Chapter Two. How to Reconstruct a Dead Language

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgments xi
4. Part One. Language and Archaeology
5. Chapter One. The Promise and Politics of the Mother Tongue 3
6. Chapter Two. How to Reconstruct a Dead Language 21
7. Chapter Three. Language and Time 1: The Last Speakers of Proto- Indo- European 39
8. Chapter Four. Language and Time 2: Wool, Wheels, and Proto- Indo- European 59
9. Chapter Five. Language and Place: The Location of the Proto- Indo- European Homeland 83
10. Chapter Six. The Archaeology of Language 102
11. Part Two. The Opening of the Eurasian Steppes
12. Chapter Seven. How to Reconstruct a Dead Culture 123
13. Chapter Eight. First Farmers and Herders: The Pontic- Caspian Neolithic 134
14. Chapter Nine. Cows, Copper, and Chiefs 160
15. Chapter Ten. The Domestication of the Horse and the Origins of Riding: The Tale of the Teeth 193
16. Chapter Eleven. The End of Old Eu rope and the Rise of the Steppe 225
17. Chapter Twelve. Seeds of Change on the Steppe Borders: Maikop Chiefs and Tripolye Towns 263
18. Chapter Thirteen. Wagon Dwellers of the Steppe: The Speakers of Proto- Indo- European 300
19. Chapter Fourteen. The Western Indo- European Languages 340
20. Chapter Fifteen. Chariot Warriors of the Northern Steppes 371
21. Chapter Sixteen. The Opening of the Eurasian Steppes 412
22. Chapter Seventeen. Words and Deeds 458
23. Appendix: Author’s Note on Radiocarbon Dates 467
24. Notes 471
25. References 507
26. Index 547