LAMP: Languages and Myths of Prehistory
Due to recent advances in ancient genetics, a new picture of prehistory is emerging. In the LAMP programme we cast light on the aspects of prehistoric peoples that make them human: their languages and beliefs.
The programme asks three fundamental questions about the speakers of early stages of Indo-European – the language family that includes languages such as English, German, Swedish, Spanish, French, Urdu, Kurdish and Russian:
1. How did they talk? – By investigating the oldest layers of the Indo-European languages, we reconstruct the sounds, grammar and vocabulary of the prehistoric language stages from which the extant languages descend.
2. What did they talk about? – By comparing the relevant parts of the reconstructed vocabulary with mythological and archaeological evidence we establish fragments of the myths, poetry and rituals of prehistory.
3. How do we know? – Since we combine scientific disciplines in order to break new ground, the methodological foundations of the programme must be clear and explicit.
With an ambitious outreach component the programme will communicate the understanding of the variability of the linguistic and cultural landscape throughout history to a wider audience. By making the historical facts more accessible to the public, the programme will provide a bulwark against nationalism and chauvinism and contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex questions concerning language, culture and religion in modern society.
Final report
Over its six-year duration, the research programme has sought to deepen our understanding of the origins and development of the Indo-European languages and cultures. By bringing together linguistics, archaeology, and the history of religions, the project has explored how linguistic and cultural patterns may be reconstructed and analysed in order to illuminate prehistoric societies. The point of departure lies in the unique position of the Indo-European languages as one of the world’s most widely distributed language families. These languages share a common origin, which scholars have long attempted to reconstruct by comparing their phonology, grammar, and lexicon. Yet many fundamental questions remain: How were these languages transmitted? Which societies maintained them? And how were language, ritual practice, and ecological conditions interrelated? We have approached these issues by giving ecology, technology, and symbolic systems a central place—an approach that has proven fruitful for understanding the deeply interconnected development of Indo-European languages and cultures.
Across its six years, LAMP has contributed to reframing such fundamental questions about the prehistory of languages and cultures. By bridging disciplinary boundaries, the project has demonstrated how linguistic, archaeological, and ritual evidence can jointly shed light on the processes that shaped prehistoric Europe and Asia. The interdisciplinary approach has generated not only new results but also lasting structures and collaborations that will continue to bear fruit beyond the programme’s conclusion.
The aim has not been to seek final answers, but to explore new ways of asking questions—about the role of language in culture, about the longevity of mythic traditions, and about how prehistoric communities understood their place in the world. In this lies perhaps the programme’s most significant contribution: showing how long-term, boundary-crossing humanistic research can deepen our understanding of the human experience across time, space, and thought.
The LAMP programme has produced several important research findings that have contributed to a better understanding of the origins, development, and dispersal of the Indo-European languages and cultures. In the linguistic domain, we have proposed a revised model of the Indo-European language tree. Our results suggest that the Balto-Slavic languages are more closely related to Indo-Iranian than previously assumed, while Germanic appears to form a subgroup with Italic and Celtic. Albanian and Armenian likely form a larger grouping of their own, though their precise position relative to other branches remains to be fully clarified. These conclusions rest on linguistic evidence but are also supported by genetic and geographical patterns.
The programme has also deepened our understanding of key cultural themes. The ritual and cosmological significance of fire, the horse as a symbol of power and mobility, and the role of young warrior institutions as vectors of linguistic transmission have all emerged as central components of Indo-European cultural systems. Methodologically, we have developed new interdisciplinary models for analysing relations and contact zones between Indo-European groups. By integrating ecological perspectives, we have been able to examine how migrations were shaped by topography, climate, and seasonal variation—and how religious and linguistic practices adapted to these conditions.
Finally, we have emphasised the importance of understanding language not merely as a system of communication but as a bearer of symbolic and material culture. Rather than relying solely on internal linguistic models, we have situated languages within their historical and ecological contexts, where language, artefacts, myth, and ritual form an interconnected whole.
The programme has been characterised by methodological breadth and international collaboration, and over the years the team has grown by incorporating scholars with complementary expertise. From the outset, a close collaboration was established with the science journalist Karin Bojs, who has followed the project throughout its entire span. This collaboration has resulted in recurring newspaper columns, radio features, and book publications that present LAMP’s findings in an accessible and engaging manner. Popular-scientific communication has not served merely as a dissemination channel; it has been an integral part of the interdisciplinary research process—an arena for articulating, testing, and enlivening research questions in dialogue with an engaged public.
In 2020, the programme initiated a partnership with the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS) in Uppsala—an association that rapidly became one of the programme’s most important structural and intellectual platforms. SCAS provided not only a physical meeting place but also a stimulating academic environment in which scholars from different disciplines could come together to exchange ideas, present research, and develop joint projects. The collaboration with SCAS also enabled the establishment of a strong scholarly network around the project. These collaborations have formed the basis for a dynamic and inclusive research environment that fosters interdisciplinary dialogue and methodological innovation.
