Etruscan Bronze and Iron Fittings for a Cart or Chariot in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2008

Bronze and iron fittings from a cart or chariot
Etruscan, ca. 500-480 BC

Accession Numbers: 29.131.3a-u

This large collection of bronze fittings, many of with their iron or bronze nails still preserved, once belonged to a wheeled wooden cart or chariot. Because all of the larger elements have a flat back, we can assume that they came from a vehicle that was basically rectilinear rather than curved like the Monteleone Chariot displayed in this gallery. In a number of instances, the same Etruscan tomb contained both a chariot and a light cart that perhaps served as a hearse to carry the deceased into the cemetery. The precise function of the vehicle represented here is unknown.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label