Pre-Indo-European

The pre-Indo-European languages are any of several ancient languages, not necessarily related to one another, that existed in prehistoric Europe, Asia Minor, ancient Iran and southern Asia before the arrival of Indo-European speakers. The oldest Indo-European language texts are Hittite, dating from the 19th century BC in Kultepe, and while estimates vary widely, spoken Indo-European languages are believed to have developed at the latest by the third millennium BC. The pre-Indo-European languages must therefore have developed earlier than, or in some cases alongside, the Indo-European languages that ultimately displaced and replaced almost all of them.