Editing Chariot (section)

== Origins ==

The [[wheel]] may have been invented at several places, with early evidence found in [[Ukraine]], [[Poland]], [[Germany]], and [[Slovenia]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chandler |first=Graham |date=2017 |title=Why Reinvent the Wheel? |url= https://www.aramcoworld.com/Articles/July-2017/Why-Reinvent-the-Wheel |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=[[Aramco World]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Standage |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Standage |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YoQWEAAAQBAJ&dq=wheel+originated+eastern+europe&pg=PA2 |title=A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel, to the Car, to What Comes Next |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |date=2021 |isbn=978-1-63557-361-9 |location=New York |pages=2–5 |oclc=on1184237267}}</ref> Evidence of wheeled vehicles appears from the mid [[4th millennium BC]] near-simultaneously in the [[North Caucasus|Northern Caucasus]] ([[Maykop culture]]), and in Central Europe. These earliest vehicles may have been [[Bullock cart|ox carts]].{{sfn|Anthony|2010|p=416}} A necessary precursor to the invention of the chariot is the [[domestication of animals]], and specifically [[domestication of the horse|domestication of horses]] – a major step in the development of civilization. Despite the large impact horse domestication has had in transport and communication, tracing its origins has been challenging.{{sfn|Outram et al.|2009}} Evidence supports horses having been domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes, with studies suggesting the [[Botai culture]] in modern-day [[Kazakhstan]] were the first, about 3500 BC.{{sfn|Outram et al.|2009}} Others say horses were domesticated earlier than 3500 BC in Eastern Europe (modern Ukraine and [[West Kazakhstan Region|Western Kazakhstan]]), 6000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Whence the Domestic Horse? |url= https://www.science.org/content/article/whence-domestic-horse |access-date=2023-08-01}}</ref>

[[File:Sintashta culture artefacts 2.png|thumb|Artefacts and burials of the [[Sintashta culture]], c. 2000 BC]]
[[File:Аркаим 2015.jpg|thumb|Remains of the fortified settlement of [[Arkaim]] where early chariot burials have been found]]

The spread of spoke-wheeled chariots has been closely associated with early [[Indo-Iranians|Indo-Iranian]] migrations.{{sfn|Kuz'mina|2007|pp=321–322}} The earliest known chariots have been found in [[Sintashta culture]] burial sites, and the culture is considered a strong candidate for the origin of the technology, which spread throughout the [[Old World]] and played an important role in [[ancient warfare]].<ref name="Kuznetsov">{{Cite journal|last=Kuznetsov|first=P.F.|date=2006-09-01|title=The emergence of Bronze Age chariots in eastern Europe|journal=Antiquity|volume=80|issue=309|pages=638–645|doi=10.1017/s0003598x00094096|s2cid=162580424|issn=0003-598X}}</ref> It is also strongly associated with the ancestors of modern domestic horses, the DOM2 population. (DOM2 horses originated from the Western Eurasia steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don, but not in Anatolia, during the late fourth and early third millennia BC. Their genes may show selection for easier domestication and stronger backs.)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Librado |first1=Pablo |last2=Khan |first2=Naveed |last3=Fages |first3=Antoine |last4=Kusliy |first4=Mariya A. |last5=Suchan |first5=Tomasz |last6=Tonasso-Calvière |first6=Laure |last7=Schiavinato |first7=Stéphanie |last8=Alioglu |first8=Duha |last9=Fromentier |first9=Aurore |last10=Perdereau |first10=Aude |last11=Aury |first11=Jean-Marc |last12=Gaunitz |first12=Charleen |last13=Chauvey |first13=Lorelei |last14=Seguin-Orlando |first14=Andaine |last15=Der Sarkissian |first15=Clio |date= 2021|title=The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasian steppes |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=598 |issue=7882 |pages=634–640 |doi=10.1038/s41586-021-04018-9 |issn=1476-4687 |pmc=8550961 |pmid=34671162|bibcode=2021Natur.598..634L }}</ref>

The earliest fully developed spoke-wheeled horse chariots are from the [[chariot burial]]s of the [[Andronovo culture|Andronovo]] (Timber-Grave) sites of the [[Sintashta-Petrovka]] [[Proto-Indo-Iranians|Proto-Indo-Iranian]] culture in modern Russia and Kazakhstan from around 2000 BC.<ref name="Kuznetsov" /> This culture is at least partially derived from the earlier [[Yamna culture]]. It built heavily fortified settlements, engaged in [[Bronze Age|bronze]] metallurgy on an industrial scale, and practiced complex burial rituals reminiscent of [[Hindu]] rituals known from the ''[[Rigveda]]'' and the ''[[Avesta]]''. Over the next few centuries, the [[Andronovo culture]] spread across the steppes from the [[Urals]] to the [[Tien Shan]], likely corresponding to the time of early [[Indo-Iranians|Indo-Iranian cultures]].

Not everyone agrees that the Sintashta culture vehicle finds are true chariots.

In 1996, [[Mary Aiken Littauer]] and Joost Crouwel wrote:<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Littauer |first1=Mary Aiken |author1-link=Mary Aiken Littauer |last2=Crouwel |first2=Joost H. |date=1996 |title=The origin of the true chariot |url= https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00084192 |journal=Antiquity |volume=70 |issue=270 |pages=938–939 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00084192 |s2cid=161568465 |via=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Let us consider what is actually known of the Sintashta and Krivoe Ozero vehicles. At Sintashta, there remained only the imprints of the lower parts of the wheels in their slots in the floor of the burial chamber; Krivoe Ozero also preserved imprints of parts of the axle and naves. At Sintashta, the wheel tracks and their position relative to the walls of the tomb chamber limited the dimensions of the naves, hence the stability of the vehicle. Ancient naves were symmetrical, the part outside the spokes of equal length to that inside.

The present reconstructions of the Sintashta and Krivoe Ozero vehicles above the axle level raise many doubts and questions, but one cannot argue about something for which there is no evidence. It is from the wheel track measurements and the dimensions and positions of the wheels alone that we may legitimately draw conclusions and these are alone sufficient to establish that the Sintashta-Petrovka vehicles would not be manoeuverable enough for use either in warfare or in racing.}}

Peter Raulwing and Stefan Burmeister consider the Sintashta and Krivoe Ozero finds from the steppe to be carts rather than chariots:<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Raulwing |first1=P. |last2=Burmeister |first2=S. |date=2012 |title=Chariotry, ancient Near East and Egypt |url= https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah24050 |journal=The Encyclopedia of Ancient History |doi=10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah24050 |isbn=9781444338386 |via=Wiley Online Library}}</ref>

{{blockquote|However, recent discoveries in the Eurasian steppe have provided fresh support to the claim that the chariot originated there, rather than in the Near East itself, and may be attributed to speakers of an Indo-Iranian (or Indo-Aryan) language. In particular, archaeological remains of horse gear and spoked wheeled vehicles have been found at the sites of Sintashta (Russia) and Krivoe Ozero (northern Kazakhstan), with calibrated radiocarbon dating to ca. 2000–1800. These finds, however, provide evidence of a <em>two-wheeled spoked cart that does not fit the definition of the ancient Near Eastern chariot</em>. Before these discoveries can help answer the question of where the chariot originated, thorough studies of the spoked wheeled vehicles and horse gear of the steppes, as well as of interconnections and transfer of knowledge, are necessary (cf. Epimachov and Korjakova in Fansa and Burmeister 2004).}}