Sinauli is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

in western

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

, India, at the

Ganga-Yamuna Doab ''Doab'' () is a term used in South Asia Quote: "Originally and chiefly in South Asia: (the name of) a strip or narrow tract of land between two rivers; spec. (with) the area between the rivers Ganges and Jumna in northern India." for the tract ...

. The site gained attention for its

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

solid-disk wheel

carts A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

, found in 2018, which were interpreted by some as horse-pulled "chariots". The excavations in Sinauli were conducted by

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexander ...

(ASI) in 2005-06 and in mid-2018. The remains found in 2005–2006 season, the "Sanauli cemetery", belong to the Late Bronze Age, and were ascribed by excavation director Sharma to the

Harappan civilisation The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form from 2600 BCE ...

, though a Late Harappan Phase or post-Harappan identification is more likely. Major findings from trial excavations are dated to c. 2000 - 1500 BCE, and ascribed to the

Ochre Coloured Pottery culture The Ochre Coloured Pottery culture (OCP) is a Bronze Age culture of the Indo-Gangetic Plain "generally dated 2000–1500 BCE," extending from eastern Punjab to northeastern Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh. Artefacts of this culture show ...

(OCP)/

Copper Hoard Culture Copper Hoard culture describes find-complexes which mainly occur in the western Ganges–Yamuna doab in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. They occur in hoards large and small, and are dated to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC ...

, which was contemporaneous with the Late Harappan culture. They include several wooden coffin burials, copper swords, helmets, and wooden carts, with solid disk wheels and protected by copper sheets. The carts were presented by Sanjay Manjul, director of the excavations, as chariots, and he further notes that "the rituals relating to the Sanauli burials showed close affinity with Vedic rituals." Sinauli chariot ASI

Several scholars suggest that the solid wheels belong to carts, therefore are not from chariots. According to

Asko Parpola Asko Heikki Siegfried Parpola (born 12 July 1941, in Forssa) is a Finnish Indologist, current professor emeritus of Indology at the University of Helsinki. He specializes in the Indus Valley Civilization, specifically the study of the Indus scr ...

these finds were ox-pulled carts, indicating that these burials are related to an early Aryan migration of

Proto-Indo-Iranian Proto-Indo-Iranian, also called Proto-Indo-Iranic or Proto-Aryan, is the reconstructed proto-language of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European. Its speakers, the hypothetical Proto-Indo-Iranians, are assumed to have lived in the late 3rd ...

speaking people into the Indian subcontinent, "forming then the ruling elite of a major Late Harappan settlement."

Excavations

The site at Sinauli was accidentally discovered by people levelling agricultural land. The farmers came across human skeletons and ancient pottery. The ASI began excavations at the site in September 2005.

2005-2006 excavations

The 2005-06 excavation headed by D. V. Sharma, ASI found more than a hundred burials (no coffins) tentatively dated c. 2200–1800 BCE. Sharma associated the finding with the Harappan (Indus) civilisation, which has been contested, as a Late Harappan or post-Harappan identification is more likely. Carbon dating has now confirmed that the burials date back to c. 1865-1507 BCE, based on three samples: 3500, 3815, and 3457 BP, with a margin of error of 295 years. The burials are all oriented in a NW-SE direction and most are identified as primary burials. Some of the burials are identified as secondary, multiple and symbolic burials. The age of the buried starts from 1–2 years and includes all age groups and both male and female.

Grave goods Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are items buried along with a body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into an afterlife, or offerings to gods. Grave goods may be classed by researche ...

generally consisted of odd number of vases/bowls (3, 5, 7, 9, 11 etc.) placed near the head, with dish-on-stand usually placed below the hip area as well as flask-shaped vessels,

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

figurines, gold bracelets and copper bangles, beads of semi-precious stones (two necklaces of long barrel shape), steatite, faience, and glass. The two antennae swords from Sinauli, one found ''in situ'' in a grave with a copper sheath, has similarities to the Copper Hoard Type in a Late Harappan context. A dish-on-stand and a violin-shaped flat copper container (having nearly 35 arrowhead shaped copper pieces placed in a row) are included in other important grave goods from Sinauli. The survey found that a dish-on-stand was usually placed below the hip area, but in some cases was placed near the head or feet. The stand is holding the head of a goat in one case. Remains of a burnt brick wall with a finished inner surface ran along the eastern side of the burial.

