MAIASP. 2023. No. 15 P.I. Shulga ( Chariotry and horse riding among the Scythian-like population of Nothern
DOI: 10.53737/1468.2023.57.53.023 Access this article (PDF File) Pages: 635—651 |
In the last decade, the issues of
the emergence and further development of chariot racing have been
increasingly raised. It is due to the activation of archeozoological research
that the determining the degree and forms of horse exploitation by traces on
teeth as well as by changes and deformations of horse bones became possible.
The article analyzes the features of horse burials in Wangdahu (5th
— 3rd century BCE) and
Majiayuan (3rd — 2nd
century BCE) burial grounds of the Yanglang Scythoid Culture with the
involvment of the results of the detailed archeozoological study of horse
skulls from Wangdahu. All available data clearly indicate that some of the
deceased in Wangdahu were buried as warriors-charioteers with weapons and chariot
horse cheek-pieces and parts of chariots; the skulls of four horses displayed
traces of the bits on their teeth. Materials from elite burials in Majiayuan
with real chariots and horse skeletons confirmed the conclusion that horse
sculls in Wangdahu belong to chariot horses. These discoveries have
demonstrated an extraordinary constructive and functional diversity of
chariots, represented by various objects, from combat and parade quadrigas to
large single-axle wagons drawn by four bulls. The data obtained from Wangdahu
and Majiayuan burial grounds, left by the |
Key words: |
Received May 15, 2022. Accepted for publication December
11, 2022. |
About the author: Shulga Petr Ivanovich ( E-mail: alkaddafa@gmail.com |