Elias Manuel Morgado Pinheiro Dissertação de Mestrado em ...

espectively), it is most likely that both wheel types are unrelated to each other, and that
their apparent similarity is nothing but convergent design.
This hypothesis seems to be confirmed by wheels found in Acemhöyük, south
of Ankara. These are the earliest evidence of actual spoked wheels found in Anatolia,
dating from the late 18 th century B.C. The angles of the spoke with the naves suggest
that the wheel was made in a similar fashion as in Egypt. On the other hand, Sintashta
wheels, having ten spokes, have a much steeper angle between the spokes and the nave,
and although it does not automatically discard the Egyptian method, it strongly suggests
a different one, with the spokes mortised into the nave. However, ceramic models found
in modern-day Slovakia, slightly later than the Sintashta-Arkaim imprints, show a
construction method similar to the one used in Acemhöyük, and therefore, similar to the
one used by Egyptian chariot makers two centuries later. 30 Considering that a
construction method for spoked wheels can be found from Slovakia to Anatolia, in a
200 years span, it certainly suggests a common origin, from which the innovation
stemmed. In light of current evidence, the most plausible origin is the steppe.
In regards to the design of the Egyptian chariot, it has been shown that the
spoked wheel is, with all likelihood, an external innovation. The superstructure,
however, is a local near eastern development from former types. The particular bent-
wood railing found in Egyptian chariots is seldom found outside Near East (with the
exception being the 13 th century B.C. Mycenaean rail chariot), and so is its use on the
battlefield. The lack of arrowheads in steppe chariot graves suggests that the bow wasn‟t
used in that particular context, and therefore, regardless of the origin of the weapon
itself, the union between chariots and bows must be a Near or Middle Eastern
innovation.
The differences between the Anatolian type chariot and the light-rail chariot
used in the Near East are clear, both in construction and deployment. However, this
doesn‟t mean that they do not share a common origin. Still, assuming that is the case 31
and considering that the Anatolian design is used nowhere else in West Asia but in the
heartland of the Hittite empire, it is safe to assume that its development took place in
Anatolia, regardless of the origin of its former model 32 .
30 Littauer and Crouwel, 1986, pp. 395- 398
31 Littauer and Crouwel ,1980, §3
32 See page 18
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