--- In cybalist@..., "Dean_Anderson" <dean_anderson@...> wrote:
> The archaeologist, David W. Anthony says:
> Since he later ties spoked wheels to the Indo-Aryans and uses it as
> one of the main reasons why India is not the home of the Inde-
> Europeans, I'm wondering if anyone has any comments about this
> discrepency. It looks as if the PIEs had chariots but not spoked
> wheels which were a later development so the presence of spokes is
> not germane to the Indo-Aryan question.
VA: It might be noted that the words for spoke is absent in the
earliest levels of RV.
All references to spokes are found in Mandalas I, VIII, X and V and
the hymns in which they occur are all classified as 'late' hymns. On
this, there is debate between Shrikant Talageri and Witzel/Steve
Farmer in July-August 2000 archives of the Indian Civilization list.
A recent book ("The Saraswati Flows On", Aryan Books Internationa,
New Delhi, 2001) by B B Lal shows clear pictures of terrocotta images
of spoked wheels unearthed from Mature Harappan levels at Banawali.
Earlier, pottery sherds etc. had been unearthed from Mature Harappan
levels at Lothal etc, with spokes painted. Terracotta wheels with
spokes painted on them have also been similarly unearthed, but they
were all dismissed by Indo-Europeanists and Marxist Indian historians
as mere designs. The latest pictures in Lal's book show examples of
spokes in LOW RELIEF, just as they are found in later sites like
Hastinapur etc.
These, along with a few discovered in Central Asia near Tajik areas,
represent the oldest archaeological proof of the spoked wheels, to my
knowledge.