The Horse, the Wheel, and Language
by David W. Anthony · first published 2007
77% recommend18% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Accessible yet detailed account of Proto-Indo-European origins, weaving archaeology, linguistics and genetics to place the Yamnaya steppe speakers in time and space; suits laypeople, though pottery detail can be skipped.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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 civi
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…it --- it's that the PIE-speaking Yamnaya swept in from the caucuses and slaughtered mostly everyone (especially men) except the Basques. It's not pretty, but that's the way it was. Incidentally, The Horse, The Wheel and Language (2010) https://erenow.com/ancient/the-horse-the-wheel-and-language/ is a freely available book that shows just how far a well-deployed combination of good-old philology/historical linguistics and archaeologocal…
on “Mass grave in Poland embodies the violent beginning of the Bronze Age” ↗Off topic, but on the topic of your specific example: there's a nice book called The Horse, The Wheel, and Language[1] about this. Great if you want to learn about analysing fossil horse teeth for bridle bit wear. Oh, and about Indo-European languages. Edit: By 'you" I didn't mean parent specifically but "the reader".…
on “Lost Advanced Civilizations” ↗I've been making my way through David Anthony's The Horse, the Wheel and Language (really well-written book if anyone is interested, btw) and the thing about Proto-Indo-Europeans having some kind of religious taboo against naming bears is one of my favorite theories in it. I've been…
on “Lithuanian is riddled with references to bees” ↗…distant pastures possible. Meanwhile, early domesticated horses might have enabled the newly nomadic Yamnaya to manage bigger herds. Together, the innovations opened up a vast new landscape. See also The Horse, The Wheel, and Language. Recommended if you like archaeology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Horse,_the_Wheel,_and_Lang...
on “Milk fueled Bronze Age expansion of ‘eastern cowboys’ into Europe” ↗I read a book called The Horse, The Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony after watching Simon Roper videos with great interest for the last couple of years. I can definitely recommend that if you're interested in the topic. A pretty detailed exploration…
on “How we know languages like proto-Indo-European existed [video]” ↗If you found this interesting and want to dive deeper, I recommend 'The Horse the Wheel and Language' by David Anthony. The book is an intellectual tour de force, yet easily approachable. Integrating linguistics, genetics, archaeology and vigorous academic debate within and across the disciplines,…
on “Who Are Western Europeans? New Study Reveals True Origins” ↗There is a great book called "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language" by David Anthony, and in Chapter 10 he goes into some depth about horse domestication. https://archive.org/details/horsewheelandlanguage/page/192/m... I suppose as it relates to this article, the author…
on “Horses may have been domesticated twice” ↗> irrefutable I'm not sure I'd go quite that strongly. The Horse, The Wheel, and Language is a good book (IMO) and while from 2007 still reflects the general consensus, as I understand it. The author refers to it as the Kurgan hypothesis throughout for a reason. He even interviews Marija…
For PIE, the most accessible recent book in English is probably The Horse, the Wheel, and Language (Anthony 2007), and I would highly recommend it. (It pulls double duty as a laymen's and as an academic publication, so if you do read it, know that it's OK to skip the minutiae of pottery shards.) A…
on “OpenAI to become for-profit company” ↗If you like this kind of language archeology, check out David Anthony's The Horse, the Wheel, and Language — for how the people that spoke the Proto Indo-European language were located in time and space.
on “Chasing Lost Languages” ↗Also David Anthony's book _The Horse, the Wheel, and Language_ (2007), which just missed the ancient DNA revolution but essentially anticipated its findings on Yamnaya migration from the Pontic-Caspian steppe into Europe.
on “Deeper Than Deep: David Reich's genetics lab unveils our prehistoric past (2017)” ↗"Proto" - Laura Spinney. Proto-Indoeuropean. https://www.powells.com/book/proto-how-one-ancient-language-... before that "The Horse the Wheel & Language". David Anthony. Proto-Indoeuropeans. https://www.powells.com/book/horse-the-wheel-language-how-br...
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗In a similar vein: "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World" by David W. Anthony https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691148182/th...
No, it is based on both linguistic and archaeological evidence. For example, read The Horse, The Wheel, and Language, which corroborates these two kinds of evidence Fwiw I’m Hindu.
on “How Indian Zoroastrians helped shape modern Iran” ↗The best accessible archaeology reference I can recommend is "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language", and that book can guide you to many other resources.(https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691148182/th...) Though the research is a tad dated since we have more genetic evidence since it…
on “Something big just hit Jupiter” ↗