Horse in Mesopotamia and ancient India

[Yaroslav V. Vassilkov]

Addition: Recently a rich tomb has been excavated in the upper part of the
Zaraphshan Valley (Tajikistan) with 6 horse psalia (designed to hold the bit
in the horse's mouth) - of the same type as at Sintashta. The dating is 20-18
century B.C., that is later than the new dating of Sintashta and indicating,
as Prof. V. Masson thinks, the movement of horse and chariot driving technique
from the steppe towards south. At the same tomb a figure of the horse at
the top of a bronze pin has been found.
        (This does not contradict in any way what has been said about the
slightly earlier evidence of horses and chariot from the Gurgan area, because
as I said in my previous posting, nowadays it seems more and more probable
that there were two directions of Indo-Iranian infiltration into the BMAC
area: from the West and from the North).

Correction: My guess about Arabs was wrong. The Akhal Teke horses
definitely appear in Central Asia for the first time in the PARTHIAN
period, i.e. in III-I centuries B.C.
        (Prof. Vadim M. Masson, personal communication).
        Best regards,
                                Yaroslav Vassilkov