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This is a question about OTL, essentially: inspired by the thread about a Europe/India without Indo-Europeans, I did stumble across a question (and a mystery of thoughts) which I couldn't exactly answer. In what timeframe was the Atlantic region Celticized?

By the time we have historic accounts from the Atlantic region (approximately 200 BC for Iberia, and for Britain even later), with exception of remnants on the Iberian penninsula (the Aquitanians, Iberians and Turdetani - and the Lusitanians, which also spoke IE), the entire Atlantic region spoke some sort of Celtic. The question how these could supplant any previous languages so thoroughly (without leaving virtually any traces!) is something that baffles me.

Furthermore, if the Kurgan hypothesis (which is, as I understand it, the most plausible hypothesis on the origin of the Indo-Europeans), then Indo-European appeared some time around the 4th millennium in Eastern Europe (or possibly Central Asia), and this clearly means that the Celtic languages weren't indigenous to Atlantic Europe. As for when they did arrive, and what artifact cultures correspond to them - eludes me.

As far as I understand it, there's two possibilities: either the Atlantic region was Celticized much earlier than one might think, or, there was a Celtic invasion of the Atlantic region which thoroughly supplanted the original indigenous population. However, there's evidence for neither, on the contrary: from the genetic perspective, the population of the British Isles seems to be closer to the population of Iberia than to Central Europeans.

So, what's your thoughts on the topic? In what time frame did the Atlantic region get celticized?
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