pt. 1. Language and archaeology. -- The promise and politics of the mother tongue -- How to reconstruct a dead language -- Language and time 1: the last speakers of Proto-Indo-European -- Language and time 2 : wool, wheels, and Proto-Indo-European -- Language and place : the location of the Proto-Indo-European homeland -- The archaeology of language -- pt. 2. The opening of the Eurasian steppes. -- How to reconstruct a dead culture -- First farmers and herders : the Pontic-Caspian Neolithic -- Cows, copper, and chiefs -- The domestication of the horse and the origins of riding : the tale of the teeth -- The end of Old Europe and the rise of the steppe -- Seeds of change on the steppe borders : Maikop chiefs and Tripolye towns -- Wagon dwellers of the steppe : the speakers of Proto-Indo-European -- The western Indo-European languages -- Chariot warriors of the northern steppes -- The opening of the Eurasian steppes -- Words and deeds
Summary
Argues that the domestication of the horse and the use of the wheel by the prehistoric peoples of the central Eurasian steppe grasslands facilitated the spread of the Proto-Indo-European language across most of the ancient world
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 507-545) and index
