Professor of Anthropology David Anthony has shed new light on one of the persistent questions in his field, and is garnering acclaim for its presentation in his recently published book The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppe Shaped the Modern World (Princeton University Press 2007).
The book, which recently hit bookstore and library shelves and is flying off both, combines 20 years of Anthony's research in the steppes of Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan to put forth a bold new theory on the homeland of the Proto-Indo-European language, the root of most of the languages of South and Southwest Asia spoken by about half the world's population.
For more than 200 years, the source of Proto-Indo-European has remained a mystery to linguists, archaeologists, and others. Anthony's book 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, 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.
Archaeologist J.P. Mallory of Queen's University in Belfast and editor of the Journal of Indo-European Studies has called Anthony's book a "very significant contribution to the field."
"This book attempts to resolve the longstanding problem of Indo-European origins by providing an examination of the most relevant linguistic issues and a thorough review of the archaeological evidence," Mallory said. "I know of no study of the Indo-European homeland that competes with it."
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Contact: Christopher Lott
E-mail: lottc@hartwick.edu
Phone: 607-431-4030
