High life: the Caucasus mountains were an important migration route Diana Markosian/Magnum Photos
HUNDREDS of languages, from English to Hindustani, are all derived from a single ancestral tongue. Now DNA from ancient bones suggests that the people who spoke this primal language lived somewhere south of the Caucasus mountains in western Asia.
Languages evolve and diversify, much like biological species. Today, about 3 billion people speak an Indo-European language, such as English, Spanish, Hindustani and Nepali. All of these are descended from a common ancestor.
This hypothetical ancient language, Proto-Indo-European (PIE), was spoken somewhere in Eurasia between about 5500 and…
