New evidence for a bronze age date of chariot depictions in the eurasian steppes

Abstract

Two-wheeled horse-drawn chariot depictions in the Eurasian steppe have long been stylistically dated to the Bronze Age. Here we present an example of a petroglyph embedded in the architecture of an early Scythian royal tomb in the Tuva Republic, Siberia. The construction of the tomb is dated through wiggle-matching to between 833 and 800 BCE (95.4%) thus providing a rare terminus ante quem for chariot depictions in southern Siberia.The new evidence supports the current chronological range for this type of petroglyph in the Eurasian steppe belt.