--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> However, horses in significant numbers _and_ chariots should appear
with the Indo-Aryans, who did specialise in horsebreeding, chariotry
and horse training. Independently of the Rigveda,
VA: That is precisely what the archaeological evidence contradicts.
Just two skeletons in Gandharan grave culture, few bones in
Bhagwanpura, and some in Hastinapura etc. at PGW levels, typically
below 1.5% of total faunal remains. The PGW culture, as you might
know, is anyways now delinked with 'Aryans'. As for chariotry, there
is no archaeological evidence till the times of Ashoka although
chariots were definitely used even by Porus while fighting the Greek
forces.
You might find the following articles useful on Vedic chariotry, (I
do not accept all the conclusions of Dr. Kazanas BTW) -
http://www.voi.org/general_inbox/Kazanas/ejvs7_3.pdf
http://www.voi.org/general_inbox/Kazanas/addendum.pdf
***********
Piotr: However, I've got a little problem with this terracotta
menagerie. I've been trying to find a better photo of the Lothal
figurine, especially one that would show the tail,
VA: I will try to find a better picture. The picture on hindunet site
pointed out by you might be a dog, in my opinion.
**********
>Piotr: I we want to be precise, the term "modern horse" (or "true
horse") should be taken to stand for any horse conspecific with what
we call "Equus caballus" (not only modern domestic horses but any
subspecies or geographical race of _Equus ferus_, the species which
includes also all "tarpans" and Przewalski's horses). Apart a couple
of subspecies of _E. hemionus_ no other Indian equids made it into
the holocene. The hemione replaced the older equid of that region,
the Narmada horse (_E. namadicus_), in mid-Pleistocene times. _E.
namadicus_ -- a close relative, perhaps even a descendant of the
stratigraphically older _E. sivalensis_ -- was still more remotely
related to the domestic horse that hemiones are;
VA: While Equus Namadicus died out several 10's of thousand years
ago, it might be possible that the Siwalik horse survived upto
10000BP as some literature suggests. Anyway, this area is quicksand
and there is NO comprehensive study on the horse varieties for S Asia.
Sincerely,
Vishal Agarwal