Chariot burial

Last updated
Drawing of the La Gorge-Meillet burial; the chariot-driver was interred above his master. Sepulture double C00077.jpg
Drawing of the La Gorge-Meillet burial; the chariot-driver was interred above his master.
Another French burial Tombe a char Chalons 1901.jpg
Another French burial

Chariot burials are tombs in which the deceased was buried together with their chariot, usually including their horses and other possessions. An instance of a person being buried with their horse (without the chariot) is called horse burial.

Contents

Finds

Novokorsunskaya kurgan in the Kuban region of Russia contains a wagon grave of the Maykop culture (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. [1] [2]

The earliest true chariots known are from around 2,000 BC, in burials of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture in modern Russia in a cluster along the upper Tobol river, southeast of Magnitogorsk. 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. [3]

Later chariot burials are found in China. The most noted of these was discovered in 1933 at Hougang, Anyang in central China's Henan Province, dating from the rule of King Wu Ding of the Yin Dynasty (c. 1,200 BC). A Western Zhou (9th century BC) chariot burial was unearthed at Zhangjiapo, Chang'an in 1955. [4]

In Europe, chariot burials are known from Iron Age (8th century BC) Salamis, Cyprus, Tomba Regolini Galassi in Etruria (7th century BC), Italy, and from Beilngries (7th century BC), the Hallstatt C culture in Germany. Chariot burial was an Iron Age Celtic custom; while the wooden chariot has decayed, the horse harness, 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; [5] 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, of the Golasecca culture dating to the 7th and 6th century BC accompanied by weapons, ornaments and a large situla [6] while an earlier burial of the same culture, at Ca' Morta – Como (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. [7] In 2017 another chariot burial was unearthed in Pocklington, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, 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. [8] [9] [10] "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. [11]

Some 21 British sites are known, spanning approximately four centuries, virtually all in the East Riding of Yorkshire. [12] The Ferrybridge and Newbridge (near Edinburgh) chariots are unusual in Britain as they are the only ones to be buried intact. [13] The burial custom seems to have disappeared after the Roman occupation of Britain.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chariot</span> Carriage using animals to provide rapid motive power

A chariot is a type of 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, Russia, dated to c. 1950–1880 BCE and are depicted on cylinder seals from Central Anatolia in Kültepe dated to c. 1900 BCE. The critical invention that allowed the construction of light, horse-drawn chariots was the spoked wheel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurgan</span> Tumulus in Eastern Europe

A kurgan is a type of tumulus 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 much of Central Asia and Eastern, Southeast, Western and Northern Europe during the 3rd millennium BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tumulus</span> Mound of earth and stones raised over graves

A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or kurgans, and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built for various purposes, may also originally have been a tumulus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andronovo culture</span> Group of Bronze Age cultures 2000–900 BC

The Andronovo culture is a collection of similar local Late Bronze Age cultures that flourished c. 2000–1150 BC, spanning from the southern Urals to the upper Yenisei River in central Siberia. Some researchers have preferred to term it an archaeological complex or archaeological horizon. The slightly older Sintashta culture, formerly included within the Andronovo culture, is now considered separately to Early Andronovo cultures. New research shows Andronovo culture's first stage could have begun at the end of the 3rd millennium BC, with cattle grazing, as natural fodder was by no means difficult to find in the pastures close to dwellings.

The Arras culture is an archaeological culture of the Middle Iron Age in East Yorkshire, England. It takes its name from the cemetery site of Arras, at Arras Farm, (53.86°N 0.59°W) near Market Weighton, which was discovered in the 19th century. The site spans three fields, bisected by the main east-west road between Market Weighton and Beverley, and is arable farmland; little to no remains are visible above ground. The extent of the Arras culture is loosely associated with the Parisi tribe of pre-Roman Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golasecca culture</span> Archaeological culture in Northern Italy

The Golasecca culture was a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age culture in northern Italy, whose type-site was excavated at Golasecca in the province of Varese, Lombardy, where, in the area of Monsorino at the beginning of the 19th century, Abbot Giovanni Battista Giani made the first findings of about fifty graves with pottery and metal objects.

The town of Pocklington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England has a recorded written history that goes back around 1,500 years, and archaeological evidence shows settlement at the site as long as 2,500 years ago. This gives it a longer history of settlement than larger contemporary settlements in the region and country such as York and even London. During this time, it has experienced plague, several invasions, the loss of its railway, and its marginalisation to a backwater under the Romans. Nevertheless, Pocklington has prospered where other market towns have failed. It has always been the commercial and civic centre for the district and was at one point the second largest settlement in Yorkshire. It is the focal point of an area which has seen significant events through the centuries, many influencing English history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurgan stelae</span> Anthropomorphic stone stelae within the perimeter of a tumulus

Kurgan stelae or Balbals are anthropomorphic stone stelae, images cut from stone, installed atop, within or around kurgans, in kurgan cemeteries, or in a double line extending from a kurgan. The stelae are also described as "obelisks" or "statue menhirs".

The European Bronze Age is characterized by bronze artifacts and the use of bronze implements. The regional Bronze Age succeeds the Neolithic and Copper Age and is followed by the Iron Age. It starts with the Aegean Bronze Age in 3200 BC and spans the entire 2nd millennium BC, lasting until c. 800 BC in central Europe.

