The Earliest Horse Chariots

Horses began appearing in cave art around 30,000 BCE.

However, the earliest evidence for spoked wheel chariots comes from the Sintashta-Petrovka culture of the Eurasian steppe (Russia) c. 2100 BCE.

The Sintashta culture is thought to represent an eastward migration of peoples from the Corded Ware culture.

The remains of a fortified settlement dating to the Bronze Age, c. 2800–1600 BC, has been partially destroyed, with thirty-one of the approximately fifty or sixty houses in the settlement, remaining.

With rectangular houses arranged in a circle 140 m in diameter and surrounded by a timber-reinforced earthen wall with gate towers, the settlement shows evidence of copper and bronze metallurgy taking place in the houses excavated at Sintashta.

In Southern Urals, in Russia, the Bronze Age city of Arkaim, a settlement of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture.

The Sintashita culture also had communal sewage/drainage systems, and distinctive weapons.

Five cemeteries found associated with the site, have various chariot burials, with the remains of horses interred with the chariots in graves. 

These are the oldest known chariots in the world.

Recreated chariot from the Museum of Archaeological Wonders

Of the sixteen chariot burials recovered so far, two have been dated to around 2000 BC.

Horses were domesticated by 3000 BCE. However, dogs were domesticated 15,000 years ago.

The remains of a fortified settlement dating to the Bronze Age, c. 2800–1600 BC, of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture.

Timeline of the Chariot

Arkaim: 2050 BC
Minoan Crete: 2000 BC
Ancient Egypt: 1600 BC