A small note in addition to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/10764
It's interesting to be aware of different assertions
between warring ethnic groups in the island nation, Sri Lanka.
Ethnonatiolism, and ethnic cleansing of minorities
going on for decades.
While there are no archaeologically attested materials
with writing prior to 3rd century BC in India, scholars
must be beware of outrageous assertions about brahmi writing
emanating elsewhere.
Obviously Brahmi was invented in India, and not in Sri Lanka,
it is a well known feature of Sri Lankan history that
culture moves from the mainland.
See Coningham's paper in Antiquity:
Antiquity, 09/01/2000; Vol. 74, No. 285 p. 707
The Vijayan colonization and the archaeology of identity in Sri Lanka
by
Robin Coningham, Nick Lewer
The Coningham-Allchin report on Anuradhapura has these words,
I'm told in Ind. Civ. list:
> " It is hypothesized that the coevality in the first occurrence of
> Brahmi and these two ( northern Indian ) ceramic traits is linked
>in some manner to an extraneous cultural impulse that reached
>Sri Lanka during this period. It is hence tempting to see a
>connection betweeb
> arcgaelogica; evidence and the legend of 'Vijaya and his followers'
> as ennunciated in the Mahavamsa , an even attributed to the 6th
> century BC "
>
The Mahavamsa chronicle has textual layers some written in
centuries CE. Believing in them to date Brahmi in Sri Lanka
to 6th century BCE may not be scientifically sound.
R. & B. Allchin, Origins of a Civilization,
The prehistory and early archaeology of South Asia.
Viking (Penguin Books) 1997, p. 257 [Anuradhapura potshards]
"However, in its final stage, a remarkable discovery
has been made, a number of potshards with crude Brahmi
inscriptions scratched on them (Plate. 71, nos. 1 ans 2).
Datable to c. 360-340 BC these are almost certainly
the earliest dated Brahmi inscriptions from any part
of South Asia."
Also,
On The Origin Of The Early Indian Scripts: A Review Article
Richard Salomon, University of Washington, Journal of the American
Oriental Society 115.2 (1995), 271-279.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgadkw/position/salomon.html
Any factors, human (eg., ethnonationalism) and natural
(rainfall runoff, rat holes) placing some 3rd century shards
in 4th century layers need to be considered.
Given the situation that no Brahmi prior to 3rd century
in India proper, and the most likely scenario that
Brahmi moved from India into Ceylon (not the otherway around)
(you see all other cultural stuff moving into Lanka
from India), these claims need to be verified much further,
from other independent sources,
Regards,
N. Ganesan