The paper's central argument is straightforward and important: the wheeled bullock cart of the Indus Valley was an indigenous invention, not a technology diffused from Mesopotamia or Central Asia, as earlier colonial-era scholars once assumed. The early use and gradual development of wheeled vehicles at the site of Harappa, Pakistan is described to better understand the role of carts in the process of urban development. During the Harappan Period (Harappa Phase, 2600-1900 BCE) there was a dramatic increase in terracotta cart and wheel types at Harappa and other sites throughout the Indus region. The diversity in carts and wheels, including depictions of what may be spoked wheels, during this period of urban expansion and trade may reflect different functional needs, as well as stylistic and cultural preferences. The unique forms and the early appearance of carts in the Indus valley region suggest that they are the result of indigenous technological development suited to the needs of a developing civilization.
This is a rich paper. One of the paper's most valuable contributions is debunking several persistent myths in the literature. Dr. Kenoyer systematically undermines:
- The "ekka" myth — the idea of a single-animal cart like the modern one-horse ekka. He shows there is no conclusive evidence for single-draft-animal vehicles in the Indus material; all shaft configurations suggest pairs of bullocks (the jori).
- The four-wheeled cart claim — Mackay's identification of four-wheeled vehicles is shown to rest on just two ambiguous fragments from Chanhu-daro, and no other Indus site has confirmed them
- The "primitive" judgment — Marshall and Mackay characterized Indus carts as simpler than Sumerian ones, but Kenoyer rejects this value judgment, pointing out that Indus carts were optimized for local conditions, and their basic forms survived in near-identical shape into the modern Punjab and Sindh
The hollow frame chassis is the most common cart type at Harappa, comprising about 59% of the minimum number of objects, and its direct descendant is arguably the modern Punjabi bullock cart still used around Harappa today.
Since this paper was written (2004) there have been more discoveries around the world, including one in the Carpathian mountains in Europe that the wheel could have been invented for copper transport around 3900-3600 BCE. This is roughly the era when the first Ravi Phase cart fragment (c. 3500-3300 BCE). In fact, wheel and cart fragments from the 4th millennium BCE are being found in other areas as well, suggesting that the development of the cart and wheel may have been contemporaneous and independent in many parts of the world as the needs of agriculture and growing settlements helped drive innovation. The author is careful to note that further discoveries, especially at other sites which have not been excavated as systematically as Harappa is needed to draw further conclusions.
Image: Toy cart from Nausharo, Harappan period.