The oldest wheeled transport in the south of Central Asia (new materials from Altyn-depe)*
At Altyn-depa (South-Eastern Turkmenistan), one of the largest ancient agricultural settlements of the Eneolithic and Bronze Age of Central Asia, cart models of the late IV - early III millennium BC were found. This is the oldest evidence that allows us to judge the type and design of vehicles used by the early farmers of the Middle East. Models transmit single-axle two-wheeled carts with a single upward-rising drawbar, which was probably attached to a yoke. Judging by the images of the harness, only bulls (oxen?) were used as harness animals in Southern Turkmenistan in the IV - first half of the III millennium BC.
In the second half of the third millennium BC, four-wheeled two-axle wagons appeared on Altyn-depa. The most widely distributed carts were those with high sides and two shafts, in which one animal was harnessed - a camel and less often an ox. In the conditions of increasing aridization of the climate, the camel has become the main transport animal of Central Asia. The appearance of two main types of carts (single-axle and two-axle) on Altyn-depa generally corresponds to two periods of the most active interaction of the population of Southern Turkmenistan with the inhabitants of neighboring regions.
Keywords: Eneolithic era, Bronze Age, ancient wheeled transport, Central Asia, Altyn-depe, paired bull team, camel team, wheel models, single-axle and two-axle carts.
Introduction
The study of Neolithic - Paleometallic monuments in the south of Central Asia has shown that the territory of Southern Turkmenistan and, probably, the entire Northern Khorasan was home to one of the centers of ancient agricultural cultures, the historical development of which led to the appearance of the oldest early urban civilization of Central Asia on Altyn-depa in the last third of the III millennium BC (Masson, 1981, p. 96-108] and the flourishing of the proto-state formation of the Ancient ...
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