Rock Carvings of Chariots in Transcaucasia, Central Asia and Outer Mongolia

Abstract

Petroglyphs of light, spoked-wheeled chariots have recently been discovered in Armenia, in the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan and Tadzhikistan and in the western Gobi. These will have to be considered in any future general surveys of chariotry. Although some have not yet received full publication, and although not all publications have been accessible to the author, the carvings seem too important to wait longer before being brought to the attention of the West. Lacking archaeological contexts, most of them have been dated only roughly by their publishers on the basis of typology. We shall not attempt here to appraise these datings, but by pointing to differences or similarities between these chariots and ones east or west, in both manner of rendering and in what is known of the actual construction of extant vehicles, we may provide greater means for doing so.