Transport in Neolthic-Bronze-Age Europe: Horses, Cattle-Pulled Carts, Sailing Canoes | Early European History And Religion

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FIRST HORSEMEN

Oldest evidence of horseback riding — a Yamnaya grave in Strejnicu, Romania with a horse rider; the man was 30 to 40 years old when he died between 4,500 and 5,000 years ago; his skeleton shows physical signs of having ridden horses

The first domesticated horses appeared around 6000 to 5000 years ago. The first horseback riders may have been people from the Yamnaya or Sredni Stog culture, who lived east of the Dnieper River, in what is now Ukraine, between 4200 and 3500 B.C. Evidence for this claim are scraps of bone and horn that may have been the cheek pieces of bridles. Archeologist David Anthony of Hartwick College in New York have examined horse teeth found at Sredni Stog sites, looking for signs of wear from metal or rope bits. See Yamnaya People Below. [National Geographic Geographica, June 1989].

Uncovering information about ancient horsemen is difficult. They left behind no written records and relatively few other groups wrote about them. For the most part they were nomads who had few possession, and never stayed in one place for long, making it difficult for archeologists — who have traditionally excavated ancient cities and settlements of settled people — to dig up artifacts connected with them.

For similar reasons it is difficult to work out how different horsemen groups interacted and how individuals within the group behaved. What little is known about group interaction has been learned mostly from the work of linguists. Most of what is known about their behavior is based on observations of modern groups or a hand full of descriptions by ancient historians..

Based on these sources, scholars believe that early nomadic horsemen lived in small groups, often organized by clan or tribe, and generally avoided forming large groups. Small groups have more mobility and flexibility to move to new pastures and water sources. Large groups are much more unwieldy and more likely to generate feuds and other internal problems. On the steppe there generally was enough land for all so the only time horsemen needed to unite was to face a common threat.

First Wheels and Wheeled Vehicles

The wheel, some scholars have theorized, was first used to make pottery and then was adapted for wagons and chariots. The potter’s wheel was invented in Mesopotamia in 4000 B.C. Some scholars have speculated that the wheel on carts were developed by placing a potters wheel on its side. Other say: first there were sleds, then rollers and finally wheels. Logs and other rollers were widely used in the ancient world to move heavy objects. It is believed that 6000-year-old megaliths that weighed many tons were moved by placing them on smooth logs and pulling them by teams of laborers.

Early wheeled vehicles were wagons and sleds with a wheel attached to each side. The wheel was most likely invented before around 3000 B.C. — the approximate age of the oldest wheel specimens — as most early wheels were probably shaped from wood, which rots, and there isn't any evidence of them today. The evidence we do have consists of impressions left behind in ancient tombs, images on pottery and ancient models of wheeled carts fashioned from pottery.◂

Ljubljana Marshes Wheel with axle — oldest wooden wheel ever discovered; it has a diameter of 70 centimeters (27+1⁄2 in), is made of ash and oak; the aperture for the 120-centimetre-long (47+1⁄4 in) axle is square, which means that the wheel and the axle rotated together

Evidence of wheeled vehicles appears from the mid 4th millennium B.C., near-simultaneously in Mesopotamia, the Northern Caucasus and Central Europe. The question of who invented the first wheeled vehicles is far from resolved. The earliest well-dated depiction of a wheeled vehicle — a wagon with four wheels and two axles — is on the Bronocice pot, clay pot dated to between 3500 and 3350 B.C. excavated in a Funnelbeaker culture settlement in southern Poland. Some sources say the oldest images of the wheel originate from the Mesopotamian city of Ur A bas-relief from the Sumerian city of Ur — dated to 2500 B.C. — shows four onagers (donkeylike animals) pulling a cart for a king. and were supposed to date sometime from 4000 BC. [Partly from Wikipedia]

In 2003 — at a site in the Ljubljana marshes, Slovenia, 20 kilometers southeast of Ljubljana — Slovenian scientists claimed they found the world’s oldest wheel and axle. Dated with radiocarbon method by experts in Vienna to be between 5,100 and 5,350 years old the found in the remains of a pile-dwelling settlement, the wheel has a radius of 70 centimeters and is five centimeters thick. It is made of ash and oak. Surprisingly technologically advanced, it was made of two ashen panels of the same tree. The axle, whose age could not be precisely established, is about as old as the wheel. It is 120 centimeters long and made of oak. [Source: Slovenia News]

