page_title: The Horse, the Wheel, and Language
section_title: Chapter Fourteen: The Western Indo-European Languages
hierarchical_section_title: The Horse, the Wheel, and Language / Contents / Part Two: The Opening of the Eurasian Steppes / Chapter Fourteen: The Western Indo-European Languages
context_page_description: The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World is a 2007 book by the anthropologist David W. Anthony, in which the author describes his "revised Kurgan theory." He explores the origins and spread of the Indo-European languages from the Pontic-Caspian steppe throughout Western Europe, and Central and South Asia. He shows how the domesticated horse and the invention of the wheel mobilized the steppe herding societies in the Eurasian Steppe, and combined with the introduction of bronze technology and new social structures of patron-client relationships gave an advantage to the Indo-European societies. The book won the Society for American Archaeology's 2010 Book Award.
context_section_description: According to Anthony, Pre-Italic, Pre-Celtic and Pre-Germanic may have split off in the Danube Valley and the Dniestr-Dniepr from Proto-Indo-European.
  The Usatovo culture developed in southeastern Central Europe at around 3300–3200 BCE at the Dniestr. Although closely related to the Tripolye culture, it is contemporary with the Yamna culture and resembles it in significant ways. According to Anthony, it may have originated with "steppe clans related to the Yamnaya horizon who were able to impose a patron-client relationship on Tripolye farming villages." According to Anthony, the Pre-Germanic dialects may have developed in the culture between the Dniestr (western Ukraine) and the Vistula (Poland) in c. 3100–2800 BCE, and spread with the Corded Ware culture.
  Between 3100–2800/2600 BCE, when the Yamna horizon spread fast across the Pontic Steppe, a real folk migration of Proto-Indo-European-speakers from the Yamna-culture took place into the Danube Valley, moving along Usatovo territory toward specific destinations, reaching as far as Hungary, where as many as 3000 kurgans may have been raised. Bell Beaker sites at Budapest, dated c. 2800–2600 BCE, may have aided in spreading Yamna dialects into Austria and southern Germany in the west, where Proto-Celtic may have developed. Pre-Italic may have developed in Hungary,l and spread toward Italy via the Urnfield culture and Villanovan culture. According to Anthony, Slavic and Baltic developed in the Middle Dniepr (Ukraine) in c. 2800 BCE, spreading north from there.
  The Corded Ware culture in Middle Europe probably played an essential role in the origin and spread of the Indo-European languages in Europe during the Copper and Bronze Ages. According to Anthony, the Corded ware horizon may have introduced Germanic, Baltic and Slavic into Northern Europe.
caption: Course of the Danube, in red
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