The late Littauer had remarked in her landmark review of chariot petroglyphs: "One cannot help wondering if, no matter what other ends it may eventually have served, this type of rendering of a vehicle was not first suggested to the artist by looking down into a tomb...
The petroglyphs she was talking about are from the Poltavka-Sintashta-Andronovo horizons & zones influenced by them. The tombs she was referring to re the chariot burials that appear in the Sintashta horizon & continue to the steppe-I-Ir influenced Shang age of what became China
The chariot burial is that drawn by von Dewall in from Shang age burial. Thus, it seems that ratha-s depicted in Mongolian steppe are from a time when instead of an actual burial the deceased ratheShTha was commemorated by a petroglyph that resembled the original chariot burial
Now evidence for that comes from Pamirs enroute to the subcontinent, where on a high mountain there is a funerary site with a chariot petroglyph found by Soviet researchers. The significance of ithyphallic depictions is unclear. On the other hand in Mongolia we have petroglyphs
showing carts/ in profiles (Below Jamani Us, Mongolian Altai). Other animals in the scenes with peculiar chariot rendering are shown normally in profile. Hence, this "in tomb" was probably a specific convention associated with a funerary rite. 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.
A chariot petroglyph from Balochistan (Left) and Slovakia (Right ~1400 BCE): similar styles.
The Slovakian version is inscribed on a pot with plant looking like Ephedra
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