The wheel and axle were found near a wooden canoe. Both the wheel and the axle had been scorched, probably to protect them against pests. Slovenian experts surmise that the wheel they found belonged to a single-axle cart. The aperture for the axle on the wheel is square, which means the wheel and the axle rotated together and, considering the rough ground, the cart probably had only one axle. We can only guess what the cart itself was like. The Ljubljana marshes are a perfect place for old objects to be preserved. There have been many finds uncovered in this area. Apart from the wooden wheel, axle and canoe, there have been innumerable objects found which are up to 6,500 years old.

A wheel dated to 3000 B.C., was found near Lake Van in eastern Turkey. Wheels with simialr dates have been found in Germany and Switzerland. One very old wheel was a wooden disc discovered at an archeological sight near Zurich. The wheel now can be seen in the Zurich museum.

Yamnaya Culture

The Yamnaya were horse-riding cattle herders who built imposing grave mounds called kurgans. Andrew Curry wrote in National Geographic: The Yamnaya were “some of the first people in the world to ride horses and master the wheel. They were building wagons and following herds of cattle across the grasslands. They built few permanent settlements. But they buried their most prominent men with bronze and silver ornaments in mighty grave mounds that still dot the steppes. [Source: Andrew Curry, National Geographic, August 2019]

Yamnaya culture at its largest expansion: the Usatovo culture originated around 3500 BC; the Yamnaya culture originated around 3300 BC and expanded across the Pontic-Caspian steppe from c 3300–3200 BC; the Yamnaya expaned into the Danube Valley from 3100–2600 BC; Around 2700 BC, after the end of Trypillia culture, the Yamnaya culture transformed into Corded Ware culture in the contact zone east of the Carpathian mountains

The Yamnaya culture existed in present-day Ukraine and Russia between the Southern Bug, Dniester, and Ural rivers from 3300 B.C. to 2600 B.C. Regarded as the source of Indo-European languages and pioneers of wheeled vehicles, it was discovered by Vasily Gorodtsov during archaeological excavations near the Donets River in 1901 — 1903. Its name is derived from Russian adjective “yama” which means “related to pits” — a reference to the Yamnaya culture custom of burying their dead in kurgans (tumuli) that contained simple pit chambers. [Source: Wikipedia]

The Yamnaya culture is also known as the Yamna culture, the Pit Grave culture and the Ochre Grave culture. Its economy was based on animal husbandry, fishing, and foraging, and produced ceramics, tools, and weapons. The people of the Yamnaya culture lived primarily as nomads under a chiefdom system and used wheeled carts and wagons to get around and manage large herds of animals. They are also closely connected to Final Neolithic cultures — namely the Corded Ware people, and the Bell Beaker, Sintashta, Andronovo, and Srubnaya cultures — which later spread throughout Europe and Central Asia, Yamnaya material culture is very similar to the Afanasevo culture of South Siberia, and the populations of both cultures are genetically indistinguishable. This suggests that the Afanasevo culture originated from a migration of Yamnaya groups to the Altai region or, alternatively, that both cultures developed from an earlier shared cultural source.

Yamnaya Culture, Carts, Chariots and Horses

Andrew Curry wrote in National Geographic: "The Yamnaya were Europe's first true nomads. They used domesticated cattle and horses to access the interiors of the Asian Steppe, where there is little to eat or drink, so carried everything with them on wagons. Physically they were unusually large, which we can see by measuring the skeletons and also genetically, and apparently fairly violent," University of Cambridge geneticist William Barrie said. [Source: Andrew Curry, National Geographic, August 2019]

The Yamnaya culture used two-wheeled carts and four-wheeled wagons, which are thought to have been pulled mainly by oxen. There is evidence that they rode horses. Several Yamnaya skeletons appear to have bone morphology characteristic of people who engage in long-term horseback riding. The Sintashta culture is thought to have evolved from the Yamnaya culture. The earliest known chariots have been found in Sintashta burials.

