New York, N.Y., Estados Unidos : Cambridge University Press, 1988.

xiv, 346 p. : il. ; 24 cm.

Contents. -- Acknowledgments. -- Preface: What song the sirens sang. -- 1. The Indo-European problem in Outline. -- 2. Archaeology and the Indo-Europeans. -- 3. Lost languages and forgotten scripts: The Indo-European languages, Old and New. -- 4. Homelands in question. -- 5. Language and language change. -- 6. Language, population, and social organization: a processual approach. -- 7. Early language dispersals in Europe. -- 8. The early Indo-Iranian Languages and their origins. -- 9. Ethnogenesis: Who were the celts? -- 10. Indo-European Mythologies. -- 11. Archaeology and Indo-European Origins: an assessment. -- Notes. -- Bibliography. -- Index. --

Tomado del prefacio: "Language is the most remarkable and the most characteristic of all human creations. It may be that our species did not become fully human until the abilities of reasoning, as well as speaking, which accompany the use of language were fully developed. Certainly, there are many archaeologists today who would argue that this moment must have been associated with the emergence of fully modern man, Homo sapiens sapiens. Yet it is notable that archaeologists of late have, in general, had very little to say about the origins of the languages which are used in the world today, or of the others, now extinct, of which we have written records. During the early days of archaeology this was a major topic of interest, and there were many who endeavored to trace the origins of the Celts, or the Greeks, or some of the tribes of North America, by examining the archaeological record for indications of their supposed migrations. Often their conclusions took a very simplistic form, with a particular kind of pottery, or perhaps a specific form of burial, regarded as the clear indicator of a recognizable early tribe whose members were hailed as the original speakers of this or that language. The prehistoric map of the area in question was soon filled with bold arrows marking the supposed paths of these peoples, often identified there only by the name of the language in question, so that to the casual eye it looked as if the languages themselves had paraded from place to place across the map."

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Incluye bibliografía 307 - 335 p.