Электронная библиотека

 his study concerns the function and role of Bronze Age chariots and charioteers as reflected in funerary contexts in the southern Urals. This work focuses on: 1) the presentation of archaeological data recently obtained from the excavation of a burial ground near the village of Stepnoye (southern Trans-Urals, Sintashta, Petrovka and Alakul’ cultures); 2) the reconstruction of the social identity of individuals (their gender, age, professional affiliation) buried with the attributes of chariotry. Previous research had largely ignored aspects of gender and age identity and other social aspects of individuals linked with chariotry. Our analysis clearly demonstrates the diversity of ‘chariot’ burials and the absence of firm rules governing their construction. The grave goods discovered contain attributes of chariot complexes that are quite diverse, including the following elements: weaponry, tools, ornaments, and items and artefacts linked to the production of metal objects. Departing from what has previously been proposed and stereotyped, we suggest that chariotry is likely to have been a part-time activity for some males (although some cheek-pieces were found in children’s and women’s burials), but most probably not for all men in a community. Archaeologically, we do not see a social group of so-called ‘warrior-charioteers’ who were exclusively occupied in war or training for it. By comparison, conflict, and the need for defensive structures during the Bronze Age in Europe and the Ural steppe differed dramatically, depending on fundamental environmental, economic, and social differences.

Bronze Age; Urals; chariots; warfare; cheek-pieces; social structure; identity