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The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE) were a patrilineal society of the Bronze Age (roughly 5th or 4th millennium BC), probably semi- nomadic, relying on animal husbandry.
The native name with which these people referred to themselves as a linguistic community, or as a ethnic unity of related tribes cannot be reconstructed with certainty. It may have been *aryo- (c. f. " Aryan race").
There is evidence for sacral kingship, suggesting the tribal king at the same time assumed the role of high priest. Many Indo-European societies know a threefold division of a clerical class, a warrior class and a class of farmers or husbandmen. Such a division was suggested for the Proto-Indo-European society by Georges Dumézil.
There was probably a separate class of warriors, consisting of young men that were yet unwed. They would have followed a separate warrior code unacceptable in the society outside their peer-group. Traces of initiation rites in several Indo-European societies suggest that this group identified itself with wolves or dogs (c. f. Berserker (viking), werewolfA werewolf in folklore and mythology is a person who changes into a wolf, either by purposefully using magic in some manner or by being placed under a curse. In fictional treatments starting in the 19th century and in popular modern superstition this tran).
The people were organized in settlements (*weiks; english -wick "village"), probably each with its king (*rek's). These settlements or villages were further divided in households (dom), each headed by a patriarch (*demspati; greek despotes, latin dominus, sanskrit dampati).
See also Proto-Indo-European religionThe existence of similarities among the gods and religious practices of the Indo-European peoples suggests that whatever population they actually formed had some form of polytheistic religion. This theoretical religion therefore, would have been the ances.
They practiced a polytheistic religion centered on sacrificial rites, probably administered by a class of priestA priest or priestess is a holy man or woman who takes an officiating role in worship of any religion, with the distinguishing characteristic of offering sacrifices. Priests have been known since the earliest times and in the simplest societies (see shamas or shamanSpecifically, Shaman (saman) is a term in Evenk, Manchu and other Manchu-Tungus languages for an intellectual and spiritual figure; who usually possess power and influence on other peoples in the tribe and performs several functions, one of which is analos.
Animals were slaughtered and dedicated to the gods in the hope of winning their favour. The king as the high priest would have been the central figure in establishing favourable relations with the other world.
The KurganThis article is about Bronze Age burial mounds. See Kurgan, Kurgan Oblast for a Russian city of that name. Kurgan (a) is the Russian word (from Turkic) for a type of burial mound or barrow, heaped over a burial chamber, often of wood. In 1956 Marija Gimbu hypothesis suggests burials in barrows or tomb chambers. Important leaders would have been buried with their belongings, and possibly also with members of their household or wives ( human sacrificeHuman sacrifice was practiced in many ancient cultures. Victims were ritually killed in a manner that was supposed to please or appease gods or spirits. On very rare occasions human sacrifices still occur today. Reasons for human sacrifice include: Sacrif, suttee).
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