Between and , a group of Yorkshire antiquaries investigated a monument at Arras Farm, near Market Weighton, in East Yorkshire. Their discoveries included two burials containing the remains of chariots.
Here, Jonathan Waterer drives a pair of Fiord ponies while Mike Loades tests the stability of the ride. The latter grave was particularly spectacular because the chariot had been buried intact and the two horses pulling it were interred in a standing position, while the male occupant of the grave had been laid on the floor of the chariot, on top of a highly decorated shield.
These astonishing interments are characteristic of what Vere Gordon Childe described as the Arras Culture, named after the place β once a medieval village but now reduced to a farm and a few cottages β where the first chariot burials were found. Then in , the bicentenary year of the first excavation, a remotesensing survey of some 23ha around the farm found evidence for around barrows.
All have now been levelled by agricultural activity, but they can still be seen clearly. Subscribe for unlimited and fully-searchable access to the digital archive of Current Archaeology stretching back to Issue 1 across web, iOS and Android devices.
If you have a subscription purchased through the publisher that includes digital access, you can register. Find our more information about Current Archaeology from the publisher.
