A Study of the Golden Chariot of Oxus؛ The Masterpiece of Achaemenian Metalworking Art

Abstract

The Oxus Treasure is one of the most important collections remaining from the art of metalworking in Achaemenian era which includes 180 objects such as jewelries, ethical statuettes, talisman slates, and etc. The most salient artifact of this collection is a golden chariot with four horses, the coachman, and the passenger. Present paper aims to study the structure of Golden Chariot based on the structure of technical principles of previous analyses related to Achaemenian era’s golden and silver facets which are kept in British Museum Collection and on which various experiments such as Electron Microscopic System and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy have been conducted. Functions of this object in Iran and its structure were studied based on the existing sources. Research methodology is descriptive-analytical and the main result was discovering various techniques of jewelry-making and continuous development of complex three-dimensional objects’ production which may lead to determine the functional picture of mentioned era’s chariots. A development which will present the consistent and integrated artistic system of Achaemenian era because the artifacts of this era consist of forms of construction, ornaments, and decorations as well as the fundamental successes of many civilizations embedded all of which have major influence on shaping the Achaemenian Empire

Keywords

• oxus
• achaemenian
• golden chariot
• electron microscopic system
• energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy
• bes