


Despite the large impact horse domestication has had in transport and communication, tracing its origins has been challenging. A necessary precursor to the invention of the chariot is the domestication of animals, specifically horses – a major step in the development of civilization. These earliest depicted vehicles may have been ox carts. Evidence of wheeled vehicles appears from the mid 4th millennium BC near-simultaneously in the Northern Caucasus ( Maykop culture), and in Central Europe.

The invention of the wheel used in transportation most likely took place in the Eurasian Steppes of modern-day Russia and Ukraine. Han dynasty bronze models of cavalry and chariots
