Age of the Veda ...

[N. Ganesan]

>Apparently, there is a need for precision here: I did not say that
>the Rig as we know goes back to the year 4.500 BCE. [...]
>consequently go back to the period when the Indo-Europeans were together -
>wherever and whenever that was. The point of
>break-up is often said to be about 4,500 BCE. It is a rough figure, and I
>am not dogmatic about it.

David Anthony, 1996, Shards of Speech(Proto-Indo-European language),
The Sciences, v. 36, p. 34-40:
"Terms for wheel, axle and draft pole, and a verb meaning 'to go or
convey in a vehicle' suggest that PIE existed as a single language
after 3500 B.C., when wheeled vehicles were invented. PIE must have
begun to disintegrate before 2000 B.C.: by 1500 B.C. three of its
daughter languages - Greek, Hittie and Indic - had become quite
dissimilar. Altogether, then the linguistic evidence points to a
homeland between the Ural and Caucasus mountains, in the centuries
between 3500 and 2000 B.C."

  2000 BCE is the date of invention for Chariots.
  A 3000 BCE date (possibly later) for PIE
  breakup seems reasonable. It appears 4500 BCE is an overestimate,
  note the lower limit in Anthony is as late as 2000 BCE.

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