The exciting recent developments in our understanding of the history of the Indo-Iranian languages and their speakers are surveyed and assessed by a group of internationally renowned linguists and archaeologists.

In the last few years the materials available for the study of the older Indo-Iranian languages have increased dramatically: there have been sensational discoveries of birch-bark scrolls bearing Buddhist texts in the Gandhari language of north-west India, and of leather documents in Bactrian, the ancient language of northern Afghanistan. Previously known data has been exploited in new ways using innovative techniques for compiling, manipulating and disseminating electronic text and digital images. And archaeological finds in India, Pakistan and Central Asia, including the 'Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex', have given rise to new hypotheses concerning the history and pre-history of the Indo-Iranian peoples.

The volume also pays tribute to the pioneer work of the great philologist Sir Harold Bailey (1899-1996).