Copper head of Vasishtha?

[Dominik Wujastyk]

In the "Arts & Society" section of *Far Eastern Economic Review" of
3 December 1992, p.32, there is a report by M. K. Tikku in New Delhi
entitled "A head for history: Copper image sheds light on Aryan migration".

The report describes a copper head bought by Harry Hicks in 1958, now in his
private museum in California, the Foundation for Cultural Preservation.
Apparently the head has been dated as between 5200 and 5710 years old by
scientific tests performed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology's
Laboratory for Nuclear Sciences in Zurich.  [Any chance of checking this
out, Peter?]

I won't reproduce the argumentation, but the article claims that the head is
that of Vasishtha as described in the Rig Veda.  This is then taken as
evidence of the Aryans being in India before the Indus valley civilization,
and of them developing the RV in India, rather than before their arrival on
the N. Indian plains.

The article gives no references to scholarly literature, and the whole thing
is rather puzzling.  If the head really is that old, it is of great interest
and significance, although I would not jump to the conclusions mentioned
above.

Does anyone else know more about this artefact?  Can you point to literature on
it?

Dominik
----------------
Dominik Wujastyk                                  d.wujastyk at ucl.ac.uk
                                                       +44 71 611 8467