Yamnaya wagon

According to Archaeology magazine: Horses were first domesticated around 5,500 years ago on the Eurasian steppe and were bred for their milk. Just a few centuries later, researchers have discovered, the people of the Yamnaya culture became the first to ride them. Archaeologists examined the skeletal remains of Yamnaya burials across Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary. They noticed considerable musculoskeletal damage to the femurs, hips, and vertebrae of some individuals, which they believe was caused by the trauma of frequent horse riding. [Source: Archaeology magazine, May 2023

“The culture of the Russian and Kazakhstan steppes was virtually unknown until” the early 1980s, John Wilford wrote in the New York Times, “when Russian archeologists began systematic excavations at several sites east of the Ural Mountains. One of the first sites explored was at a place called Sintashta, southeast of the city of Magnitogorsk. At Sintashta, archeologists uncovered a large settlement of about 50 rectangular structures arranged in a circle within a timber-reinforced earthen wall. They found slag deposits from copper metallurgy, bronze weapons and gold earrings and the remains of six chariots in a cemetery of elite graves covered by earth mounds, or kurgans. Similar artifacts, and mor

6000-Year-Old Burial in Germany with a Chariot and Cattle

In 2024, researchers announced the discovery a massive Neolithic burial site, with a chariot and human remains, which was located on a processional route where cattle were sacrificed. The excavation site is located at an industrial park near Magdeburg, the capital of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It includes a pair of 6,000-year-old "monumental mounds" that contain multiple burials. Information on the site came from the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt. [Source: Jennifer Nalewicki, Live Science, March 20, 2024]

Jennifer Nalewicki wrote in Live Science: One burial in particular stands out, and researchers think it could be part of a ritualistic offering. This conclusion is based on the unique positioning of the skeletal remains of a man who was 35 to 40 years old when he died, two cattle and a chariot, which were placed in such a way to create "the image of a cart with a driver or a plow pulled by cattle," according to the statement.

Researchers stressed the importance of the burial, since it "symbolize[s] that with the cattle the most important possession, the security of one's own livelihood, was offered to the gods," they wrote in the statement. Archaeologists traced one of the burial mounds to the people behind the Baalberg (also spelled Baalberge) group, a Neolithic culture that existed in Germany between 4100 and 3600 B.C. That mound includes two large, trapezoidal wood burial chambers measuring 20 meters (66 feet) long and 30 meters (98 feet) long. Each chamber is spaced approximately 660 feet (200 meters) apart. About 5,000 years ago, the expanse separating the two burial mounds was used as a "processional route where cattle were sacrificed, and people [were] buried," according to the statement. Researchers called the ritualistic usage of this area "astonishing" and concluded that the area was "important for prehistoric people over a long period of time."

World’s Oldest Boats

The oldest boat recovered so far is the three-meter-long Pesse canoe — a dugout-style canoe that was 44 centimeters (17 inches) wide and formed from a single Scots pine log. It was found in 1955 in the village of Pesse in the Netherlands. Marks present in the cavity indicate it was likely formed from flint or antler tools. According to carbon-14 dating analysis it was constructed somewhere between 8200 and 7600 B.C. This canoe is exhibited in the Drents Museum in Assen, Netherlands;.

Pesse Canoe

Other craft existed even earlier. A rock carving in Azerbaijan dating to around 10,000 B.C. shows a reed boat manned by about 20 paddlers. In Northern Europe, some argue that hide boats (kayaks) were used as early as 9,500 B.C.. The remains of a 7000 year old reed boat were found in Kuwait. Other very old dugout-style boats have been found in Denmark, France and Germany. They were thought to have been used to navigate local waterways and lakes.

The Dufuna canoe was 8.5 meters long and dated to 6550 B.C. The oldest boat found in Africa, it was discovered in 1987 by a Fulani tribesman digging a well and excavated by German and Nigerian archeologists 1994 at Dufuna, Yobe State, northern Nigeria. The boat — a dugout canaoe— was retrieved at depth of five meters below the surface. The 5.2-meter Pirogues de Bercy was found in France and dated to 4500 B.C..

