Editing Domestication of the horse (section)

===Bit wear===
[[File:Persianbit1.jpg|thumb|A [[Luristan bronze]] horse [[bit (horse)|bit]]]]

The presence of [[bit (horse)|bit]] wear is an indicator that a horse was ridden or driven, and the earliest of such evidence from a site in Kazakhstan dates to 3500 BCE. The absence of bit wear on [[horse teeth]] is not conclusive evidence against domestication because horses can be ridden and controlled without bits by using a [[noseband]] or a [[hackamore]], but such materials do not produce significant physiological changes nor are they apt to be preserved for millennia.

The regular use of a bit to control a horse can create wear facets or bevels on the anterior corners of the lower second [[premolars]]. The corners of the horse's mouth normally keep the bit on the "bars" of the mouth, an [[diastema|interdental space]] where there are no teeth, forward of the premolars. The bit must be manipulated by a human or the horse must move it with its tongue for it to touch the teeth. Wear can be caused by the bit abrading the front corners of the premolars if the horse grasps and releases the bit between its [[horse teeth|teeth]]; other wear can be created by the bit striking the vertical front edge of the lower premolars,<ref name="Brown1998">{{cite journal | last = Brown | first = Dorcas |author2=Anthony, David W. | year = 1998 | title = Bit Wear, Horseback Riding and the Botai site in Kazakstan | journal = Journal of Archaeological Science | volume = 25 | issue = 4 | pages = 331–347 | doi = 10.1006/jasc.1997.0242 | bibcode = 1998JArSc..25..331B }}</ref><ref name="Bendry2007">{{cite journal | last = Bendry | first = Robin | year = 2007 | title = New methods for the identification of evidence for bitting on horse remains from archaeological sites | journal = Journal of Archaeological Science | volume = 34 | issue = 7 | pages = 1036–1050 | doi = 10.1016/j.jas.2006.09.010 | bibcode = 2007JArSc..34.1036B }}</ref> due to very strong pressure from a human handler.

Modern experiments showed that even organic bits of rope or leather can create significant wear facets, and also showed that facets 3mm (.118 in) deep or more do not appear on the premolars of wild horses.<ref name="Anthony2006">{{cite book |title=Horses and Humans: The Evolution of the Equine-Human Relationship |last=Anthony |first=David W. |author2=Brown, Dorcas R. |author3=George, Christian  |editor=Olsen, Sandra L. |editor2=Grant, Susan |editor3=Choyke, Alice |editor4=Bartosiewicz, Laszlo |year=2006 |publisher=Archaeopress |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-84171-990-0 |pages=137–156 |chapter=Early horseback riding and warfare: the importance of the magpie around the neck |series=British Archaeological Reports International Series |volume=1560 }}</ref> However, other researchers disputed both conclusions.<ref name="Levine1999">{{cite book |title=Late Prehistoric Exploitation of the Eurasian Steppe |last=Levine |first=Marsha A. |editor=Levine, Marsha |editor2=Rassamakin, Yuri |editor3=Kislenko, Aleksandr |editor4=Tatarintseva, Nataliya |year=1999 |publisher=McDonald Institute Monographs |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-1-902937-03-8 |pages=5–58 |chapter=The Origins of Horse Husbandry on the Eurasian Steppe }}</ref>

Wear facets of 3&nbsp;mm or more were found on seven horse premolars in two sites of the Botai culture, Botai and Kozhai 1, dated about 3500–3000 BCE.<ref name="Anthony and Brown 2000" /><ref name="Anthony1991" /> The Botai culture premolars are the earliest reported multiple examples of this dental pathology in any archaeological site, and preceded any skeletal change indicators by 1,000 years. While wear facets more than 3&nbsp;mm deep were discovered on the lower second premolars of a single [[stallion]] from [[Dereivka]] in [[Ukraine]], an [[Eneolithic]] settlement dated about 4000 BCE,<ref name="Anthony1991">{{cite journal | doi = 10.1038/scientificamerican1291-94 | last = Anthony | first = David W. |author2=Telegin, Dimitri |author3=Brown, Dorcas | year = 1991 | title = The origin of horseback riding | journal = [[Scientific American]] | volume = 265 | issue = 6 | pages = 94–100 | bibcode = 1991SciAm.265f..94A }}</ref> dental material from one of the worn teeth later produced a radiocarbon date of 700–200 BCE, indicating that this stallion was actually deposited in a pit dug into the older Eneolithic site during the [[Iron Age]].<ref name="Anthony and Brown 2000">{{cite journal | last = Anthony | first = David W. |author2=Brown, Dorcas | year = 2000 | title = Eneolithic horse exploitation in the Eurasian steppes: diet, ritual and riding | journal = Antiquity | volume = 74 | issue = 283| pages = 75–86 | doi = 10.1017/S0003598X00066163 | s2cid = 163782751 }}</ref>