A new study by an international group of scientists has shown that the pre-Indo-European language existed more than 8,000 years ago, and its first speakers lived in South Caucasus. And later, they came to the Near Caspian and Near Black Sea steppes, and the language began to divide.

The Indo-European languages are considered the most widespread in the world. They are spoken by more than a third of the Earth's population. Since the end of the 18th century, scientists have been searching for a common root, the origin of the so-called pre-Indo-European language, which was spoken by the ancestors of the peoples of Asia and Europe.

There are two main hypotheses about how the Indo-European languages arrived in Europe. According to the first, they were brought with them by the first farmers who came from Asia Minor about 9,000 years ago.

According to the second hypothesis, the proto-Indo-Europeans lived in the Pontos-Caspian steppes, from where they migrated to the west during the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age. Today, the majority of scientists are leaning towards this hypothesis.

The research, in which scientists from 13 countries participated, helped to establish that the pre-Indo-European language existed about 8,120 years ago; that is, much earlier than indicated in some previous studies.