ABSTRACT
The Eurasian Steppe hypothesis, perhaps better known as the ‘Kurgan’ hypothesis, was first proposed in 1956, and subsequently developed over a period of three decades, by the Lithuanian-born scholar Marija Gimbutas (1921–94), Professor of European Archaeology at UCLA from 1963 until her retirement in 1990. Not surprisingly, her hypothesis draws its principal arguments from archaeological research. However, it has been quite influential in the fields of historical-comparative linguistics and comparative mythology, as well as archaeology.