Together with SCAS, LAMP organised the following major symposia:
• Indo-European Interfaces: Building Bridges between Mythology, Linguistics, and Archaeology (2020)
• Indo-European Language and Culture (2021)
• Indo-European Ecologies (2021)
• The Next Step – Shaping the Future of Indo-European Studies (2022)
• Exploring New Methods – Quantitative Approaches to Indo-European Linguistics (2022)
• Dead Poets and Their Undying Fame: Perspectives on the Indo-European Poetic Traditions (2022)
• Indo-European Afterlife (2023)
• Exploring the Archaeolinguistic Method – Tools, Trades, and Technologies (2023)
• Indo-European Food – Linguistic, Archaeological, and Biomolecular Perspectives (2024)
• LAMP Reflections: Illuminating a Paradigm Shift in Prehistoric Research (2025)
Although the LAMP programme has initiated an innovative line of inquiry, there remains much to explore. The availability of linguistic, archaeological, and biomolecular data offers new opportunities to integrate multiple strands of evidence, thereby creating significant methodological advances in prehistoric research. Our long-term goal has been to establish a new model for interdisciplinary research that integrates insights from these disciplines.
One of the programme’s enduring achievements is the creation of new research environments and structures that support continued interdisciplinary work on Indo-European languages and cultures. At Stockholm University, the Centre for the Study of Indo-European Language and Culture was founded as a direct continuation of LAMP’s activities. The Centre serves as an interdisciplinary platform where scholars from different fields collaborate to investigate the historical development of languages, myths, and material cultures. It also functions as a hub for international collaboration and research mobility.
Closely linked to this initiative is the launch of the series Stockholm Studies in Indo-European Language and Culture. The series was established to meet the growing need for a platform dedicated to interdisciplinary Indo-European research, where linguistics, archaeology, genetics, and religious studies may be brought together. Previously, no venue fully encompassed this breadth while also foregrounding innovative research. The aim of the series is to promote new initiatives and create a forum for dialogue between disciplines that often operate separately. By integrating diverse methods and perspectives, the series represents an important step toward establishing Indo-European studies as a dynamic and forward-looking interdisciplinary field. During the programme, three joint volumes have been published:
• Indo-European Interfaces. Integrating Linguistics, Mythology and Archaeology. Stockholm Studies in Indo-European 1. Stockholm University Press. doi: 10.16993/bcn
• Indo-European Ecologies. Cattle and Snakes, Milk and Water. Stockholm Studies in Indo-European 2. Stockholm University Press. doi: 10.16993/bcu
• Indo-European Afterlives. Stockholm Studies in Indo-European 3. Stockholm University Press. doi: 10.16993/bcw
Perhaps the most ambitious outcome is that LAMP’s methods and research vision directly inspired the creation of the Swedish Research Council’s Centre of Excellence Center for the Human Past. This centre brings together linguists, archaeologists, and geneticists in a long-term collaborative effort to map early human history using interdisciplinary approaches and new technologies. The Centre represents a major investment in foundational humanistic research and ensures that the networks, methods, and insights developed within LAMP will endure as part of the infrastructure needed to advance future knowledge of the human past.
Across its six years, LAMP has contributed to reframing such fundamental questions about the prehistory of languages and cultures. By bridging disciplinary boundaries, the project has demonstrated how linguistic, archaeological, and ritual evidence can jointly shed light on the processes that shaped prehistoric Europe and Asia. The interdisciplinary approach has generated not only new results but also lasting structures and collaborations that will continue to bear fruit beyond the programme’s conclusion.
The aim has not been to seek final answers, but to explore new ways of asking questions—about the role of language in culture, about the longevity of mythic traditions, and about how prehistoric communities understood their place in the world. In this lies perhaps the programme’s most significant contribution: showing how long-term, boundary-crossing humanistic research can deepen our understanding of the human experience across time, space, and thought.
The LAMP programme has produced several important research findings that have contributed to a better understanding of the origins, development, and dispersal of the Indo-European languages and cultures. In the linguistic domain, we have proposed a revised model of the Indo-European language tree. Our results suggest that the Balto-Slavic languages are more closely related to Indo-Iranian than previously assumed, while Germanic appears to form a subgroup with Italic and Celtic. Albanian and Armenian likely form a larger grouping of their own, though their precise position relative to other branches remains to be fully clarified. These conclusions rest on linguistic evidence but are also supported by genetic and geographical patterns.
