Paleo-Mediterranean

Paleo-Mediterranean is a hypothetical language family proposed by Jörg Rhiemeier. It would have been the language family of the Upper Paleolithic people of southern Europe, later to split into many different units.

Nothing is known about these languages; if any of them still existed in historical times, the relationships between them would have been utterly obscured and unrecognizable due to the enormous time depth (about 40,000 to 50,000 years) of this group. It is also conceivable that these languages entirely disappeared during the Neolithic as they were eclipsed by Cardial-Impresso languages.

A relationship to the Paleo-Transalpine languages is possible.

See also

• Paleo-European languages
• Paleo-European history overview