The horse, the wheel and language by David W Anthony
Book review
Audio book
Non fiction reference book
Rating 4/5 for the matter but 3/5 for the unanswered questions!
Average listening time in Bangalore traffic! – 16-17 hours!
Language direct and simple but with serious matter…
The introduction is so profound on how it starts with the the thought that when you look into your face you do not just see your face but a museum! The matter in our face is a mixture of generations! Of our ancestors and of our lineage! In the same way language is also a treasure house of history!
The the author dives into the mother tongue and the politics of mother tongue and how there is a new solution for the old problem. He mentions about the last speakers of the Proto Indo European language which he mentions in many places. Shifting between Indo European to indo Iranian to Greek to Yamunaya civilisations he deliberately makes mentions of the language first followed by the wheel then of course the horse!
He mentions about the importance of wool and its role in progress and development. On how sheep first were used for meat and then for wool which can be quantified by the amount of bones in settlement. Now if the bones are of older sheep it means that they have been maintained for wool and not primarily meat.
In the way of Jared Diamond and his Germ guns and steel which he does mention in the Novel, he also states how the hunter gatherer settled down and how the colonies grew.
He mentions the importance of horse in a similar way when first they were used essentially as a source of only meat since unlike cattle they could survive even in cold icy areas because of their nose structure. Later on the horses were used for riding but that was also a temporary stop gap in their use in war when they could invent a weapon which can be fired by a rider.
Then the horse made sure that they can participate or retreat from a battle. They can expand their territory and the horse is thus one of the chief reason for development of progress of certain tribes.
Of course in spite of being an archeologist himself the author does talk about how many things are uncertain or no clear. Even carbon dating is not completely reliable and there occurs changes time and again.
He also tries to get his view of similarity of many rituals and many gods in many civilisation and mentions many such findings and his point of view of the finding.
He mentions how the burials throw lots of light on the rituals and behaviour of a tribe. Like a well decorated or well stocked burial can indicate an important person if that person is old. But seeing such a decoration in a kid means that the importance is lineage driven or family drive.
The other chief discovery is the axle which make the chariot. This is very important because this is much different and more complicated than just a cart attached to the horse. With the discovery of the axle the horse chariot becomes a specialised vehicle which can then be used in war and other places. The typical horse chariot in many civilisations is one riding it with a javelin in hand!
Of course the author does conclude that no one knows when and how this was properly invented and by whom but he does state that the answer is close!
He also states the importance of the lifting of iron curtain which made the result of steppe research more easily available to the western culture and this was a major breakthrough in this field.
He talks of different cultures such as the Cucuteni culture, Khvalynsk culture on the Volga, Nachik and North Caucasian culture, lower don and northern Steppes and the samara culture or forest frontier. Then he goes on to the indo-European and then the Yamnaya culture which was closer to home! He also talks about Rig Veda and the Aryan origin without distorting the hornets nest as much as possible by stating their similarity, the horse and the cart!
In between he talks about different dialects and pronounciation and that’s done with confidence but when you listen to the Indian translation or utterance you will realise that the pronounciation is nowhere close.
The same with the way he describes many similar gods in different cultures.
Of course you must realise this is just an interpretation, it’s a point of view and it’s bound to be biased coming from an archaeologist in America!
Then again in the conclusion he does mention how the history and language is influenced more by political and pre determined variables and that’s not true archaeology!
He talks about the teeth which had no caries because they do not use carbohydrates and had a different diet!
Most of it is highly complex stuff which only a true historian (not me)would properly understand and I don’t want to give an impression that it is easy! It is certainly heavy on the head and it took me close to 16 hours of listening with repeats and reruns!
It is a good continuation if you have finished the simple history novels such as the ones by Yuval Noah and Jared diamond so do give it a go in continuation though it is more detailed than both!
The whole premise is a revelation and if it’s answer you seek then it leaves you with more questions! But the basics of language, the burial site treasures, the importance of animal as a meal or more and the similarity of rituals is digged out for you! Now you make your own deductions!
Happy horse riding!
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