Video: Ancient Arsenal - Chariots of War

Summary:

In "Chariots of War," archaeologists are matched with horse trainers and an expert on ancient weapons to make Assyrian chariots. With no written record of such chariots to go on, the team members base their designs on alabaster reliefs in the British Museum. Then they're off to southeastern Turkey, once part of the Assyrian Empire, where they hire local artisans to build the chariots out of wood and rawhide. They also devise harnesses and train recalcitrant local horses to pull the chariots across the rugged Turkish countryside.

The team builds both a light, two-horse chariot and a heavy, four-horse one. The final products do a good job of illustrating Assyrian battlefield tactics, but they aren't the soundest machines ever constructed--both wind up in pieces by the end of the program.

(1 hour)