Bronocice pot

A drawing of the Bronocice pot

A representation of the key element on the pot.

The Bronocice pot is a ceramic vase incised with the earliest known image of what may be a wheeled vehicle. It was dated by the radiocarbon method to 3635–3370 BC^[1] and is attributed to the Funnelbeaker archaeological culture. Today it is housed in the Archaeological Museum in Kraków, Poland.

Discovery

The pot was discovered in 1976 during the archaeological excavation of a large Neolithic settlement in Bronocice by the Nidzica River, ca. 50 km to north east of Kraków. The excavations were carried out between 1974 and 1980 by the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the State University of New York at Buffalo (USA).

Inscription

The picture on the pot symbolically depicts key elements of the prehistoric human environment. The most important component of the decoration are five rudimentary representations of what seems to be a wagon. They represent a vehicle with a shaft for a draught animal, and four wheels. The lines connecting them probably represent axles. The circle in the middle possibly symbolizes a container for harvest. Other images on the pot include a tree, a river and what may be fields intersected by roads/ditches or the layout of a village.

Historical implications

The image on the pot is the oldest well-dated representation of a 4-wheeled vehicle in the world.^[2] It suggests the existence of wagons in Central Europe as early as in the 4th millennium BC. They were presumably drawn by aurochs whose remains were found with the pot. Their horns were worn out as if tied with a rope, possibly a result of using a kind of yoke.

References

↑ Wozy z Bronocic (in Polish), Strona oficjalna Muzeum Archeologicznego z Krakowie, retrieved 8 November 2009
↑ Anthony (2007), p. 67.

Anthony, David A. (2007). The horse, the wheel, and language: how Bronze-Age riders from the Eurasian steppes shaped the modern world. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05887-3.

External links

Prehistoric technology

Tools

Farming

Food processing

Hunting

Arrow Boomerang throwing stick Bow and arrow history Nets Spear Spear-thrower baton harpoon woomera Schöningen Spears

Projectile points	Arrowhead Bare Island Cascade Clovis Cresswell Cumberland Eden Folsom Lamoka Manis Site Plano Transverse arrowhead

Toolmaking

Other tools

Architecture

Ceremonial	Göbekli Tepe Kiva Standing stones megalith row Stonehenge Pyramid

Dwellings	Neolithic architecture British megalith architecture Nordic megalith architecture Burdei Cave Cliff dwelling Dugout Hut Quiggly hole Jacal Longhouse Mud brick Mehrgarh Neolithic long house Pit-house Pueblitos Pueblo Rock shelter Blombos Cave Abri de la Madeleine Sibudu Cave Stone roof Roundhouse Stilt house Alp pile dwellings Wattle and daub

Water management	Check dam Cistern Flush toilet Reservoir Water well

Other architecture	Archaeological features Broch Burnt mound fulacht fiadh Causewayed enclosure Tor enclosure Circular enclosure Goseck Cursus Henge Thornborough Oldest buildings Megalithic architectural elements Midden Timber circle Timber trackway Sweet Track

Arts and culture

Material goods	Baskets Beadwork Beds Chalcolithic Clothing/textiles timeline Cosmetics Glue Hides shoes Ötzi Jewelry amber use Mirrors Pottery Cardium Grooved ware Linear Jōmon Unstan ware Sewing needle Weaving Wine Winery wine press

Prehistoric art	Art of the Upper Paleolithic Art of the Middle Paleolithic Blombos Cave List of Stone Age art Bird stone Bradshaw rock paintings Cairn Carved Stone Balls Cave paintings painting pigment Cup and ring mark Geoglyph Golden hats Guardian stones Megalithic art Petroform Petroglyph Petrosomatoglyph Pictogram Rock art Stone carving Sculpture Statue menhir Stone circle list British Isles and Brittany Venus figurines

Burial	Burial mounds Bowl barrow Round barrow Mound Builders culture U.S. sites Chamber tomb Severn-Cotswold Cist Dartmoor kistvaens Clava cairn Court tomb Cremation Dolmen Great dolmen Funeral pyre Gallery grave transepted wedge-shaped Grave goods Jar burial Long barrow unchambered Grønsalen Megalithic tomb Mummy Passage grave Rectangular dolmen Ring cairn Simple dolmen Stone box grave Tor cairn Tumulus Unchambered long cairn

Other cultural	Astronomy sites lunar calendar Behavioral modernity Origin of language Prehistoric medicine trepanning Evolutionary musicology music archaeology Prehistoric music Alligator drum flutes Divje Babe flute gudi Prehistoric numerals Origin of religion Paleolithic religion Prehistoric religion Spiritual drug use Prehistoric warfare Symbols symbolism

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, August 29, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.