Earliest evidence of bridle bits in ancient Near East in central Israel

An international team of archaeologists has uncovered the earliest example of the use of a bridle bit with an equid (horse family) in the Near East. Evidence of the bridle bit was derived from the skeleton of a donkey dating to the Early Bronze Age III (approximately 2700 BCE) found at the excavations of the biblical city Gath (modern Tell es-Safi) of the Philistines, the home of biblical Goliath, located in central Israel.

The team, including archaeologists from Bar-Ilan University, the University of Manitoba, University of Saskatchewan, ArielUniversity and Grand Valley State University, published their findings on May 16th in the journal PLOS ONE. Prof. Haskel Greenfield, of the University of Manitoba, the paper's lead author, said, "This is significant because it demonstrates how early domestic donkeys were controlled, and adds substantially to our knowledge of the history of donkey (Equus asinus) domestication and evolution of riding and equestrian technology."