Cypriot model chariot: Cypro Geometric III - Archaic I (800-650 BC)

Terracotta, Late Geometric or Early Archaic, Bichrome Ware chariot. It was sold to me as Archaic I but the Metropolitan Museum has a very similar chariot body which they date as Geometric III. There is a very similar chariots in Berlin and in the St Barnabas Monastery Museum in North Cyprus, and another depicted in Desmond Morris's book of his collection. V Karageorghis says that these chariots without horses date from 8th and 7th century BC and  12 are illustrated by him, almost all contain a small figure (with another 5 with 2 figures).  This small passenger or charioteer, peers over the front edge. Only the upper part is depicted, attached to the inner face of the chariot.  There is a scar in this position inside my chariot which suggests that it may once have had a similar figure. Morris imagines the vehicle as transporting the spirit to the afterlife.  Other Archaic chariot depictions, mostly votive offerings, have smaller chariots with larger figures in them, usually pulled by 4 horses (quadrigia).    

During the Bronze Age in Cyprus and the Greek world, chariots were used for warfare and transport. During the first millennium and perhaps as late as the fifth century B.C. in Cyprus, and many other places chariots continued to serve both purposes, while in Greece they had by this stage lost any military function, though still retaining a strong presence in ceremonial and mythological depictions. In other areas, such as Britain in the first century AD, the chariot continued to be a weapon of war much later.  

Largely wheel-made (the chariot body is a pot shape bisected vertically). Possibly a votive offering deposited at a shrine or more likely from a tomb (wheels remounted)