New Evidence for How Languages Spread 10,000 Years Ago
The eastern (Volga–Ural–North Caucasian steppe) Yamnaya pastoral economy was more mobile than the western one (South Bug–lower Don). This contrast corresponds in an intriguing way to economic and cultural differences between eastern and western Indo–European language branches. For example, impressions of cultivated grain have been found in western
... See moreDavid W. Anthony • The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World
Forager languages were more apt to decline in the face of agricultural immigration. Farmers had a higher birth rate; their settlements were larger, and were occupied permanently. They produced food surpluses that were easier to store over the winter.
David W. Anthony • The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World
The possible homeland locations can be narrowed further by identifying the neighbors. The neighbors of the speakers of Proto-Indo-European can be identified through words and morphologies borrowed between Proto-Indo-European and other language families.
David W. Anthony • The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World
must have been spoken: words related to woven wool textiles, and to wheels and wagons. Neither woven wool textiles nor wheeled vehicles existed before about 4000 BCE. It is possible that neither existed before about 3500 BCE. Yet Proto-Indo-European speakers spoke regularly about wheeled vehicles and some sort of wool textile. This vocabulary sugge
... See moreDavid W. Anthony • The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World
Studies like this could also open new paths to insights into human societies, for example on the topic of migration. "If languages adapt to their environment in a slow process lasting thousands of years, then they carry some clues about the environment of their predecessor languages," says the Kiel linguist.