In Europe, the Iron Age is the last stage of the prehistoric period and the first of the protohistoric periods, which initially meant descriptions of a particular area by Greek and Roman writers. For much of Europe, the period came to an abrupt end after conquest by the Romans, though ironworking remained the dominant technology until recent times. Elsewhere, the period lasted until the early centuries AD, and either Christianization or a new conquest in the Migration Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistory of Siberia</span>

The Prehistory of Siberia is marked by several archaeologically distinct cultures. In the Chalcolithic, the cultures of western and southern Siberia were pastoralists, while the eastern taiga and the tundra were dominated by hunter-gatherers until the Late Middle Ages and even beyond. Substantial changes in society, economics and art indicate the development of nomadism in the Central Asian steppes in the first millennium BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newbridge chariot</span>

The remains of an Iron Age chariot burial were found near the Bronze Age burial mound at Huly Hill, Newbridge in Scotland, 14 km west of Edinburgh city centre, in advance of development at the Edinburgh Interchange. The chariot was the first of its kind to be found in Scotland and shows Iron Age Scotland in direct contact with the European Continent. The Newbridge chariot was buried intact, a method consistent with the burial practices of Continental Europe rather than Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horse burial</span> Ritual burial of a horse

Horse burial is the practice of burying a horse as part of the ritual of human burial, and is found among many Indo-European speaking peoples and others, including Chinese and Turkic peoples. The act indicates the high value placed on horses in the particular cultures and provides evidence of the migration of peoples with a horse culture. Human burials that contain other livestock are rare; in Britain, for example, 31 horse burials have been discovered but only one cow burial, unique in Europe. This process of horse burial is part of a wider tradition of horse sacrifice. An associated ritual is that of chariot burial, in which an entire chariot, with or without a horse, is buried with a dead person.

Wetwang Slack is an Iron Age archaeological site containing remains of the Arras culture and chariot burial tradition of East Yorkshire. Archaeological investigation took place in 2001 and 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danes Graves</span> Archaeological site in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England

Danes Graves is an archaeological site in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It forms part of the Arras Culture of inhumation and chariot burial prevalent in the region during the British Iron Age. It is a prehistoric cemetery site situated in Danesdale – a dry river valley with gravel and chalk deposits. The site is north of Driffield near the village of Kilham.

Burton Fleming is an Iron Age archaeological site from the Arras culture of East Yorkshire. The site is named from the parish of Burton Fleming within which the Iron Age cemetery lies, and is closely associated with the Iron Age barrows at Rudston.

The Pocklington Iron Age burial ground is a prehistoric cemetery discovered in 2014 on the outskirts of Pocklington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Excavations carried out on an ongoing basis since then, have uncovered more than 160 skeletons and more than 70 square barrows thought to date to the Middle Iron Age that are attributed to the Arras culture, an ancient British culture of East Yorkshire. A variety of grave goods have been found along with the human remains, including weapons, beads, pots, and a rare chariot burial.

Bronze Age in Azerbaijan began in the second half of the 4th millennium BC and ended in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, while the Iron Age commenced in approximately 7-6th centuries BC. The Bronze Age in the territory of today's Azerbaijan is divided into the early Bronze Age, the middle Bronze Age and the late Bronze Age. Bronze Age was studied in Nakhchivan, Ganja, Dashkasan, Mingachevir, Gobustan, Qazakh and Karabakh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scythian culture</span> Iron Age archaeological culture in Eastern Europe

The Scythian culture was an Iron Age archaeological culture which flourished on the Pontic-Caspian steppe in Eastern Europe from about 700 BC to 200 AD. It is associated with the Scythians, Cimmerians, and other peoples inhabiting the region of Scythia, and was part of the wider Scytho-Siberian world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vakhsh culture</span> Archaeological culture

The Vakhsh culture is a Bronze Age culture which took place around 2500-1650 BC, as shown by radiocarbon dates, and flourished along the lower Vakhsh River in southern Tajikistan, earlier thought to be from ca. 1700 BC to 1500 BC.

References

  1. Christoph Baumer, The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors. I.B. Tauris, 2012 ISBN   1780760604 p90
  2. Chris Fowler, Jan Harding, Daniela Hofmann, eds, The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe. OUP Oxford, 2015 ISBN   0191666882 p. 113
  3. David S. Anthony, The Horse, The Wheel and Language: How bronze age riders from the Eurasian steppes shaped the modern world (2007), pp. 397–405.
  4. "Excavation of Zhou Dynasty Chariot Tombs Reveals More About Ancient Chinese Society". People’s Daily Online. March 16, 2002. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
  5. Le Musée des Antiquités nationales: Les Âges du fer: La tombe à char de « La Gorge-Meillet » Archived January 11, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  6. The Princely Tombs of Sesto Calende. "Untitled Document". Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2010-08-18.
  7. British Museum: The Wetwang Chariot Burial
  8. Keys, David (30 March 2017). "Iron Age chariot and horse found buried together in Yorkshire". The Independent. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  9. "Celtic warrior from 2,000 years ago buried in chariot with weapons and ponies hailed as most important find of its kind in UK". The Independent. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  10. "Iron Age shield found in Pocklington is "one of most important ancient finds this millennium"". Yorkshire Post. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  11. "Iron Age shield found in Pocklington is "one of most important ancient finds this millennium"". The Telegraph. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  12. Yorkshire History: Iron Age Chariot Burials
  13. British Archaeology 76, May 2004