The Earliest Evidence for Metal Bridle Parts

Abstract

Recent discoveries in different parts of the Near East have led the authors to reconsider the early history of metal driving bits. These now seem to go back into the third millennium BC, which is much earlier that the evidence previously indicated. The paper also includes a brief discussion of the links -if these existed at all -with early bridle bits made of organic materials from the southern Urals-Volga area.The recent discovery at Tel Haror in the northern Negev of a copper/bronze bridle bit on an equid buried in a cultic context dating to the seventeenth century BC (MB IIB) is important in several respects ( Figure 1). 1 It is the earliest metal bit from a well-dated context, and it is the only metal bit of the second millennium BC actually to have been found in the mouth of an animal.The Haror bit belongs to a well-known type of early cast-metal bit with circular cheekpieces, often studded on the inner faces, and a single-bar mouthpiece. Finds of this bit type are widely distributed: from Tell el-Amarna in the middle Egypt, through Tell el-'Ajjul (ancient Gaza) and Ras Shamra on the Syrian coast, to Tell al Haddad in eastern Iraq. There are also examples from Mycenae and Thebes in mainland Greece, and varients reportedly from eastern Turkey and Luristan in west-central Iraq. 2 Most, if not all of these bits date within the second half of the second millennium BC. 3 They are driving bits, with the emphasis on enforcing directional control from a vehicle (i.e. from a distance behind the horses' mouths) -something that is much less difficult from the

Earliest evidence for equid bit wear in the ancient Near East: The "ass" from Early Bronze Age Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel

“…BCE) at Tell Brak in northern Mesopotamia (modern Syria), it has been suggested that the differential wear visible on anterior face of the LPM2 of donkey teeth was a function of bit wear [ 11 , 14 , 15 , 61 ]. In addition, there is a ceramic plaque recovered from Akkadian deposits at Kish that depict an ass or onager being ridden [ 17 , 19 , 62 ].…”

Symbolic Metal Bit and Saddlebag Fastenings in a Middle Bronze Age Donkey Burial

“…The copper bridle bit was made of a solid-forged, round-sectioned (1.1 cm) bar mouthpiece and a pair of cast discoid cheek pieces that are studded on their inner face (Figure 4 and Figure S5; [16], [20]; Specimen IAA # 2009-951, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem). The 6.3 cm diameter cheek-pieces are ‘spoke-wheeled’ and include loops for the attachment of the cheek straps of the headstall and to the central hole for the mouthpiece bar.…”

“…In contrast to the Haror example, most known finds of typologically similar metal bits are of uncertain date or of unknown provenance ([20]:333 [22], [25]). At the site of Tell el-Ajjul in nearby Gaza, and not far from Haror, Petrie [26] discovered a typologically similar bridle bit but unfortunately its context is not clearly defined [7].…”

“…At the site of Tell el-Ajjul in nearby Gaza, and not far from Haror, Petrie [26] discovered a typologically similar bridle bit but unfortunately its context is not clearly defined [7]. Bits from securely dateable contexts in the Levant as well as in adjacent regions of Egypt, Anatolia, Iran and Greece are assigned to later periods and not prior to the mid-second millennium BCE [20]. Other lines of evidence suggest a use of metal bits in the third millennium BCE.…”

“…The bridle bit is the primary implement for directing animals by exerting pressure on sensitive parts of their head [7], [20]. Thus, the development of the metal bridle bit and its use during the MBA in the Levant provided an effective device for directional control and swift maneuverability and marks a significant technological leap [23]–[24], [30]–[31].…”