Sinauli
Archaeological site in Uttar Pradesh, India / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Sinauli is an archaeological site in western Uttar Pradesh, India, at the Ganga-Yamuna Doab. The site gained attention for its Bronze Age solid-disk wheel carts, found in 2018,[1] which were interpreted by some as horse-pulled "chariots".[news 1][note 2]
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Location | Uttar Pradesh, India |
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Region | Baraut, Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh |
Coordinates | 29°14′46″N 77°21′03″E |
Type | Cemetery Royal Burial |
History | |
Founded | c. 1850 - 1550 BCE |
Cultures | Late Harappan, Ochre Coloured Pottery culture/Copper Hoard Culture[note 1] |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 2005-06 2018 |
Archaeologists | D. V. Sharma S. K. Manjul |
Management | Archaeological Survey of India |
The excavations in Sinauli were conducted by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 2005-06 and in mid-2018.[news 2] The remains found in 2005–2006 season, the "Sanauli cemetery", belong to the Late Bronze Age,[2] and were ascribed by excavation director Sharma to the Harappan civilisation,[news 2] though a Late Harappan Phase or post-Harappan identification is more likely.[3][news 3]
Major findings from 2018 trial excavations are dated to c. 2000 - 1800 BCE, and ascribed to the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture (OCP)/Copper Hoard Culture, which was contemporaneous with the Late Harappan culture.[news 2][note 1] They include several wooden coffin burials, copper swords, helmets, and wooden carts,[4][1] with solid disk wheels and protected by copper sheets.[news 2][2] The carts were presented by Sanjay Manjul, director of the excavations, as chariots,[news 2][news 1][note 3] and he further notes that "the rituals relating to the Sanauli burials showed close affinity with Vedic rituals."[news 2]
Some see the suggestion of identification as "chariots" as a challenge to the Indo-Aryan migration theory, indicating the presence of horses before the arrival of the Indo-Aryans.[news 1][news 4] Others object, noting that solid wheels belong to carts, not chariots.[4][1][note 2] According to Asko Parpola these finds were ox-pulled carts, indicating that these burials are related to an early Aryan migration of Proto-Indo-Iranian speaking people into the Indian subcontinent,[6] "forming then the ruling elite of a major Late Harappan settlement."[7]
In December 2018 ASI approved a new phase of digging at Sinauli.