For millennia, the Balkans have been a nexus between east and west, whereas the Balkan-routes enabled cultural and economic exchange and provided for the genetic and linguistic dynamics at least since the spread of farming from Anatolia. Such a geographical position factored the diversity of genetic, cultural, and linguistic imprints left in the region at different times. Yet, a coherent picture of the processes defined in space and time ‒ the whereabouts of the demographically diverse groups of speakers of preliterate Indo-European and other languages connected to archeologically and genetically traceable movements ‒ is totally lacking. The Indo-Europeanization of the Balkans is a major enigma in comparison to many other areas of IE dispersal, and a highly controversial topic within each of the three disciplines, since none of them has methods to get the whole picture independently.

Applying the innovative 3D-input method of the new cross-discipline – ALAnetics (Archaeology, Linguistics and Archaeogenetics), the project aims at spatial and temporal delineation of multiple demographically diverse arrivals of IE newcomers and their linguistic diversification and, thus, providing a three-dimensional picture of the Balkan Bronze-Age societies and their dynamics, i.e., not only when and where the people lived but also, what they looked like, what languages they spoke, what was their way of life, and what interactions they maintained.


Public Outreach

Public talks

  • Ackermann, K. Matzinger, J. Gavranović, M. Albanian in the context of the Indo-Europeanization of the Balkans. New insights from the ALAnetic approach. Albanian Academy of Sciences. Tirana, 04/11/2024
  • Ackermann, K. Matzinger, J. Gavranović, M. The ALAnetics approach to understanding Indo-European migrations: Achievements and challenges. XVIIth IG Fachtagung - The Speakers of Indo-European and their World, University of Basel, 9-12/09/2024
  • Matzinger, J. Il messapico tra i Balcani e l‘Italia. Colloque international: Messapie et messapien: pour un nouveau bilan archéologique, épigraphique et linguistique 4-5 /6/ 2024
  • Ackermann, K. Matzinger, J. Gavranović, M. Who are the Balkan Indo-Europeans: New evidence from ALAnetics. Biannual Balkan and South-Slavic Conference (BASS) 23 Oxford, Mississippi 03/05/2024
  • Ackermann, K., Gavranović, M., Matzinger, J. Indo-Europeanization of the Balkans. Some new insights at the interface of Archeology, Archeogenetics and Historical Linguistics. At: Secondary Homelands of the Indo-European Languages. Arbeitstagung of the Indo-European Society. Leiden, Netherlands, 5-7th September, 2022

Publications

  • Ackermann, K. The centum – satem diversification revisited. In: Journal of Indo-European Studies 52, 1-2 (2024).
  • Ackermann, K., Matzinger, J., Gavranovic, M., Petschko, I., Wang, C.C., Flegontov, P., Vyazov, L., et al. Indo-Europeanization of the Balkans. First results of the triangular investigation at the interface of Archaeology, Archaeogenetics and Historical Linguistics. In: Science. (in subm.)
  • Ackermann, K. Matzinger, J. Gavranović, M.  Albanian in the context of the Indo-Europeanization of the Balkans. New insights from the ALAnetic approach. In Omari, A. et al. Proceedings of the Roundtable “Albanian among the Indo-European Languages: Origins and Antiquity.” Albanian Academy of Sciences. Tirana, 04/11/2024 (forthc.)
  • Ackermann, K. Matzinger, J. Gavranović, M. The ALAnetics approach to understanding Indo-European migrations: Achievements and challenges. In: M. de Vaan et al. (eds.) The Speakers of Indo-European and their World. Proceedings of the XVIIth Fachtgung of Indo-European Society in Basel, Switzerland, Sept. 9-12th 2024. Wiesbaden: Reichert. (forthc.)
  • Matzinger, J. Il messapico tra i Balcani e l‘Italia. In: Dupraz, E. and Léger V. Actes du Colloque international: Messapie et messapien: pour un nouveau bilan archéologique, épigraphique et linguistique 4-5 juin 2024. Annuaire de l'ecole pratique des hautes etudes. Geneve: Droz. (forthc.)
  • Gavranović, Mario (et al.) Absolute Dating of Bronze Age urn burial in the Central Balkans. In: Radiocarbon.2025
  • Gavranović, Mario, Lukas Waltenberger, Irene M. Petschko, Edin Bujak, and Ikbal Cogo. Kopilo: a newly discovered Late Bronze and Iron Age burial ground in Bosnia. In: Antiquity 97(392): e10, 2023. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.10

Team

Dr. Katsiaryna Ackermann
Department of Linguistics. Balkan Research Unit / IHB / ÖAW; Language-Culture-Cognition Lab, ACDH-CH / ÖAW

Dr. Joachim Matzinger
Department of Linguistics. Balkan Research Unit / IHB / ÖAW

Dr. Mario Gavranovic
Department of Prehistory & West Asian/Northeast African Archaeology / ÖAI / ÖAW; Human Evolution & Archaeological Science (HEAS Network); University of Vienna


In Cooperation with

Prof. Dr. David Reich
Principal Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, and Senior Associate Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT

Prof. Dr. Chuan-Chao Wang
Director of Biological Anthropology Lab, and Professor in the Institute of Anthropology, Xiamen University, China