The programme has also deepened our understanding of key cultural themes. The ritual and cosmological significance of fire, the horse as a symbol of power and mobility, and the role of young warrior institutions as vectors of linguistic transmission have all emerged as central components of Indo-European cultural systems. Methodologically, we have developed new interdisciplinary models for analysing relations and contact zones between Indo-European groups. By integrating ecological perspectives, we have been able to examine how migrations were shaped by topography, climate, and seasonal variation—and how religious and linguistic practices adapted to these conditions.
Finally, we have emphasised the importance of understanding language not merely as a system of communication but as a bearer of symbolic and material culture. Rather than relying solely on internal linguistic models, we have situated languages within their historical and ecological contexts, where language, artefacts, myth, and ritual form an interconnected whole.
The programme has been characterised by methodological breadth and international collaboration, and over the years the team has grown by incorporating scholars with complementary expertise. From the outset, a close collaboration was established with the science journalist Karin Bojs, who has followed the project throughout its entire span. This collaboration has resulted in recurring newspaper columns, radio features, and book publications that present LAMP’s findings in an accessible and engaging manner. Popular-scientific communication has not served merely as a dissemination channel; it has been an integral part of the interdisciplinary research process—an arena for articulating, testing, and enlivening research questions in dialogue with an engaged public.
In 2020, the programme initiated a partnership with the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS) in Uppsala—an association that rapidly became one of the programme’s most important structural and intellectual platforms. SCAS provided not only a physical meeting place but also a stimulating academic environment in which scholars from different disciplines could come together to exchange ideas, present research, and develop joint projects. The collaboration with SCAS also enabled the establishment of a strong scholarly network around the project. These collaborations have formed the basis for a dynamic and inclusive research environment that fosters interdisciplinary dialogue and methodological innovation.
Together with SCAS, LAMP organised the following major symposia:
• Indo-European Interfaces: Building Bridges between Mythology, Linguistics, and Archaeology (2020)
• Indo-European Language and Culture (2021)
• Indo-European Ecologies (2021)
• The Next Step – Shaping the Future of Indo-European Studies (2022)
• Exploring New Methods – Quantitative Approaches to Indo-European Linguistics (2022)
• Dead Poets and Their Undying Fame: Perspectives on the Indo-European Poetic Traditions (2022)
• Indo-European Afterlife (2023)
• Exploring the Archaeolinguistic Method – Tools, Trades, and Technologies (2023)
• Indo-European Food – Linguistic, Archaeological, and Biomolecular Perspectives (2024)
• LAMP Reflections: Illuminating a Paradigm Shift in Prehistoric Research (2025)
Although the LAMP programme has initiated an innovative line of inquiry, there remains much to explore. The availability of linguistic, archaeological, and biomolecular data offers new opportunities to integrate multiple strands of evidence, thereby creating significant methodological advances in prehistoric research. Our long-term goal has been to establish a new model for interdisciplinary research that integrates insights from these disciplines.
One of the programme’s enduring achievements is the creation of new research environments and structures that support continued interdisciplinary work on Indo-European languages and cultures. At Stockholm University, the Centre for the Study of Indo-European Language and Culture was founded as a direct continuation of LAMP’s activities. The Centre serves as an interdisciplinary platform where scholars from different fields collaborate to investigate the historical development of languages, myths, and material cultures. It also functions as a hub for international collaboration and research mobility.
Closely linked to this initiative is the launch of the series Stockholm Studies in Indo-European Language and Culture. The series was established to meet the growing need for a platform dedicated to interdisciplinary Indo-European research, where linguistics, archaeology, genetics, and religious studies may be brought together. Previously, no venue fully encompassed this breadth while also foregrounding innovative research. The aim of the series is to promote new initiatives and create a forum for dialogue between disciplines that often operate separately. By integrating diverse methods and perspectives, the series represents an important step toward establishing Indo-European studies as a dynamic and forward-looking interdisciplinary field. During the programme, three joint volumes have been published:
• Indo-European Interfaces. Integrating Linguistics, Mythology and Archaeology. Stockholm Studies in Indo-European 1. Stockholm University Press. doi: 10.16993/bcn
• Indo-European Ecologies. Cattle and Snakes, Milk and Water. Stockholm Studies in Indo-European 2. Stockholm University Press. doi: 10.16993/bcu
• Indo-European Afterlives. Stockholm Studies in Indo-European 3. Stockholm University Press. doi: 10.16993/bcw
Perhaps the most ambitious outcome is that LAMP’s methods and research vision directly inspired the creation of the Swedish Research Council’s Centre of Excellence Center for the Human Past. This centre brings together linguists, archaeologists, and geneticists in a long-term collaborative effort to map early human history using interdisciplinary approaches and new technologies. The Centre represents a major investment in foundational humanistic research and ensures that the networks, methods, and insights developed within LAMP will endure as part of the infrastructure needed to advance future knowledge of the human past.