The very first sea-worthy boats appear to predate modern humans. Homo erectus appears to have built rafts or boats to reach a remote Indonesian Island around 800,000 years ago which was not connected to any land masses by land bridges when sea levels dropped during the Ice Ages. Modern humans are thought to have used rafts or boats 60,000 years ago to reach Australia, which also was not connected to any land masses by land bridges when sea levels dropped during the Ice Ages

7,000-Year-Old Canoes Found in Italy — the Oldest Boats Ever Found in the Mediterranean

Five canoes found at the bottom of a lake in Italy were used more than 7,000 years ago for fishing and transport by people living in a Neolithic village near what is now Rome. Archaeologists discovered the boats at La Marmotta, a prehistoric coastal settlement that is now under Lake Bracciano, while conducting ongoing excavations, according to a study published on March 20, 2024 in the journal PLOS One. The large dugout canoes — which were constructed of alder, oak, poplar and European beech — were built between 5700 and 5100 B.C., radiocarbon dating revealed. The boats are the oldest ever found in the Mediterranean, according to a statement. [Source: Jennifer Nalewicki, Live Science, March 21, 2024]

"One of the smallest [boats] was probably used for fishing," study co-author Mario Mineo, an archaeologist and director coordinator at the Museum of Civilization in Rome, told Live Science. "The two largest measured almost 11 meters long by 1.2 meters wide [36 feet by 4 feet] and it is probable that — thanks also to the easy access to the Tyrrhenian coast via the Arrone river — they could have been used for further trade."

Sean Kingsley, the editor-in-chief of Wreckwatch magazine, told Live Science that Neolithic seafaring technology was exemplified by five canoes from the submerged "La Marmotta" site. Each canoe was more than 10 meters (34 feet) long and there are indications at least one was fitted with sails. "These craft may have sailed the Mediterranean, perhaps with two canoes strapped together to form catamarans, which could carry up to five [metric tonnes, or 5.5 tons] of cargo," Kingsley said. [Source: Tom Metcalfe, Live Science, November 23, 2023]

drawing and cross section of a La Marmotta boat

In addition to the boats, archaeologists found numerous artifacts scattered around the site, including flint and obsidian tools, pottery vessels, figurines and ornaments, according to the study. In 2022, the researchers also found 52 wooden sickles at the site that were used for harvesting cereal grains. "These artifacts offer further insights into the daily lives, symbolic and technological capabilities of the ancient inhabitants," Mazzucco said. "No other site in the Mediterranean presents such [an] amount of harvesting tools."

Advanced Technology of the 7,000-Year-Old Italian Canoes

According to Live Science: The boat builders also used "advanced construction techniques" to craft the vessels. For example, they incorporated transverse reinforcements, which would have increased the durability of the canoes' hulls, according to the statement. "The construction techniques and materials used indicate a sophisticated understanding of boat-building and navigation," senior study author Niccolò Mazzucco, a senior researcher in the Department of Civilizations and Forms of Knowledge at the University of Pisa in Italy, told Live Science. "[This] is significant because it showcases the ingenuity and skill of ancient peoples in utilizing natural resources to create efficient means of transportation." [Source: Tom Metcalfe, Live Science, November 23, 2023]

For example, the researchers think the vessels may have been equipped with "sails or outriggers," or parallel support floats, Mazzucco said. This can be evidenced by three T-shaped wooden objects found at the site near the canoes. Each of these items contained various holes, which were likely used to "fasten ropes tied to sails or other nautical elements," according to the statement.

"Such advancements suggest a deeper comprehension of maritime technology and navigation, with vessels equipped for long-distance voyages," Mazzucco added. "However, our current understanding falls short of precisely identifying the types of boats used, their construction methods and how components like canoes and T-shaped wooden objects were mounted together — whether through ropes, wooden pegs or other means." The builders' ability to include multiple types of wood in their creations is also noteworthy, as it shows that they knew which "trees could be used to make the dugouts," Mazzucco said. "In contrast, at other [Neolithic] sites where more than one canoe has been found, the same [tree] species was usually used for all of them."

First Seagoing Boats

Remains of boats found in Australia, Sardinia and Crete — which were not connected by land bridges during the Ice Ages — show that men have been crossing seas for more than 10,000 years. In the case of Australia it occurred around 60,000 years age when Australia was first inhabited.

