Bronze Warrior Chariot Discovery Is 'Find of a Lifetime'

by Stephanie Pappas   Live Science

A linch pin (shown from three angles) from an Iron Age chariot that were discovered at the Burrough Hill Iron Age Hillfort in Leicestershire, England Credit: University of Leicester

More than 2,000 years ago, pieces of an Iron Age chariot were burnt and buried, perhaps as a religious offering. Now, archaeologists have discovered the bronze remains of this sacrifice.
Digging near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, England, an archaeology team discovered a trove of bronze chariot fittings dating back to the second or third century B.C. The remains were discovered at the Burrough Hill Iron Age Hillfort, a fortified hilltop structure that was once surrounded by farms and settlements. Though humans lived in the area beginning around 4000 B.C., it was used most heavily between about 100 B.C. and A.D. 50, according to the University of Leicester.
"This is the most remarkable discovery of material we made at Burrough Hill in the five years we worked on the site," University of Leicester archaeologist Jeremy Taylor said in a statement. "This is a very rare discovery and a strong sign of the prestige of the site." [See Images of the Iron Age Chariot's Remains]

Burnt offering
Taylor co-directs the field project at Burrough Hill, which is used to train archaeology students. It was four of these archaeology students who first found a piece of bronze near an Iron Age house within the Burrough Hill fort. More bronze pieces were found nearby.
The pieces are the metal remains of a chariot that once belonged to a warrior or noble, according to university archaeologists. They include linchpins with decorated end caps, as well as rings and fittings that would have held harnesses. One linchpin is decorated with three wavy lines radiating from a single point, a triskele symbol that is almost like the modern flag for the Isle of Man.
"The atmosphere at the dig on the day was a mix of 'tremendously excited' and 'slightly shell-shocked,'" Taylor said. "I have been excavating for 25 years, and I have never found one of these pieces — let alone a whole set. It is a once-in-a-career discovery."
The pieces were found upon a layer of chaff, which may have provided fuel for the burning ritual. The chariot pieces were put into a box and then covered with cinder and slag after being set on fire. This may have been a ritual marking the dismantling or closing of a home at the fort, or it could have honored the change of seasons, University of Leicester archaeologists suspect.
Bronze and iron
Alongside the chariot pieces, the researchers found a set of iron tools, which were placed around the parts before they were burned.
"The function of the iron tools is a bit of a mystery, but given the equestrian nature of the hoard, it is possible that they were associated with horse grooming," Burrough Hill project co-director John Thomas said in a statement. "One piece, in particular, has characteristics of a modern curry comb, while two curved blades may have been used to maintain horses' hooves or manufacture harness parts."
The pieces will be on display temporarily at the Melton Carnegie Museum in Melton Mowbray from Oct. 18 to Dec. 13.
"Realizing that I was actually uncovering a hoard that was carefully placed there hundreds of years ago made it the find of a lifetime," University of Leicester student Nora Battermann, who was one of the four students to make the find, said in a statement. "Looking at the objects now that they have been cleaned makes me even more proud, and I can't wait for them to go on display."

4,000-Year-Old Burial with Chariots Discovered in South Caucasus

By Owen Jarus

 

Here, the roof of a 4,000-year-old burial chamber buried in a Kurgan (mound) in the country of Georgia.
Credit: Photo courtesy Zurab Makharadze
 

An ancient burial containing chariots, gold artifacts and possible human sacrifices has been discovered by archaeologists in the country of Georgia, in the south Caucasus.

The burial site, which would've been intended for a chief, dates back over 4,000 years to a time archaeologists call the Early Bronze Age, said Zurab Makharadze, head of the Centre of Archaeology at the Georgian National Museum.

Archaeologists discoveredthe timber burial chamber within a 39-foot-high (12 meters) mound called a kurgan. When the archaeologists reached the chamber they found an assortment of treasures, including two chariots, each with four wooden wheels

The team discovered ornamented clay and wooden vessels, flint and obsidian arrowheads, leather and textile artifacts, a unique wooden armchair, carnelian and amber beads and 23 golden artifacts, including rare and artistic crafted jewelry, wrote Makharadze in the summary of a presentation he gave recently at the International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, held at the University of Basel in Switzerland.

"In the burial chamber were placed two four-wheeled chariots, both in good condition, [the] design of which represents fine ornamental details of various styles," Makharadze wrote. Thechamber also contained wild fruits, he added.
While the human remains had been disturbed by a robbery, which probably occurred in ancient times, and were in a disordered position, the archaeologists found that seven people were buried in the chamber. "One of them was a chief and others should be the members of his family, sacrificed slaves or servants," Makharadze told Live Science in an email.
A time before the horse
The burial dates back to a time before domesticated horses appeared in the area, Makharadze said. While no animals were found buried with the chariots, he said, oxen would have pulled them.

Credit: Photo courtesy Zurab Makharadze, cropped by Owen Jarus

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Other rich kurgan burials dating to the second half of the third millennium B.C. have also been found in the south Caucasus,said Makharadze in another paper he presented in February at the College de France in Paris. The appearance of these rich burials appears to be connected to interactions that occurred between nomadic people from the Eurasian steppes and farming communities within and near the south Caucasus, Makharadze said.
These interactions appear to have led to some individuals, like this chief, getting elaborate burials. The newly discovered armchair symbolizes the power that individuals like the chief had. "The purpose of the wooden armchair was the indication to power, and it was put in the kurgan as a symbol of power," Makharadze said in the email.
The kurgan was found in eastern Georgia near the municipality of Lagodekhi and was excavated in 2012.

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