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harappan-cart-burial

Source: TW

While the Harappans TMK show no cart burials, there has much excitement in this decade about the famous Sinauli burial. We dont think it was a chariot or horse-drawn vehicle. However, it is notable as the first cart burial in the subcontinent - a solid wheel cart with design features overlapping with steppe chariots. Hence, we believe that Sinauli clinging to one end of the OCP/Cu-hoard culture was a sign of Aryan influence among late Harappans if not actual presence of Aryans in the subcontinent.

The Indian chariot depictions from the OCP/Cu-hoard period are clearly related to the steppe petroglyph conventions, suggesting that at least 1 wave of Arya-s brought it relatively unchanged to India. Below is the e.g., from Chibbar Nulla, Mandsor. Some convention & notably shows warriors with radiating hair like figures in Omno Gov, Mongolia. The axe is characteristic of the axes found in Cu-hoard/OCP sites clinching their connection. Thus, by the core OCP the Aryans were already spread widely in India.

The Shivpuri site famously shows the Harappan horned deity on a ratha, but note that here the chariot is not in the “in tomb” view, implying a different significance for this depiction. Whatever that might be, it is a rare indicator of the Harappan incorporation into the new Aryan system of the Cu-hoard/OCP.

Finally, in the Jorwe-Daimabad culture we have a depiction of “in tomb” view of a bullock cart, which might be a parallel for the Sinauli cart burial. Given how vast the Sinauli site is, & the fact it was discovered so recently suggests that more may be buried under the densely populated Northern Indian interfluves with much implications for the Late Harappan- Aryan transition.