West Africa is supported by the similar HLA genes of the Nadar (southern India) and the Fulani (West Africa).


Figure:  Migrations of Indian genes and cultural replicators to the West


At the next phase of this study, 11 hypotheses of the India–Africa–Europe theory were tested against the onomastic data that was obtained from Mapcarta.com and Forebears.io. The research data, which covered 26 name sets and 1247 names, provided support for the migrations from India to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean around Africa. The calculated homeland of the Ancient West African, Berber and Libu, and Iberian name sets was found to be in the India–Nepal–Sri Lanka region. In addition, several name sets revealed tentative migration paths from India towards Western Europe via West Africa. Similar supporting evidence was not found for the India - Mediterranean - Western Europe route.


Table: Calculated urheimats / homelands of 24 ancient name sets


The theoretical foundation of the study was processual archaeology and systems theory, memetic discourse analysis, and evolutionary linguistics. On this basis, the first chapters of the book constructed a general theory of cultural evolution and some improved quantitative methods for analyzing the similarity, change, and migration of artefact styles, words, names, symbols, customs, ethnic sets, lexicons, and ideologies.


Authors: Dr. Pasi Malmi has studied cultural evolution in his master's thesis (1988 and 1992), postgraduate thesis (1995), doctoral thesis (2009) and in his post-doc publications (2020 and 2023). Tommaso Iorco is a specialist of Vedic Literature and Sanskrit.






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