New research shows over 400 languages originated in Turkey

August 26, 2012 Academic journal  published research this week claiming that modern originated in Turkey, around 9,000 years ago. Over 400 languages, spoken by in excess of 3 billion people, are traced back to, now part of modern-day Turkey.

The paper, "Mapping the Origins and Expansion of the Indo-European Language Family", contradicts the established view that the Indo-European group of languages originated in the of south-west  around 6,000 years ago. Researchers used techniques originally developed to track the spread of  to give new insights into the development of languages. They say that "Both the inferred timing and root location of the Indo-European language trees fit with an agricultural expansion from Anatolia beginning 8,000 to 9,500 years ago."

The hypothesis that Indo-European languages came from Anatolia was first proposed in the 1980s by archaeologist, Baron Renfew of Kaimsthorn.