A 7,000 year-old seagoing boat made from reeds and tar was found in Kuwait. Boats were used between 4000 B.C. and 3000 B.C. in Sumer, ancient Egypt and in the Indian Ocean. The oldest known vessels with planks were found in Egypt and date to about 3000 B.C. [Source: Wikipedia]

Agriculture was introduced to Europe proper around 7000 B.C. Some think was done with early ships. In the late 1990s, a team led by Czech archaeologist Radomir Tichy built a boat from a 30-foot section of tree trunk and padded it, hugging the coast, from Sicily to Portugal on the Atlantic Ocean to make the point that agriculture could have been carried suddenly by boat rather slowly overland. Boats played a very important part in the commerce between the Indus Valley Civilization and Mesopotamia and among Egyptians and Mediterranean cultures. Evidence of varying models of boats has also been discovered in various Indus Valley sites and in Egypt.

Were the 7,000-Year-Old Italian Canoes Used for Sea Travel?

Archaeologists from the Spanish National Research Council, in Barcelona, said the dugouts, coupled with the occupation of nearby islands, was “irrefutable proof” that Neolithic societies could travel across seas.“This is enormously significant because all the canoes found at European Mesolithic and Neolithic sites are associated with lakes and therefore with sailing in those waters,” the authors wrote in the journal Plos One. [Source: Sarah Knapton, The Telegraph, March 21, 2024]

A boat reconstructed to cross from the mainland to Cyprus similar to the one at La Marmotta boats

Sarah Knapton wrote in The Telegraph: Tests have shown that it is possible to cover around 30 nautical miles a day in similar boats, even with inexperienced sailors, suggesting that Neolithic communities could have covered long distances in a short time. During Neolithic times, Lake Bracciano. was smaller than today, and the shoreline further from the La Marmotta settlement, suggesting villages were sailing their boats along the nearby River Arrone, which connects to the Mediterranean.

Many of the first Neolithic settlements in Europe are along the coastline, leading researchers to propose that they may have arrived by sea. But until now there has been no concrete evidence of how the movement of people and goods was happening. At La Marmotta, archaeologists also found evidence that obsidian, from the nearby island of Lipari and Palmarola, was being used for tool-making, suggesting the stone was being imported over the water.

Bronze Age Ship

A Bronze Age ship, discovered off of the southwest coast of Turkey, is the world's oldest known shipwreck. Dating back date to 2900 B.C., this ship was found in 150-feet-deep water near Ulan Burun and Kaş. It carried products from at least seven cultures and some of the more interesting objects included ostrich eggs from African elephant and hippopotamus tusks from the Syro-Palestinian coast; and drinking cups made of fused quartz from Canaan. [Source: George F. Bass, National Geographic, December 1987]

Also discovered were gold scarabs from Egypt; small bronze cymbals (similar to those used by belly dancers today) and swords from Mycenea; Egyptian ebony, cobalt-colored glass ingots from Syria and Palestine; Canaanite jewelry, a gold scarab of Queen Nefertiti from Egypt and yellow terbinth resin (a material of unknown purpose also found in Egyptian graves). There was even a "book," possibly the world's oldest, made with ivory hinged wooden leaves covered with inscribed beeswax.

The Ulan Burun ship was discovered in 1982 by a sponge diver who saw some "metal biscuits with ears," which turned out to be tons of 60 pound copper ingots from Cyprus. Dr. George Bass, the archaeologist in charge of excavation, considered sponge divers as his best source of information. He calculated that sponge divers on 25 boats could cover as much water in one four month season as a marine archaeologist could in two years without coming up for air.

The scuba divers that excavated the site were able to stay underwater for only twenty minutes at a time. If they stayed down longer they risked getting the bends. Sediment around the objects was removed with vacuums attached to fire hoses, and large objects were carried to the surface with balloons.

Six tons of Cypriot copper ingots were also found on the ship. When mixed with tin, the copper would produce enough bronze to manufacture a total of 300 helmets, 300 corselets, 3,000 spearheads, and 3,000 swords.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons except the last two boats from Reserachgate

Text Sources: National Geographic, Wikipedia, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Nature, Scientific American. Live Science, Discover magazine, Discovery News, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, BBC, The Guardian, Reuters, AP, AFP and various books and other publications.

Last updated May 2024