The emergence of the light, horse‐drawn chariot in the Near‐East c. 2000–1500 B.C.

Three recent major studies of horse‐drawn vehicles in Europe and the Near East provide the background for this review of the evidence for light early military chariots in Western Asia. Recent research has radically modified traditional accounts of the appearance of the domesticated horse and the light chariot in this region. Although the sources of innovation remain debatable, the light chariot appeared earlier and in more diverse contexts than had previously been acknowledged. New models for interpreting its first appearance and use modify previous conceptions of the manner in which it arrived and was diffused.