Horse in Mesopotamia and ancient India

[Sn. Subrahmanya]

At 04:05 PM 7/23/98 +0400, you wrote:
>>From yavass Thu Jul 23 15:55:49 MSD 1998
>Tepe Hissar IIIB  yielded also a cylinder seal (dated to c. 2250 B.C.)
>depicting a horse-drawn vehicle. In the same Gurgan culture as well as in
>the neighbouring and contemporary Bronze-Age Margiana/Bactria civilization
>trumpets made of gold and silver (needed in directing chariots in battle)
>have been found. This region (southeast of Caspian sea) is supposed by many
>scholars to be the earliest centre of horse domestication in the Near East.
>
The aim is NOT to prove that the first center of horse domestication was
in India, but it does show that the Harappans could not have been ignorant
about horses. The Akhal Teke has been present in Turkmenistan atleast from
Harappan times. So it is untenable to suggest that the Harappans did not
know horses or did not use them (albeit in smaller numbers -
when compared to cattle - and hence their high value!).

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>But Tepe Hissar in its periods III B and C demonstrates close cultural
>connections not with the Indus/Sarasvati civilization, but with
>Margiana/Bactria and Mittanni in Syria - both cultures being probably
>connected with the movements of Indo_Iranian and Indo-Aryan tribes.

Exactly - if there was a migration into India then the influence
must appear later on in India as well, which doesnt seem to be !
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>See works by Ghirshman, Mallory and some recent articles by Asko Perpola.
>        So, if the aim is to prove that the first centre of horse
>domestication was in India, this argument does not work.
>
If you notice, the BMAC also did not seem to need any "migrating Aryans" for
its development. On the other hand, the BMAC influence
seems to have spread into Iran (refer to Hiebert,Erdosy Vol).
Also,the BMAC is exactly where the Dasas,Dahyu and the Panis are placed
(Parpola in same vol).

Archeologists see no evidence of Indra Rommels with their chariot panzers
rumbling into India thru mountain passes - despite the vivid imaginations of
a few.

Subrahmanya