The Origin of A-frame Carts in the Minusinsk Basin, Southern Siberia

Depictions of carts in the rock art of the Minusinsk Basin, the Upper Yenisei, southern Siberia, are compared with actual carts, whose remains were found in late 3rd- early 2nd millennium BC burials in the western Eurasian steppes. The carts were two-wheeled and four-wheeled, with open and covered platforms, and the wheels were solid or tripartite. Nose-rings, special yokes, ropes, and hooks were used to control draft animals (oxen or cows, not horses). The earliest A-frame carts appear to have originated in western Eurasian steppes whence they spread to the east. Alternative hypotheses stating that such carts had originated from those with two-poles, found at Gonur-tepe and other sites, are also discussed.