
Chariot burials are
tomb
A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...
s in which the deceased was buried together with their
chariot
A chariot is a type of vehicle similar to a cart, driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid Propulsion, motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk O ...
, usually including their
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...
s and other possessions. An instance of a person being buried with their horse (without the chariot) is called
horse burial
Horse burial is the practice of Burial, burying a horse as part of the ritual of human burial, and is found among many Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking peoples and others, including Chinese people, Chinese and Turkic peoples. The ...
.
Finds
Novokorsunskaya
kurgan
A kurgan is a type of tumulus (burial mound) constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons, and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into mu ...
in the
Kuban
Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ) is a historical and geographical region in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and separated fr ...
region of Russia contains a wagon grave of the
Maykop culture
The Maykop culture or Maikop culture (, , scientific transliteration: ''Majkop,''), c. 3700 BC–3000 BC, is a major Bronze Age archaeological culture in the western Caucasus region.
It extends along the area from the Taman Peninsula at the Ker ...
(which also had horses). The two solid wooden wheels from this kurgan have been dated to the second half of the
fourth millennium. Soon thereafter the number of such burials in this
Northern Caucasus region multiplied.
The earliest true chariots known are from around 2,000 BC, in burials of the
Sintashta-Petrovka culture in modern
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
in a cluster along the upper
Tobol river, southeast of
Magnitogorsk
Magnitogorsk ( rus, Магнитого́рск, p=məɡnʲɪtɐˈɡorsk, ) is an industrial city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, on the eastern side of the extreme southern extent of the Ural Mountains by the Ural River. Its population is curre ...
. They contained spoke-wheeled chariots drawn by teams of two horses. The culture is at least partially derived from the earlier
Yamna culture, where some wagon-burials are found, and is interpreted by certain scholars to have
Indo-Iranian features. The
Krivoye Ozero chariot grave contained a horse skull, three pots, two bridle cheek pieces, and points of spears and arrows.
Later
chariot
A chariot is a type of vehicle similar to a cart, driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid Propulsion, motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk O ...
burials are found in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. The most noted of these was discovered in 1933 at Hougang, Anyang in central China's
Henan
Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...
Province, dating from the rule of King
Wu Ding of the
Yin Dynasty (c. 1,200 BC). A
Western Zhou
The Western Zhou ( zh, c=西周, p=Xīzhōu; 771 BC) was a period of Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended in 77 ...
(9th century BC) chariot burial was unearthed at Zhangjiapo,
Chang'an
Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...
in 1955. The burial of full-sized chariots declined after the Zhou dynasty. For example, around the
Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (completed 208 BCE), there is evidence of one full-sized, wooden chariot burial, but most of the buried chariots are half-size models made of bronze, together with bronze horses.
In Europe, chariot burials are known from
Iron Age
The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
(8th century BC)
Salamis, Cyprus
Salamis (; ; ) was an ancient Greek city-state on the east coast of Cyprus, at the mouth of the river Pedieos, 6 km north of modern Famagusta. According to tradition, the founder of Salamis was Teucer, son of Telamon, king of the Greek is ...
, Tomba Regolini Galassi in
Etruria
Etruria ( ) was a region of Central Italy delimited by the rivers Arno and Tiber, an area that covered what is now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and north-western Umbria. It was inhabited by the Etruscans, an ancient civilization that f ...
(7th century BC), Italy, and from Beilngries (7th century BC), the
Hallstatt C culture in Germany. Chariot burial was an Iron Age
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
custom; while the wooden chariot has decayed, the
horse harness
A horse harness is a device that connects a horse to a horse-drawn vehicle or another type of load to pull. There are two main designs of horse harness: (1) the Breastplate (tack)#Harness, breast collar or breaststrap, and (2) the Horse collar, ...
, usually in bronze, survives well, and enough is left of the iron wheel covers and other iron parts to enable well-informed reconstructions. Only the richest were buried in this way, and there are often many other grave-goods. The 4th-century
Waldalgesheim chariot burial is one of the best known. A tomb from the 4th century BC was discovered in
La Gorge-Meillet,
Marne in France; another (450–300) at
Somme-Bionne.
In addition to the Etruscan tomb in Italy, there are two chariot burials at
Sesto Calende, south of
Lake Maggiore
Lake Maggiore (, ; ; ; ; literally 'greater lake') or Verbano (; ) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest lake in Italy and the largest in southern Switzerland. The lake and its shoreline are divided be ...
, of the
Golasecca culture dating to the 7th and 6th century BC accompanied by weapons, ornaments and a large
situla while an earlier burial of the same culture, at
Ca' Morta –
Como
Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...
(c. 700 BC), included a four-wheeled wagon in the tomb.
In England, chariot burials are characteristic of, and almost confined to, the Iron Age
Arras culture associated with the
Parisii tribe. Finds of such burials are rare, and the persons interred were presumably chieftains or other wealthy notables. The
Wetwang Slack chariot burial of c. 300 BC is unusual in that a woman was interred with the chariot. In 2017 another chariot burial was unearthed in Pocklington, in the
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...
, dated to BC 320 to 174. This was the first chariot burial in the UK to have been found with horses also interred. In addition to pony skeletons, the remains of the presumed driver were found, along with iron fragments from the chariot's body. A bronze shield in the grave was exceptionally well preserved.
"The discoveries are set to widen our understanding of the Arras (Middle Iron Age) culture and the dating of artefacts to secure contexts is exceptional," said Paula Ware, managing director at MAP Archaeological Practice Ltd.
Some 21 British sites are known, spanning approximately four centuries, virtually all in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
[{{cite web, title=3000 Year Old Chariots and Horses Found in China , date=1 April 2014, url=http://www.yorkshirehistory.com/chariot_burials/ , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110401013711/http://www.yorkshirehistory.com/chariot_burials/ , archive-date=2011-04-01 , url-status=dead] The Ferrybridge and
Newbridge (near
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
) chariots are unusual in Britain as they are the only ones to be buried intact.
[British Archaeology 76, May 2004](_blank)
/ref> The burial custom seems to have disappeared after the Roman occupation of Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales
* The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...
.
See also
* Ship burial
* Sun chariot
* Prehistoric Britain
Several species of humans have intermittently occupied Great Britain for almost a million years. The earliest evidence of human occupation around 900,000 years ago is at Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast, with stone tools and footprints prob ...
* The King's Grave
* Newbridge chariot
* Arras Culture
References
External links
3000 Year Old Chariots and Horses Found in China
2nd-millennium BC introductions
Archaeology of death
Ancient Celtic culture
Archaeology of China
Death customs
Iron Age
Sintashta culture