Non-Academic Theories in Historical Linguistics and Nationalist Imagination in Europe (Problems of Coexistence and Mutual Influences)

The author analyzes the Paleolithic Continuity Theory and Neolithic creolization hypothesis as two approaches with a controversial reputation in the modern academic historical and linguistic communities. The author analyzes the main provi- sions of the the Paleolithic Continuity Theory and Neolithic creolization hypothesis in the contexts of intellectual history and history of these ideas. Proponents of the analyzed theories deny and criticize the main archaeological and linguistic theories regarding the problems of the history of Old Europe, including the migration of Indo-Europeans and the processes of Indo-Europeanization of Europe. They insist on the autochthonous nature of the Indo-Europeans imagining Europe as their historical ancestral home and denying the fact of their migration from the territory of the alleged ancestral home. The Neolithic Creolization hypothesis is a compromise version of non-academic discourse; it synthesizes advocates’ ideas of autochthonism and migration of Indo-Europeans. Concepts of Paleolithic Continuity and Neolithic creolization became too popular among European right-wing intellectuals who synthesized them with the values and principles of nationalism and contributed to the academicization of nationalist imagination.