Shocking Discovery: 2,000-Year-Old Thracian Chariot Unearthed – Proof of Ancient Engineering Marvels

This 2,000-year-old wooden chariot was buried alongside the remains of two horses and a dog, as well as the remains of a nobleman from Thrace, in what is now Bulgaria. (Image credit: UBB/Veselin Ignatov)

A photo of an ancient Thracian chariot along with the bones of two horses and a dog has quickly risen to the top of Reddit today (October 13), with over 65,000 likes. But what’s so exciting about the discovery, and who was buried inside the chariot?

A team of archaeologists led by Veselin Ignatov of the Istoricheski muzej Nova Zagora, a museum in Bulgaria, discovered the 2,000-year-old wooden chariot in 2008. It was covered in bronze and would have been decorated with scenes from Thracian mythology that are now difficult to see. Its exact age is uncertain and may be closer to 1,800 years old.

In 2009, Ignatov and his team also found a brick grave, containing the remains of a man dressed in what appears to be armor, near the chariot. The man was buried with several objects, including gold coins, gold rings, and a silver cup bearing a depiction of the Greek god Eros (the Roman equivalent was Cupid). He would have been a nobleman or even a ruler who lived in ancient Thrace, in what is now Bulgaria. [In photos: Early Bronze Age chariot burial]

Chariot burials like this are common in Bulgaria. The practice of burying nobles near chariots appears to have begun in Bulgaria about 2,500 years ago, Ignatov wrote in a 2007 article in the journal Archaeologia Bulgarica. He noted that the practice was especially popular during the time of the Roman Empire, which lasted roughly 2,100 to 1,500 years.

Although people in some other regions of the Roman Empire sometimes buried their nobles near chariots as well, this practice was “by far the most popular and oldest in Thrace,” Ignatov wrote in the journal article. “In all cases, chariots represented prestige, power and authority,” Ignatov wrote, noting that chariots were likely intended to be used by the deceased in the afterlife.

At the time of burial, the horses pulling the chariot would likely have been killed. Offerings of animals such as pigs, dogs, sheep and deer would have been made to the gods, along with libations (such as wine), Ignatov wrote. Sometimes the chariots themselves were dismantled or smashed before being buried, Ignatov wrote.

Since chariot burials are common in Bulgaria and sometimes contain rich grave goods, looters try to find them and sell the artifacts on the black market, Ignatov noted. This means that archaeologists in Bulgaria often rush to discover and excavate chariot burials before looters find and loot them.

Since archaeologists excavated this chariot burial before looters got to it, the artifacts can be publicly displayed in a museum, and images showing the chariot burial are shared publicly on Reddit and other forms of social media.