Wetwang Chariot burial
In March 2001 archaeologists and conservators from the British Museum excavated the grave of a woman buried with a chariot at Wetwang in East Yorkshire, England. The iron-age burial is about 2300 years old. A BBC Television's program called "Meet The Ancestors" filmed the excavation as well as the study of the finds from the grave. From the casts made in the grave site, a full size working reconstruction of the iron age chariot was made.
The International Museum of the Horse, located in Lexington, Kentucky portrayed the role of the horse in British civilization during their summer show for 2003. A welcome addition to their show is the Wetwang chariot, but the museum wanted a working model to drive around the park.
Working with the British Museum, The International Guild of Knot Tyers, and Robert Hurford, the master wheelwright who worked on the original reconstruction, a second chariot was built in January 2003 at the Lexington, Kentucky, museum. Pictures on this web site show the step by step reconstruction during the building. Links to other web sites that explain the Wetwang chariot in detail are shown below. (Note: The British Museum no longer has links to the Wetwang chariot. )