DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0459
CHALDAEAN ORIGIN OF WHEELED VEHICLES 809
axle being probably fixed), and cross-bars suggestive of four spokes. The
next example of a Cretan four-wheeled cart is found—Longo iutervallo—on
the inscribed tablet of Class A from Tylissos, already illustrated, the chassis
of which (Fig. 769 above) shows two small four-spoked wheels in front and
lamer disks of solid wood behind.
The Chaldaean Origin of Wheeled Vehicles : the Primitive Type (A).
It is to the Mesopotamia!! plains that we have to look for the earliest
known wheeled vehicles. Both at Ur and Kish—where the clay models
supply a good deal of
rough material — the
four-wheeled type seems
to have been prevalent,
though two-wheelers
were also used, especi-
ally it would seem, for
War.
In the primitive
tj'pe the pole ran out
more or less on a level
with the floor of the
' box', ascending thence
in an easy curve to the
yoke. In the small clay
model from Kish {Fig.
788),1 where the figure
of the charioteer is moulded in relief against the back, a hole is visible in
the lower part of the front into which the clay pole was fixed, its first section
being here represented by a wooden rod. The pole continued above the
floor to the back. The front when complete is high, for the charioteer's
protection, and attached to it there appears on several of these clay models
a case for bows and arrows.
This most primitive kind of car or wagon—which may here be con-
veniently referred to as Type A—seems to have been in general use in the
3 In the Ashmolean Museum, from the useful information regarding the present
Chal-
daean pro-
totypes of
Chariots.
Fig. 788. Clay Model of Primitive Chaldaean Chariot
of Type A, with Rod inserted to illustrate the Pole
running out from Floor-level.
Oxford and Field Museum Excavation's 1928-
30. A full account of the discoveries at Kish
by its excavators, Professor Langdon and
Monsieur Watelin, .will shortly appear. Much
Primitive
Mesopo-
tamian
Car:
Type A.
subject, including his own illustrativematerials,
have been kindly submitted to me by Pro-
fessor Langdon.
axle being probably fixed), and cross-bars suggestive of four spokes. The
next example of a Cretan four-wheeled cart is found—Longo iutervallo—on
the inscribed tablet of Class A from Tylissos, already illustrated, the chassis
of which (Fig. 769 above) shows two small four-spoked wheels in front and
lamer disks of solid wood behind.
The Chaldaean Origin of Wheeled Vehicles : the Primitive Type (A).
It is to the Mesopotamia!! plains that we have to look for the earliest
known wheeled vehicles. Both at Ur and Kish—where the clay models
supply a good deal of
rough material — the
four-wheeled type seems
to have been prevalent,
though two-wheelers
were also used, especi-
ally it would seem, for
War.
In the primitive
tj'pe the pole ran out
more or less on a level
with the floor of the
' box', ascending thence
in an easy curve to the
yoke. In the small clay
model from Kish {Fig.
788),1 where the figure
of the charioteer is moulded in relief against the back, a hole is visible in
the lower part of the front into which the clay pole was fixed, its first section
being here represented by a wooden rod. The pole continued above the
floor to the back. The front when complete is high, for the charioteer's
protection, and attached to it there appears on several of these clay models
a case for bows and arrows.
This most primitive kind of car or wagon—which may here be con-
veniently referred to as Type A—seems to have been in general use in the
3 In the Ashmolean Museum, from the useful information regarding the present
Chal-
daean pro-
totypes of
Chariots.
Fig. 788. Clay Model of Primitive Chaldaean Chariot
of Type A, with Rod inserted to illustrate the Pole
running out from Floor-level.
Oxford and Field Museum Excavation's 1928-
30. A full account of the discoveries at Kish
by its excavators, Professor Langdon and
Monsieur Watelin, .will shortly appear. Much
Primitive
Mesopo-
tamian
Car:
Type A.
subject, including his own illustrativematerials,
have been kindly submitted to me by Pro-
fessor Langdon.