Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 32/2. (2012)
Articles
16 R. E. Németh The first paper about the wheel models and wagons from the Romanian Bronze Age was written by Bichir (1964), listing 48 different Glina and Vatina settlements with such artefacts. Like Bóna, the author also focuses on the route of the wagon towards Romania, and agrees that the composite wheels reached this territory through the Balkan Peninsula, originating from the Near East, concluding that these artefacts arrived to the region of the Lower and Middle Danube mostly in the same period and from the same territory (Bichir 1964, 84). The wagons and wheel models from the Otomani culture were detailed on the margin of the discussion regarding the wagons from Sälacea (Ordentlich-Chidiosan 1975). The different wheel models from the Middle Bronze Age were outlined also by Boroffka (1994, 167), while the last paper regarding these artefacts in the Romanian literature was edited by Schuster (1996), who gives a catalogue of all the wagon and wheel models from Romania, trying to emphasize the importance of the find circumstances as well. He makes also a typology of the wagons and wheel models. Very briefly the origin, distribution and functionality of the wagons are also concerned (Schuster 1996, 119-122). After dealing with this topic in several other papers as well (Bondár 1990; 1992; 2004; etc.), the literature of all the wagon and wheel models from the Carpathian Basin is summed up recently in the work of Bondár (2012). The literature generally agrees that the first wagons appear in the Near East (the regions of Mesopotamia, Syria, Anatolia) from where they spread further (Ordentlich-Chidiosan 1975, 33; Bondár 1992, 115). Regarding the direction of this distribution several theories were conceived. For the Carpathian Basin Bóna (1960,110-111) proposed the most plausible synthesis, separating three main routes: 1. through the regions north to the Black Sea; 2. a south-eastern route, through the Balkan Peninsula towards the region of the Lower Danube; and 3. from the region of the Mediterranean, through the Apennine Peninsula. On the other hand, Bichir argues for a Balcanic route (Bichir 1964, 84; see also Bóna, 1960, 110; Klejn 1963, 61-62; Bondár 1992, 114), while Ordentlich and Chidio§an believe that they have arrived to our region through the Mediterranean world, from the Iberian Peninsula (Ordentlich-Chidiosan 1975, 34-35; see also Schuster 1996, 119). Foltiny (1959, 57-58) sustains the eastern steppe origin, while Schuster (1996, 120) considers that more than one route should be taken into consideration. Bondár (2012, 19) states that the innovation of the wagon and wheel most likely originate in the Black Sea region, but she also assumes the possibility of their independent appearance in different geographical regions. In Romania the first wheel models appeared in the Copper Age period, in Glina III contexts. Throughout the Bronze Age their presence in the Schneckenberg and Wietenberg culture is more than obvious, and the pin point of their usage can be linked to this last mentioned culture. Most of the wheel models came to light in Transylvania, in Wietenberg contexts, from where they were distributed towards the Otomani region. South and east to the Carpathian Mountains their number is quite small (Ordentlich-Chidiosan 1975, 34-35; Schuster 1996, 119). The first appearance of the wheeled wagons in Central-northern Europe can be linked to the Funnel Beakers culture, while in the Near East to the period of Uruk. The German, Polish, Iraqi, Syrian and Turkish archaeological excavations, and the 14C dating of the finds have shown that the spread of the wheel wagons in Europe and the Near East can be limited to a short period of time, and originated from the last mentioned region (Barker et al. 1999, 778). Häusler (1992, 179-190) and Vosteen (1996) stressed the local development of the wheeled vehicles.
