Horse bit and bridle with reins
Bocado de caballo y riendas con anteojeras
- Date
- c. 2000 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Sintashta, Urals, Russia; Gaza / Tell el-Ajjul (bronze bit), Palestine
- Credited to
- Steppe peoples; metal bits in the Levant (c. 1500 BCE)
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Antler or bone cheekpieces with prongs and later an articulated bronze bit in the horse's mouth, joined to reins, allowing precise control of a pair of horses at a gallop. Without it, the war chariot is unmanageable.
Bit wear on Botai teeth (c. 3500 BCE) is disputed; the antler cheekpieces of Sintashta (c. 2000 BCE) are the earliest secure evidence.
What it led to
- Fine control of the horse that turned the chariot into a weapon and, later, made cavalry possible
- Written training manuals (the Kikkuli text, Hattusa, c. 1400 BCE), the first zootechnical literature
- Selective breeding of chariot horses and trade in horses as a strategic good
Built on
Made possible
- War chariotc. 1900 BCE
- Mounted cavalry as a military armc. 865 BCE
- Saddle (later type)