2018 excavations

Trial excavations conducted at Sinauli in March–May 2018 (about 100 m from the 2005-06 site) have yielded the remains of several coffin burials and three full-sized carts. Prior to obtaining C-14 dates, Sanjay Manjul, ASI director (excavations), surmised the burials belonged to the period c. 2000 - 1800 BCE, contemporaneous with, but different from, the Late Harappan culture but belonging to the Ochre-coloured pottery (OCP)/Copper Hoard Culture. Carbon dating later confirmed the organic matter from the burial site to be 3500 ± 127 years old while the oldest soil-sediments were 4798 ± 34 years old, most likely due to mixing of older carbon from the lower levels of cultural sequence, as this was the burial site and had more probability of sediment relocation due to burial activities.Sharma, Shalini, et al. "Royal burials and chariots from Sinauli (Uttar Pradesh, India): Radiocarbon dating and isotopic analysis based inferences." Radiocarbon (2024): 1-9 Other discoveries include copper helmets, copper antenna swords, copper swords, a ladle made of copper, grey-ware pottery, large terracotta pots, red vases with flaring rims, copper nails and beads. Wooden coffins were first discovered at

Harappa Harappa () is an archaeological site in Punjab, Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal, that takes its name from a modern village near the former course of the Ravi River, which now runs to the north. Harappa is the type site of the Bronze Age Indus ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

and then from

Dholavira Dholavira () is an archaeological site at Khadirbet in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District, in the state of Gujarat in western India, which has taken its name from a modern-day village south of it. This village is from Radhanpur. Also known loc ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

. Local youths, after being given a basic training, were also enlisted into the excavation activities by the ASI.

Coffin Burial finds

Seven human burials - including three coffin burials - have been excavated by the ASI at Sinauli in 2018. In all burials the head was found to be on the northern side, with pottery beyond the head and on the south after the feet. The copper objects are kept below the "sarcophagi." Coffin Burial I: Primary burial (2.4 m long and 40 cm high). Alongside two full-sized carts. No remains of a draught animal(s) - horse or bull - is found. The wooden parts of the coffin are decomposed. The wooden coffin stands on four wooden legs. The entire coffin, including legs, is covered with copper sheets (3mm thickness) on all sides. The sides of the coffin have running floral motifs. The copper sheet on the legs also has intricate carvings. The coffin lid has eight motifs carved (high relief) on it. It depicts either a person with a headgear (made of two bull horns and a pipal leaf in the centre) or a bull head. Body of an adult man inside the coffin: oriented in NW-SE direction (head facing NW). ''Carts:'' carts have two solid wheels (not spoked). The wheels rotated on a fixed axle linked by a shaft to the yoke. The chassis of the two cart are made of wood and covered with thick copper sheets. The wheels are decorated with triangles made of copper (fastened on the wheel with copper nails). The triangles are distributed in three concentric circles from the hub flange of the wheel. The seat seemed to semi-circular. The frame of the seat is made of copper pipes. A pipe for the attachment of the umbrella is also visible. Coffin Burial II: The third cart was found with another wood coffin burial. The pit also included a shield (decorated with geometrical patterns in copper), a torch, an antenna sword, a digger, hundreds of beads and a variety of pots. The cart, unlike the ones found in the other two, has (copper triangle) decorations on the pole and yoke. Coffin Burial III: Skeleton of a woman (primary burial, coffin burial with no copper lid): wearing an armlet (made of banded agate beads around the elbow). Burial goods: 10 red vases with flared rims, four bowls, two basins, a thin "symbolic" antenna sword, bow and arrows.

