View source for Balts

===Origins===
[[File:Baltic cultures 600-200 BC SVG.svg|thumb|275px|right|Baltic archaeological cultures in the Iron Age from 600 BC to 200 BC
{{legend|#4E9A06|{{Interlanguage link|Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture|lt|Dulokaimio-Kovrovo kultūra|ru|Культура Доллькайм-Коврово}}  ([[Sambians]] and [[Natangians]])}}
{{legend|#73D216|{{Interlanguage link|Olsztyn culture|de|Olsztyn-Kultur|pl|Grupa olsztyńska|ru|Культура Доллькайм-Коврово}} ([[Galindians#Galindians|Galindians]]?)}}
{{legend|#8AE234|{{Interlanguage link|Sudovian culture|lt|Sūduvių kultūra|pl|Kultura sudowska}} ([[Yotvingians]])}}
{{legend|#729FCF|[[Neman culture]] ([[Curonians]])}}
{{legend|#FCAF3E|[[Brushed Pottery culture]] ([[Lithuanians]], [[Selonians]], [[Latgalians]] and [[Semigallians]])}}
{{legend|#F57900|[[Milograd culture]] ([[Neuri]]?)}}
{{legend|#CE5C00|{{Interlanguage link|Dnieper-Dvina culture|lt|Dniepro-Dauguvos kultūra|ru|Днепро-двинская культура}}}} ([[Dnieper Balts]])
{{legend|#EDD400|[[Pomeranian culture]] ([[Pomeranian Balts]])}}
{{legend|#FCE94F|{{Interlanguage link|Bell-shaped burial culture|lt|Varpinių kapų kultūra|ru|Культура подклёшевых погребений}}}}]]
The Balts or Baltic peoples, defined as speakers of one of the [[Baltic languages]], a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the lower [[Vistula]] and southeast shore of the [[Baltic Sea]] and upper [[Daugava]] and [[Dnieper]] rivers. The Baltic languages, especially Lithuanian, retain a number of conservative or archaic features, perhaps because the areas in which they are spoken are geographically consolidated and have low rates of immigration.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=PIECHNIK |first1=IWONA |date= 22 December 2014|title=FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSERVATISM AND PURISM IN LANGUAGES OF NORTHERN EUROPE (NORDIC, BALTIC, FINNIC) |url=https://core.ac.uk/reader/229233000 |journal= Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis |volume=2014 |issue=131, 4 |pages=395–419 |doi=10.4467/20834624SL.14.022.2729 |access-date=April 21, 2024}}</ref>

Some of the major authorities on Balts, such as [[Kazimieras Būga]], [[Max Vasmer]], [[Vladimir Toporov]] and [[Oleg Trubachyov]],{{citation needed|date=February 2014}} in conducting etymological studies of eastern European river names, were able to identify in certain regions names of specifically Baltic provenance, which most likely indicate where the Balts lived in prehistoric times. According to [[Vladimir Toporov]] and [[Oleg Trubachyov]], the eastern boundary of the Balts in the prehistoric times were the upper reaches of the [[Volga]], [[Moskva (river)|Moskva]], and [[Oka (river)|Oka]] rivers, while the southern border was the [[Seym (river)|Seym river]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ramat |first1=Anna Giacalone |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7a5CAAAQBAJ |title=The Indo-European Languages |last2=Ramat |first2=Paolo |date=2015-04-29 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-92186-7 |page=456 |language=en}}</ref> This information is summarized and synthesized by [[Marija Gimbutas]] in ''The Balts'' (1963) to obtain a likely proto-Baltic homeland. Its borders are approximately: from a line on the [[Pomerania]]n coast eastward to include or nearly include the present-day sites of [[Berlin]], [[Warsaw]], [[Kyiv]], and [[Kursk]], northward through [[Moscow]] to the River Berzha, westward in an irregular line to the coast of the [[Gulf of Riga]], north of [[Riga]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} 

However, other scholars such as Endre Bojt (1999) reject the presumption that there ever was such a thing as a clear, single "Baltic ''[[Urheimat]]''":<ref name="Bojt">{{Cite book |last1=Bojt |first1=Endre |date=1999 |title=Foreword to the Past: A Cultural History of the Baltic People |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Er1_CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 |location=Budapest |publisher=Central European University Press |pages=81, 113 |isbn=978-963-9116-42-9 |access-date=1 April 2022}}</ref> <blockquote>'The references to the Balts at various ''Urheimat'' locations across the centuries are often of doubtful authenticity, those concerning the Balts furthest to the West are the more trustworthy among them. (...) It is wise to group the particulars of Baltic history according to the interests that moved the pens of the authors of our sources.'<ref name="Bojt" /></blockquote>