Wheels fit for a king? Chinese archaeologists bring elaborate Bronze Age chariot back to life
- Researchers found that the giant vehicle would have been covered in bronze and decorated with thousands of gemstones
- It dates back around 2,800 years to the age of the Western Zhou and must have belonged to someone from the highest ranks of society
An archaeology team has restored the original look of a 2,800-year-old chariot that may have been one of the most expensive vehicles built in the ancient world.
The three-metre (10ft) wide chariot dates back to around 800BC, the time of the Western Zhou, and was found near the dynasty’s first capital in modern-day Shaanxi province.
It ran on a pair of wooden spoke wheels and the frame would have been covered with bronze and decorated inside and out by metallic sculptures and gemstones.
“This is the most luxurious chariot that we have seen dating back to the Western Zhou dynasty,” Professor Wang Liqin and colleagues from the school of culture heritage at Northwest University wrote in a paper published in the Journal of Northwest University (Natural Science Edition) on Wednesday.
What surprised the researchers most was the presence of 10,000 pieces of a turquoise, one of the most highly prized gemstones in the Bronze Age and a favourite of ancient Egyptian royalty.
