Wheels, Horses, Babies and Bathwaters: Celebrating the Impact of David W. Anthony on the Study of Prehistory

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Wheels, Horses, Babies and Bathwaters: Celebrating the Impact of David W. Anthony on the Study of Prehistory," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

From his 1990 article, "The Baby and the Bathwater: Migration in Archaeology", onwards David Anthony set himself on a sometimes-controversial course: tackling subject matter that many, if not most, archaeologists would rather avoid. During that time, Anthony, along with a handful of others, has pioneered American participation in the study of Eurasian prehistory, including writing the winner of the 2010 SAA Book Award, "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World." In-between and since these seminal publications, David Anthony has continued to be highly influential among not just his fellow archaeologists, but also historical linguists and geneticists. His recent achievements include co-authored publications on an archaeolinguistic study of the wheel, various publications on the genetics of ancient Eurasian steppe populations, pastoralism, and the publication of the results of his and Dorcas Brown’s Samara Valley Project. This session explores the continuing influence of David Anthony’s work and celebrating his many contributions to archaeology, historical linguistics, and genetics.