Wheels, Wagons and Words
By exploring the trajectories for loanwords relating to wheeled wagon technology, the project aims to pinpoint the place of origin of the invention of wheeled vehicles around 3500 BCE.
The invention of wheeled wagon technology can be dated with some confidence to around 3500 BCE, but archaeologists disagree on where the technology was first invented and along which trajectories the technology subsequently spread across Eurasia. The Wheels, Wagons and Words project applies a hitherto unexploited perspective on the problem: loanword trajectories betray exchange and communication networks in the increasingly well-understood prehistoric human landscape illuminated by ongoing triangulation of ancient DNA, archaeology and historical linguistics. Employing state-of-the-art contact linguistic analyses based on established traditions within language families from across Eurasia, the project explores the origin and spread of wheeled wagon technology.
The project focuses on the linguistic evidence for the invention of wheeled wagon technology, dated archaeologically to around 3500 BCE.
- In which linguistic communities did the words for wheeled transportation originate, and which trajectories did they follow when borrowed?
- Is there a consistent relationship between lexical and material innovations?
- Can comparative linguistic methods be used to cast light on prehistoric archaeological uncertainties, and how?
20 November 2026: Workshop “Wheels, wagons and words on the road – interdisciplinary perspectives” (South Campus, University of Copenhagen).
The Wheels, Wagons and Words project has an international advisory board consisting of the following researchers:
- professor Martine Robbeets, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, and University of Mainz
- associate professor Rune Iversen, University of Copenhagen
- assistant professor Marijn van Putten, Leiden University
Researchers
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agdler, Matilda | External Researcher | ||
| Bjørn, Rasmus G. | Academic Research Officer | +4535328295 | |
| Olander, Thomas | Professor | +4535335937 |