(P/B) THE HORSE, THE WHEEL, AND LANGUAGE

Παρουσίαση

Roughly half the world's population speaks languages derived from a shared linguistic source known as Proto-Indo-European. But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe? Until now their identity has remained a tantalizing mystery to linguists, archaeologists, and even Nazis seeking the roots of the Aryan race. The Horse, the Wheel, and Language lifts the veil that has long shrouded these original Indo-European speakers, and reveals how their domestication of horses and use of the wheel spread language and transformed civilization.
Linking prehistoric archaeological remains with the development of language, David Anthony identifies the prehistoric peoples of central Eurasia's steppe grasslands as the original speakers of Proto-Indo-European, and shows how their innovative use of the ox wagon, horseback riding, and the warrior's chariot turned the Eurasian steppes into a thriving transcontinental corridor of communication, commerce, and cultural exchange. He explains how they spread their traditions and gave rise to important advances in copper mining, warfare, and patron-client political institutions, thereby ushering in an era of vibrant social change. Anthony also describes his fascinating discovery of how the wear from bits on ancient horse teeth reveals the origins of horseback riding.
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language solves a puzzle that has vexed scholars for two centuries--the source of the Indo-European languages and English--and recovers a magnificent and influential civilization from the past.
David W. Anthony is professor of anthropology at Hartwick College. He is the editor of The Lost World of Old Europe (Princeton). He has conducted extensive archaeological fieldwork in Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan. (From the publisher)

Winner of the 2010 Book Award, Society for American Archaeology

Περιεχόμενα

PART ONE: Language and Archaeology
Chapter One: The Promise and Politics of the Mother Tongue
Ancestors
Linguists and Chauvinists
The Lure of the Mother Tongue
A New Solution for an Old Problem
Language Extinction and Thought
Chapter Two: How to Reconstruct a Dead Language
Language Change and Time
Phonology: How to Reconstruct a Dead Sound
The Lexicon: How to Reconstruct Dead Meanings
Syntax and Morphology: The Shape of a Dead Language
Conclusion: Raising a Language from the Dead
Chapter Three: Language and Time : The Last Speakers of Proto-Indo-European
The Size of the Chronological Window: How Long Do Languages Last?
The Terminal Date for Proto-Indo-European: The Mother Becomes Her Daughters
The Oldest and Strangest Daughter (or Cousin?): Anatolian
The Next Oldest Inscriptions: Greek and Old Indic
Counting the Relatives: How Many in 1500 BCE?
Chapter Four: Language and Time : Wool, Wheels, and Proto-Indo-European
The Wool Vocabulary
The Wheel Vocabulary
When Was the Wheel Invented
The Signifi cance of the Wheel
Wagons and the Anatolian Homeland Hypothesis
The Birth and Death of Proto-Indo-European
Chapter Five: Language and Place: The Location of the Proto-Indo-Europe an Homeland
Problems with the Concept of "the Homeland"
Finding the Homeland: Ecology and Environment
Finding the Homeland: The Economic and Social Setting
Finding the Homeland: Uralic and Caucasian Connections
The Location of the Proto-Indo-European Homeland
Chapter Six: The Archaeology of Language
Persistent Frontiers
Migration as a Cause of Persistent Material-Culture Frontiers
Ecological Frontiers: Different Ways of Making a Living
Small-scale Migrations, Elite Recruitment, and Language Shift
PART TWO: The Opening of the Eurasian Steppes
Chapter Seven: How to Reconstruct a Dead Culture
The Three Ages in the Pontic-Caspian Steppes
Dating and the Radiocarbon Revolution
What Did They Eat?
Archaeological Cultures and Living Cultures
The Big Questions Ahead
Chapter Eight: First Farmers and Herders: The Pontic-Caspian Neolithic
Domesticated Animals and Pontic-Caspian Ecol ogy
The First Farmer-Forager Frontier in the Pontic- Caspian Region
Farmer Meets Forager: The Bug-Dniester Culture
Beyond the Frontier: Pontic-Caspian Foragers before Cattle Arrived
The Gods Give Cattle
Chapter Nine: Cows, Copper, and Chiefs
The Early Copper Age in Old Europe
The Cucuteni-Tripolye Culture
The Dnieper-Donets II Culture
The Khvalynsk Culture on the Volga
Nalchik and North Caucasian Cultures
The Lower Don and North Caspian Steppes
The Forest Frontier: The Samara Culture
Cows, Social Power, and the Emergence of Tribes
Chapter Ten: The Domestication of the Horse and the Origins of Riding: The Tale of the Teeth
Where Were Horses First Domesticated?
Why Were Horses Domesticated?
What Is a Domesticated Horse?
Bit Wear and Horse back Riding
Indo-European Migrations and Bit Wear at Dereivka
Botai and Eneolithic Horseback Riding
The Origin of Horse back Riding
The Economic and Military Effects of Horseback Riding
Chapter Eleven: The End of Old Europe and the Rise of the Steppe
Warfare and Alliance: The Cucuteni-Tripolye Culture and the Steppes