The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World

David W. Anthony

Sep 2018 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Tom Perkins

About this audiobook

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 W. 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.

Ratings and reviews

It appears the author is assuming or perhaps CONFUSING a simple but CRITICAL ISSUE...and that is simply that ones predecessor is not necessarily ones related ancestor. AND OFTEN IS NOT. For example...before the EUROPEANS settled and occupied the land, the indians had been inhabiting the vast undeveloped wilderness that was/is the north american continent...this is a fact. No one has attempted to deny or refute this.. However, by 1900 the white aryan europeans dominated the area and very few indians remained. Perhaps this is because the indians did not welcome the europeans with ebt cards, anchor baby citizenship, medical care, education and the opp to become equal citizens w the right to vote. So the indians were the predecessors of the europeans but not their ancestors. This author seems to deny the great migrations of the Germanic Anglo Saxon Scandavian and Celtic peoples from out of Mesopotamia and other areas in the middle east. The migrations of these tribes of were quite remarkably recorded in ancient history as inscriptions on literally thousands of stone tablets....INSCRIBED STONE TABLETS. Tablets that were dug out of the deep sands in the middle east around 1850 but sat untranslated for over 50 years and upon finding someone who could read/translate those inscriptions discovered these stones are detailing the movements of the israelite ( not jewish) peoples. Evidently the assyrians kept daily reports about what was going on around them as did the Persians. They describe these tribes as we would describe any ethnic Saxon or German today in physical appearance.... they were undoubtly aryan and there is no doubt. Not only that but our bibles also confirm this. JESUS SAID THAT HE CAME ONLY FOR THE LOST SHEEP AND SO HIS FOLLOWERS MUST HAVE KNOWN WHERE THEY WERE AND WHO THEY WERE. It would explain why the apostle Paul traveled all over Europe to bring the gospel of reconcillation to the lost tribes of israel.

About the author

David W. Anthony is professor of anthropology at Hartwick College. He is the editor of The Lost World of Old Europe. He has conducted extensive archaeological fieldwork in Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan.

An award-winning audio engineer for over forty years, Tom Perkins has expanded his skills to narrating and has more than sixty titles to his credit. He learned by working with the world's best voice talent during his career, and he continues to engineer a variety of projects.