This paper aims to examine some societal principles that underlie the development of horse-drawn chariots in Inner Eurasia during the Middle and Late Bronze Age (cal. 2050–1750 BC). Analysis is based on an evaluation and re-examination of the archaeological evidence for horse-drawn chariots, and the social constructs they entail. Chariots were developed in the zone of the Northern Eurasian steppes before c. 2000 BC in the context of complex but stateless societies. Because chariots depend on a set of developed skills, valuable resources, and complicated technologies, which involve several outstanding improvements to previously known solutions, they require specific conditions for their development and maintenance in social life. Most fundamentally, they require a group of people with an interest in this complex technology: a class of military elites characterized by aggrandizing behavior. The competition between collectives of military elites for resources, power and prestige brought into life the earliest chariot complex in the world.

中文翻译：

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青铜时代的欧亚草原战车与社会复杂性

本文旨在研究一些社会原则，这些原则是青铜器时代中期（公元前2050年至1750年）在内欧亚大陆发展马车的基础。分析是基于评估和重新评估马车的考古证据及其所伴随的社会结构的。在约公元前，战车在北欧亚草原地区发育。在复杂但无国籍的社会背景下的公元前2000年。由于战车依赖于一套发达的技能，宝贵的资源和复杂的技术，这些技术涉及对先前已知解决方案的几项重大改进，因此它们需要在社交生活中发展和维护的特定条件。从根本上讲，他们需要一群对这种复杂技术感兴趣的人：以强化行为为特征的一类军事精英。军事精英集体之间在资源，权力和威望方面的竞争使世界上最早的战车综合体成为现实。