Some people assert the Indoeuropeans had no influence in the east, either through the language, culture, or migration of the people itself. What are the arguments for or against this assertion?

by nwidis

Personally, I love PIE, I'm even learning to swear in it. I love that so many of us have this shared heritage that stretches back thousands of years, and that even some of the words we use today were used back then. So that's my bias (although I'm aware of the inherent dangers of reconstructing languages without any contemporaneous sources - and that it's both unverifiable and somewhat unreliable)

I keep coming across a lot of people saying that the reconstructed language is pure fantasy with zero merit, and that the indo europeans didn't migrate to the east or had zero influence there.

What are the strongest pieces of evidence for or against the influence/migration of the indo europeans, and PIE as being the root of the indoeuropean language family?

Searocksandtrees

Hi OP, since this is a question about events from prehistory, it would be worth x-posting to our sister sub, /r/AskAnthropology. While your question may get answered here, it probably has a better chance over there.