Interpretation of the Coffin Burial finds

The carts were presented by Sanjay Kumar Manjul, director of the excavations and of ASI, as chariots used in war, similar to Indo-Aryan technology. According to Manjul, "For the first time in the Indian subcontinent, chariots have been recovered from any excavation," coming from a royal burial from the Ochre Coloured Pottery (OCP)/

. Manjul further noted that "the rituals relating to the Sanauli burials showed close affinity with Vedic rituals," and stated that "the dating of the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

is around 1750 BCE." Suggesting the presence of horses in India before the arrival of the Indo-Aryans, some see this as a challenge to the

Indo-Aryan migration theory The Indo-Aryan migrations were the migrations into the Indian subcontinent of Indo-Aryan peoples, an ethnolinguistic group that spoke Indo-Aryan languages. These are the predominant languages of today's Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, North India ...

. However, the identification as "chariot" is problematic, since the wheels were solid, not spoked as in

chariots A chariot is a type of vehicle similar to a cart, driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Ru ...

. This would require oxen to pull the heavy carts, which were unfit for use in battle, in contrast to the horse-pulled chariots introduced by the Indo-Aryans. According to Michael Witzel, rejecting the identification as chariots, " is find may point to the survival of an extra-Harappan organized society." According to Asko Parpola, the carts must have been ox-pulled, and are indications of an early Aryan migration of

speaking people from the

Sintashta culture The Sintashta culture is a Middle Bronze Age archaeological culture of the Southern Urals, dated to the period 2200–1900 BCE. It is the first phase of the Sintashta–Petrovka complex, –1750 BCE. The culture is named after the Sintashta ...

into the Indian subcontinent, "forming then the ruling elite of a major Late Harappan settlement," predating the migrations of pre- and proto-Rig Vedic people. Parpola: The finds have also been popularly associated with the Hindu Epics, as the carts evoke similarities with chariots in the Epic narratives, and local legends tell that Sinauli is one of the five villages that

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

unsuccessfully negotiated with the Kaurava princes to avoid the War at Kurukshetra.

Notes

References

Sources

;Printed sources * * * * * * ;News-sources {{reflist, group=news, refs= Eram Agha (June 05, 2018)
''In a First, Chariot From Pre-Iron Age Found During Excavation in UP's Sanauli''
news18.com {{cite news , publisher=Archaeological Survey of India , url=http://asi.nic.in/asi_exca_2007_sanauli.asp , title=Excavations - 2006-2007 , access-date=29 June 2012 Shoaib Daniyal (2018)
''Putting the horse before the cart: What the discovery of 4,000-year-old ‘chariot’ in UP signifies''
Scroll.in Vasudha Venugopal ET bureau, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/mahabharata-much-older-say-asi-archaeologists/articleshow/71658119.cms ''Mahabharata much older, say ASI Archaeologists '', The Economic Times {{cite news, last=Narayanan, first=P. M. , title=ASI-Excavated Sanauli Chariots Have Potential To Challenge Aryan Invasion Theory , website=Outlook , date=11 June 2018 , url=https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/asi-excavated-sanauli-chariots-have-potential-to-challenge-aryan-invasion-theory/312415 Archana Jyoti (Tuesday, 05 June 2018)

/ref> {{cite news, last=Subramanian , first=T. S. , title=Royal burial in Sanauli., website=Frontline, date=28 September 2018 , url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/arts-and-culture/heritage/article24923229.ece {{Cite web, url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/arts-and-culture/heritage/article24923977.ece, title=From the Bara culture: R.S. Bisht, last=Subramanian, first=T. S., website=Frontline, date=12 September 2018 , language=en, access-date=2019-01-03 ''ASI Claims to Have Found Harappan-Era 'Chariots' at Excavation Site in UP''
The Wire, 8 June 2018 Indigenous Aryanism Bronze Age sites in Asia Archaeological sites in Uttar Pradesh Bagpat district Indus Valley Civilisation sites Indo-Aryan archaeological sites