Rad und Wagen: Der Ursprung einer Innovation: Wagen im Vorderen Orient und Europa.

• Author: Dunham, Sally
• Position: Book review

Rad und Wagen: Der Ursprung einer Innovation: Wagen im Vorderen Orient und Europa. Edited by MAMOUN FANSA and STEFAN BURMEISTER. Beiheft der Archaologische Mitteilungen aus Nordwestdeutschland, vol. 40. Mainz: PHILIPP VON ZABERN, 2004. Pp. 531, illus. EU 49.90 (paper).

This volume was published on the occasion of an exhibit of the same name at the Landesmuseum fur Natur und Mensch in Oldenburg, Germany. It is not, however, an exhibition catalogue, but rather a collection of articles dealing with the earliest wheeled vehicles in the Old World. It has a special focus on two issues: the question whether wheeled vehicles were invented in one place and spread out from there, or were invented independently in several places in the second half of the fourth millennium B.C.; and the origin and use of the so-called "war-chariot" in the second millennium B.C. After a preface by Fansa (pp. 9-13) and a detailed overview of the topic by Burmeister (pp. 13-41), twenty-seven articles arranged by area detail the evidence for the ancient Near East (three articles), Asia (two articles), Africa (three articles), Eurasia (six articles), and Europe (thirteen articles).

For the ancient Near East and Europe there are chapters about the natural environment and its relation to the development of wheeled vehicles and about the social conditions that may have stimulated their development. The evidence available in the various regions includes remains of actual vehicles or parts thereof, models of vehicles or wheels, and artistic representations in glyptic art, relief sculpture, painting (on ceramic vessels, or walls), and rock art. Following this section are three others about the spread of wheeled vehicle technology in the fourth through second millennia B.C. (three articles), the vehicles themselves and the draught animals used (three articles), and the use and origin of the chariot in the Late Bronze Age (three articles).

This is a very interesting and useful volume. The wide geographic range covered allows the reader to gain a sense of perspective on regional variations as well as common traits. Sometimes variations are attributable to making the vehicle suitable to special conditions. For example, Schlichtherle (p. 303) explains that the use of a rotating axle with fixed wheels in the circumalpine regions of Europe was probably due to the mountainous terrain. Such an axle could be easily removed in places with steep downhill grades where a plain sledge was more...