No Horse at Harappa!
American archaeologist Jim Shaffer noted:
Current archaeological data do not support the existence of an Indo-Aryan or European invasion into South Asia any time in the pre- or proto historic periods. Instead, it is possible to document archaeologically a series of cultural changes reflecting indigenous cultural development from prehistoric to historic period.
In addition to such negative evidence, positive evidence has shown that the Harappan civilisation was a part of the Vedic Aryan fold and this evidence includes the presence of horses. The proponents of the AIT theory have in a child like manner harped about the absence of horse by coining a slogan “No Horse at Harappa”. The juvenile fashion in which they have gone about dancing and celebrating this worthy of note because the scientific evidence shows otherwise. Horse both domestic and wild varieties have been found at places like Koldihwa and Mahagarh in interior India dating back to 6500 BC! These are Neolithic sites. The issue of horse has been blown out of proportion by scholars with the vested interest in preserving the invasion theory and the non indigenous basis of the Vedas and the Vedic civilisation.
One of the most vociferous deniers is Michael Witzel who has gone to claim that any Harappan horse remains is a later introduction. This means that horse remains found and described by John Marshall in the 1920’s was introduced later. Witzel and his band of happily ignorant deniers stand discredited after this episode. How they lost their tongue can be illustrated by evidence found which is scientific and accepted by scholars worldwide. Sample the findings below.
Ref: Sarasvati and the Vedic Civilisation by NS Rajaram
Remains of horses have been found among other places in Mahagara near Allahabad (dated to c. 2265 BC to 1480 BC, described as Equus ferus caballus Linn), Hallur in Karnataka (c.1500 - 1300 BC, described as Equus ferus caballus), Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa ("small horse"), Lothal (e.g., a terracotta figurine and a molar horse tooth, dated to 2200 BC), Kalibangan, and Kuntasi (dated to 2300 – 1900 BC). Horse remains from the Harappan site Surkotada (dated to c. 2400-1700 BC) have been identified by A.K. Sharma as Equus ferus caballus. The horse specialist Sandor Bökönyi (1997) later confirmed these conclusions and stated that the excavated tooth specimens could "in all probability be considered remnants of true horses [i.e. Equus ferus caballus]". Bökönyi stated that "The occurrence of true horse (Equus caballus L.) was evidenced by the enamel pattern of the upper and lower cheek and teeth and by the size and form of incisors and phalanges (toe bones)." An alleged clay model of a horse has been found in Mohenjo-Daro and an alleged horse figurine in Periano Ghundai in the Indus Valley.
Trautmann (1982) thus remarked that the supply and import of horses has "always" been a preoccupation of the Indians and that "it is a structure of its history, then, that India has always been dependent upon western and central Asia for horses." The paucity of horse remains could also be explained by India's climatic factors which lead to a faster decay of horse bones. Horse bones may also be rare because horses were probably not eaten or used in burials by the Harappans.
It should however also be noted that other sites like the BMAC (Bactrian Margiania Archaeological complex i.e. areas surrounding the Caspian Sea) which some consider nevertheless as Indo-Aryan are at least as poor in horse remains as the Harappan sites. Note also that the horse only appears in Mesopotamia from ca. 1800 BC when it acquires military significance with the invention of the chariot. Domestication of the horse before the 2nd millennium appears confined to its native habitat (the Great Steppe).
Colin Renfrew (1999) also remarked that "the significance of the horse ... has been much exaggerated" and Bryant holds that "using such negative evidence, by the same logic used to eliminate India as a candidate, ultimately any potential homeland can be disqualified due to lacking some fundamental Proto-Indo-European item or another.
Source: Wikipedia
Comment: Moreover the horse Equus Namadicus (named after remains found in Narmada basin) had been an indigenous animal in India since the Pleistocene, which means 2.5 million years from the Common Era. Equus Namadius remains have been found as far as in present day Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh also. Another strain the Equus Sivalensis was found in the Shivalik Mountains and all across northern India. Thus horses have been known in India from untold antiquity a fact that is borne out by hard scientific evidence thus demolishing the “No horse at Harappa” dogma. Ever since this evidence was presented Witzel and his cronies with no room to escape have been quiet on this subject.
Please read more from the same series
http://sowingseedsofthought.blogspot.com/2010/11/excerpts-from-book-sarasvati-river-and_03.html
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