Abstract
Analysis of a sacrificed and interred domestic donkey from an Early Bronze Age (EB) IIIB (c. 2800–2600 BCE) domestic residential neighborhood at Tell es-S âfi/Gath, Israel, indicate the presence of bit wear on the Lower Premolar 2 (LPM2). This is the earliest evidence for the use of a bit among early domestic equids, and in particular donkeys, in the Near East. The mesial enamel surfaces on both the right and left LPM2 of the particular donkey in question are slightly worn in a fashion that suggests that a dental bit (metal, bone, wood, etc.) was used to control the animal. Given the secure chronological context of the burial (beneath the floor of an EB IIIB house), it is suggested that this animal provides the earliest evidence for the use of a bit on an early domestic equid from the Near East.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e0196335 |
| Journal | PLoS ONE |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2018 Greenfield et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding
The excavations and laboratory analysis of the Early Bronze Age remains at Tell es -S âfi/Gath are administratively supported and/or funded by many institutions and sources including The Tell es -S âfi/Gath Archaeological Project and its staff and team members, The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, Bar-Ilan University Kushitzky Fund, the University of Manitoba, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant # 410-2009-1303 to H. Greenfield in 2009 and Partnership Grant #895-2011-1005 to H. Greenfield and A. Maeir in 2012), St. Paul’s College and Near Eastern and Biblical Archaeology Lab of the University of Manitoba, the Jewish and Catholic Foundations of Manitoba, and several private donors. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We are grateful to Drs. Deb Bennett, Liora K. Horwitz, and Hadas Motro, and various other colleagues for their assistance and advice with various technical issues and comments on the manuscript. The excavations and laboratory analysis of the Early Bronze Age remains at Tell es -Sâfi/Gath are administratively supported and/or funded by many institutions and sources including The Tell es -Sâfi/Gath Archaeological Project and its staff and team members, The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, the Bar-Ilan University Kushitzky Fund, the University of Manitoba, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant # 410-2009-1303 to H. Greenfield in 2009 and Partnership Grant #895-2011-1005 to H. Greenfield and A. Maeir in 2012), St. Paul’s College and Near Eastern and Biblical Archaeology Lab of the University of Manitoba, the Jewish and Catholic Foundations of Manitoba, and several private donors. Permits for exportation of material from Israel were issued to A. Maeir and H. Greenfield by the Israel Antiquities (Permit #13840/2012). We thank the dedicated staff and team members (professional, student and volunteer) of the Tell es -Sâfi/Gath project for their work in the field and in the post-excavation processing of finds. Without their unstinting support, this research would not have been successfully carried out.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| University of Manitoba | |
| British Archaeological Association | |
| Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada | 895-2011-1005, 410-2009-1303 |
| Bar-Ilan University | |
| Department of Mathematics, Bar-Ilan University | |
| Israeli Dairy Board | 13840/2012 |