Publisher. The exact population who spoke this language has long been cause for speculation. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published One word for wheel sounded something like “roteh.” The word for axle? $35.00. The linguistic evidence I found fascinating, although it occupies a much smaller portion of the book. I got pointed towards this book due to its being cited a few times by Karen Armstrong in the The Great Transformation - particularly around Zoroaster being much earlier than I had previously heard and how parts of the Rig Veda are remnants of proto-Indo-European culture. In the article, "The Indo-European Homeland from Linguistic and Archaeological Perspectives" Anthony teams with a linguist to challenge Renfrew's Anatolian IE Homeland theory. It is a showcase for the integration of archaeological methods with broader linguistics and anthropology, as well as providing prehistoric detail that might have seemed impossible thirty years ago, reconstructing one of the most fascinating periods in human history. David W. Anthony's THE HORSE, THE WHEEL AND LANGUAGE is a powerful work of synthesis that offers a very convincing thesis of where PIE was spoken and how exactly it spread. That stuff is fascinating, but it doesn't come to life the way I had hoped. I'd like to start my review of the book with part of the last sentence of the last chapter of the book:"...in the invisible and fleeting sound of our speech we preserve for a future generation of linguists many details of our present world." Many of the illustrations, however, are adapted from other publications and lack sufficient accompanying information to be useful for anything other than giving a general impression of the artifacts included i. Anthony has rendered a great service in making available information on the archaeology of the Bronze Age cultures of the Pontic-Caspian and Eurasian steppes contained in Russian language publications. Anthony goes with the salesman option (even likening PIE expansion to a franchise operation at one point). 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. I'm interested in archaeology, but my eyes were crossing while trying to read some of the middle portion. Indo-European languages are now some of the most widely spoken languages in the world. This was a fascinating book. I was really excited to read this book to understand the origins of the Indo-European languages and especially the shared culture and mythology of ancient Greeks, Romans, Vikings and modern Hindus. After about the first 80 pages I started skipping around using the section headings scanning for bits that interest me. (p.466). Princeton Tec University Press. He ties up what we know about the original Indo-European language with actual archaeological studies in the Steppes of Russia, probably their ancestral home. Anthony, an archaeologist at Hartwick College who has extensive field experience, makes the persuasive case that it originated in the steppes of what is now southern Ukraine and Russia, a landscape consisting mainly of endless grasslands and “huge, dramatic” sky. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007. xii + 553 pp. The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World is a 2007 book by the anthropologist David W. Anthony, in which the author describes his "revised Kurgan theory." The first and most intimate affiliations we have are the genetic ties we share with our family and the language we speak. Even if you're not interested in language, this detail-rich volume has many threads for historians to follow; it is a monumental work for anyone. Genetic evidence developed since then shows that PIE speakers (known to archaeologists as the Yamnaya) expanded rapidly out of the Eurasian steppe and quickly replaced most of the people then living in western Euro. The Rocking-Horse Winner essays are academic essays for citation. I gave this one start because I didn't finish it, I couldn't get through it. 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. He also cites remarkable genetic analyses suggesting that although all the domesticated horses in the world may have come from many different wild mothers, they might all share a single father. Most of the languages of Europe and western Asia can be traced back to a common ancestor spoken several thousand years ago termed Proto-Indo-European. As a result, Anthony writes, the question of its origins was “politicized almost from the beginning.” Numerous groups, ranging from the Nazis to adherents of the “goddess movement” (who saw the Indo-Europeans as bellicose invaders who upended a feminine utopia), have made self-interested claims about the Indo-European past. See more ideas about language, historical maps, language map. Anthony has rendered a great service in making available information on the archaeology of the Bronze Age cultures of the Pontic-Caspian and Eurasian steppes contained in Russian language publications. A couple of notes: Most of the languages of Europe and western Asia can be traced back to a common ancestor spoken several thousand years ago termed Proto-Indo-European. “It is oddly ironic that capitalist archaeologists made the mode of production central to their definition of the Neolithic, and Marxist archaeologists ignored it.”, “The Rig Veda was a ritual canon, not a racial manifesto. Ok I seriously have to reread this book sometime - I listened to it on audio and some parts I think I zoned out for a min and then had noooo idea what was going on. There are descriptions of how the development of horse herding and a nomadic lifestyle probably led to a patrilineal, male-centered society where brothers worked together to keep their herd safe from raids by other tribes, and how that is reflected in religious myths that have been reconstructed from descendant myths from later Indo-European cultures. This book is a very dense look at who the Proto-Indo-Europeans might have been (or probably were, in my opinion), looking at both the historical linguistics and the archeology. Horse Transportation Train: 0€ 11: Four Wheel Horse: 1,29€ 12: Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World: 24,52€ 13: Summers' Horses (Wheeler Publishing Large Print Western) 21,34€ 14: Spell on Wheels Volume 2: Just to Get to You: 19,99€ 15: Behold a White Horse: 20,89€ 16 Until now their identity has remained a tantalizing mystery to linguists, archaeologists, and even Nazis seeking the roots of the Arya. I haven't felt equipped to review this -- at least until I get to that 2nd reading. The author pays special attention to evidence for the domestication of the horse around 4000 BCE and draws attention to his original work analyzing bit wear patterns. I appreciate the author's herculean efforts to peg theory and conjecture on fact and evidence as much as possible. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. While there was a little of that in the book, the vast majority was on the archaeological evidence that there WAS a proto-Indo-European culture, along with the linguistic evidence. This is a fascinating study. Product Identifiers. Roughly half the world's population speaks languages derived from a shared linguistic source known as Proto-Indo-European. “Aks.”. The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World - David W. Anthony Audiobook - Download Free Books ISBN-10. A shame not to say that I thought it fantastic, though. The first several chapters, and the last several chapters are both excellent. Without exception, everyone is created by two parents, who each had two parents, who themselves had two parents, and on and on, so that behind every reader of this review, thousands of mothers and fathers fan out and multiply in a completely predictable way. Anthony writes in his conclusion, "I have used a lot of archaeological detail in this account" and he sure did! As a graduate student in linguistics, I was initially quite enthused to read a book that bridges the gaping divide between linguistics and archaeology. Author David Anthony reminds us that the oldest images in Near Eastern art of spoked wheels (which identifies chariots used in warfare from carts used for other more domestic purposes) appear about 1900 BCE, which leads us to the realization that chariots were developed first in the steppes, and "introduced to the Near East through Central Asia". Many of the illustrations, however, are adapted from other publications and lack sufficient accompanying information to be useful for anything other than giving a general impression of the artifacts included in the kurgans of the various steppe cultures. The Horse, The Wheel and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Euroasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World by David W. Anthony. English belongs to the very large Indo-European language family. December 9th 2007 AbeBooks.com: The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World (9780691058870) by Anthony, David W. and a great selection of similar New, Used and Collectible Books available now at great prices. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Addeddate. “The Horse, the Wheel, and Language” brings together the work of historical linguists and archaeologists, researchers who have traditionally been suspicious of one … Until now their identity has remained a tantalizing mystery to linguists, archaeologists, and even Nazis seeking the roots of the Aryan race. Be the first to ask a question about The Horse, the Wheel, and Language. Although it has a lot of promise and some great tit bits it is just too entirely academic and unless your a linguist or anthropologist I don't see you reading all of it either. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2007. Agreeing with Mallory on most points, Anthony does a good job of suggesting a mechanism for the spread of Proto-Indo-European and for its differentation into regional languages. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Very interesting, however. David W. Anthony is an American Professor of Anthropology, specializing in Indo-European history and languages. 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