The Coming of the Greeks8 Detail of gold ring from Mycenae, Shaft Grave IV.The Grave iv cheek pieces fit into a series of bone and antler
bits found from Hungary to the Urals and have bronze coun-
terparts in the barrows at Lchashen, in Soviet Armenia, de-
scribed in the final section of Chapter Five. 12
That in the Aegean the chariot loomed large in the imagi-
nation during the sixteenth and fifteenth centuries (the LH I
and II periods) is shown by glyptic art. An amethyst cylinder
seal found in a tholos tomb at Kazarma (in the Argolid), and
dated to the LH HA period, portrays a single occupant in a char-
iot drawn by lions. 13 A sealing from Ayia Triada in Crete de-
picts another charioteer, lashing his team forward. 14 On a seal
found on the floor of the Vaphio tholos (LH HA), the chariot
tauer and Crouwel, "Evidence for Horse Bits from Shaft Grave iv at My-
cenae?" Praehistorische Zeitschrift 48 (1973): 207—13, initially rejected the
identification, a close and unambiguous parallel from southwestern Russia
has since been discovered. For Crouwel's present and modified position, see
his Chariots, 105. Cf. also Piggott, "Chariots in the Caucasus," 18.
- Piggott, "Chariots in the Caucasus," 18.
- Crouwel, Chariots, 122—23; in Crouwel's Catalog (pp. 157—73)
the Kazarma seal appears as G i (for illustration, see his plate 9). - Ibid., 122 (in Crouwel's Catalog, G 8; plate 16). The sealing
perhaps dates from the LM IB period.
161