How does the Anatolian hypothesis explain the spread of Indo-European languages into Europe?

The Anatolian hypothesis, most notably championed by archaeologist Colin Renfrew, proposes that the Proto-Indo-European homeland was located in Neolithic Anatolia during the 7th millennium BCE.12

According to this model, the spread of Indo-European languages into Europe was intrinsically linked to the expansion of the Neolithic package, which introduced agriculture to the region. Proponents argue that as early farmers migrated from Anatolia, they carried their language with them, facilitating its gradual dispersal across the continent.123

However, this theory faces significant academic scrutiny. Critics note that the spread of farming was not a uniform process and may not have been driven by population migration in all areas. Furthermore, some linguists argue that this timeline and geographic origin are difficult to reconcile with established linguistic evidence. Consequently, the Anatolian hypothesis remains one of two primary competing theories, the other being the more widely accepted Pontic-Caspian steppe hypothesis, which associates the spread of these languages with later Bronze Age migrations.3412