Are the Proto-Indo-Europeans overrated?
I think the Early European Farmer and Mesopotamian civilizations are much more interesting.
The pre-IE farmer culture I'm most fascinated with is Hamangia (and its successor Varna), both because I share Varna man's haplo (T-M184, I'm also Bulgarian) and because of how different they were from neighboring peoples.
>Hamangia's range is limited to coastal NE Bulgaria/Romania, shares no burial rites with neighbors. Likely the product of a seaborne invasion from Anatolia.
>Hamangia had proper cemeteries with individual graves suggesting ancestor veneration, whereas other Balkan farmers sealed the dead in their (temporary) homes.
>sea raider theory bolstered by widespread fortifications in Hamangia settlements, burials with antler axes and occupants almost always younger than 40.
>oldest Hamangia settlements are in Romanian Dobruja, gradually spreading south to the Varna lakes area by conquest.
>late Hamangia graves at Durankulak include gold goods, likely prototype of later elite male burial at Varna (furthermore, remains from Durankulak are also T-M184).
>strong early contact with PIE, R1b found in Varna Culture which was likely a source of metal goods for steppe peoples
I haven't found any research on which part of Anatolia the Hamangia people could have come from, but considering maritime travel routes of the time my pet theory is that they originated somewhere in Pontus (with a layover in mountainous southern Crimea).
>Hamangia's range is limited to coastal NE Bulgaria/Romania, shares no burial rites with neighbors. Likely the product of a seaborne invasion from Anatolia.
>Hamangia had proper cemeteries with individual graves suggesting ancestor veneration, whereas other Balkan farmers sealed the dead in their (temporary) homes.
>sea raider theory bolstered by widespread fortifications in Hamangia settlements, burials with antler axes and occupants almost always younger than 40.
>oldest Hamangia settlements are in Romanian Dobruja, gradually spreading south to the Varna lakes area by conquest.
>late Hamangia graves at Durankulak include gold goods, likely prototype of later elite male burial at Varna (furthermore, remains from Durankulak are also T-M184).
>strong early contact with PIE, R1b found in Varna Culture which was likely a source of metal goods for steppe peoples
I haven't found any research on which part of Anatolia the Hamangia people could have come from, but considering maritime travel routes of the time my pet theory is that they originated somewhere in Pontus (with a layover in mountainous southern Crimea).