Re: [tied] Wheeled vehicles

Thanks for the references. In As'oka's times there was already enough
stylistic variation in the Brahmi system to guarantee a prehistory of
some length, so it's hardly a surrprise if its beginnings are dated
back to 500 BC or earlier. Still, not 1200 BC, and not in the steppes
of Ukraine.

Piotr

--- In cybalist@..., VAgarwalV@... wrote:
> --- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> But external inspiration apart, Brahmi is a local Indian invention,
> documented from the 3rd century BC and surely not *very much*
> older. "Early Sanskrit letters" ca. 1200 BC in the Pontic steppe
just
> cannot be real.
> >
> > Piotr
>
> VA: This is a wrong impression due to the text on old Indian
writing
> by Harry Falk. Subsequent to the publication of the work, some
> pottery sherds at dug out from Anuradhapura have been dated
> conclusively to 400 BC or even earlier and these older dates are
> accepted (are reported likewise in published literature) even by
> conservative scholars like the Allchins.
> Thus, we see that just a few pottery sherds knock off the scholary
> speculations of Dr. Falk.
>
> Please refer to the following work:
>
> Title - Anuradhapura :the British-Sri Lankan excavations at
> Anuradhapura Salagha Watta 2.
> Author(s): Coningham, Robin. ; Allchin, F. Raymond; 1923- ; (Frank
> Raymond),
> Publication: Oxford, England : Archaeopress,
> Year: 1999
> Description: xxx, 209 p. : p., ill. (some col.), maps ;, 30 cm.
> Language: English
> Series: BAR international series ;; 824; Society for South Asian
> Studies monograph ;; no.3;
> TOC: v. 1. The site -- v. 2. The artefacts.
> Standard No: ISBN: 1841710369; LCCN: 00-303742
> **********
> Also relevant is the following quote from Kenoyer 1998:78
>
> "The recent discovery of Brahmi script on potsherds from Sri Lanka
> dates to around 500 BC..." (pg. 78)
> [Kenoyer here references the text 'Frank Raymond Allchin, ed., The
> Zrchaeology of Early Historic South Asia (Camridge University
Press,
> 1995), 176-179]
>
> Reference:
> Jonathan Mark. 1998. Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley
> Civilization, Karachi
>
> **********
>
> It goes without saying that if the Brahmi was an import into Sri
> Lanka from N India, the script might be even older than the sherds
by
> at least a few decades, if not centuries.
>
> There is a lot of discussion on this matter on the
IndianCivilization
> list.
>
> Regards
>
> Vishal Agarwal