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Since the discovery of two bronze chariots at Qin Shihuang’s mausoleum in 1978, the technical methods used by skilled artisans to construct them has remained a question of scholarly interest. While the parts and joints of the chariots have been studied, the complex metal technologies used to assemble the chariots has not been analysed in detail. This article examines the high-temperature connection technologies used to assemble the around 5500 metal parts of the two chariots and divides them into two major types: cast joints and welded joints. It categorises the cast joints, including embedded-casting and package-casting, and the welded joints as three types based on different methods. Through examination of the bronze chariots, this study demonstrates that the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE) built on Bronze Age technologies to reach new heights of excellence in a post-Bronze Age.

The paper proposes a common etymology for Old Norse Njǫrðr, the name of a Norse god associated with travel and wealth, and Vedic Sanskrit Nā́satya-, a byname of the Indic “Divine Horse Twins,” the Aśvins. The current analysis of Njǫrðr as a cognate of the theonym Nerthus attested in Tacitus’s Germania is rejected as a pseudo-equation (Scheingleichung); Njǫrðr may rather be traced back to a Proto- Germanic formation *nezēþ- (whose acc. sg. *nezēþ-un would have regularly developed into the acc. sg. Njǫrð), the expected reflex of Proto- Indo-European *nes-ḗt-/-ét- ‘(entity or act of) returning (safely home), arriving (at the desired goal)’. PIE *nes-ḗt-/-ét- may ultimately underlie Vedic Nā́satya- as well, as the reflex of a substantivized lengthened-grade -i̯ó- derivative *nēset-i̯ó- ‘pertaining to the (entity or act of) returning (safely home), arriving (at the desired goal)’. The etymological connection between Njǫrðr and Nā́satya- is supported by phraseological and mythological correspondences (some already noticed by Dumézil) between the characterizations of Njǫrðr, the Aśvins, and other related IE characters (the Greek Dioskouroi and the Latvian “Sons of Dievs”), allowing for the reconstruction of an inherited mythological figure associated with—among other things—the idea of ‘returning safely home’ and/or ‘arriving at the desired goal’.

The purpose of this paper is to trace the changes in the functions of “chariots” (vehicles pulled by horses during battles) in the ancient Mediterranean world, chiefly in Etruria. These chariots were inherently characterized by five elements: use in battle, transportability, high costs, high speed, and “rotatability.” To understand the significance of chariots in different areas and historical periods, it is important to determine which of these elements were emphasized. Thus, chariots were not simply war materiel, but were vehicles with extremely diverse functions, each reflecting the particular circumstances of a time and place. My immediate interest is the relationship between chariot racing and the origin of the city of Rome—as stated in legend to be 753 BCE—and this paper presents preliminary considerations in this direction. Two kinds of historical material serve as the basis for these considerations regarding “Etruscan chariots”—that is, chariots in the Italian Peninsula during the Etruscan era. Accordingly, they are: (1) excavated chariots, and (2) chariots depicted on walls of underground tombs. My conclusions begin with the emergence of chariots in the Near East at the beginning of the second millenium BCE; subsequently, chariot warfare on the plains was developed in Egypt from the 14th to 13th centuries BCE. At that time, chariots were either used as battle vehicles from which arrows were shot or for troop transportation. In Greece (Mycenae), which had comparatively few plains, arrows were not shot from chariots; instead, chariots were used to carry (transport) aristocratic warriors, who then fought on foot. However, from the 7th century BCE, with the spread of phalanx warfare (i.e., heavy-infantry soldiers fighting in close formation), the decline of the individual soldier also coincided with the decline of chariots used for transport. Rather, they became used for competitions such as races, where vehicle speed was emphasized at particular sites which in