Papers by Christian George, High Point University
This 2006 paper is our most detailed defense of our use of bit wear as a method that identifies a... more This 2006 paper is our most detailed defense of our use of bit wear as a method that identifies a clearly identifiable culturally-caused pathology on the lower premolars of bitted equids used for riding and/or driving. We advocated a broader cultural definition of domestication, in addition to a narrowly zoological definition. We described an experiment that proved that organic bits of rope and leather can and did cause bit wear on horse teeth (dirt under the bit was the agent of wear). We argued that horses were ridden in steppe herding and tribal raiding as early as 4000 BC, but the Iron Age evolution of cavalry--organized troops of mounted archers--depended on technological innovations in recurved bows and cast socketed arrow-heads that first appeared in the Final Bronze Age, explaining why cavalry appeared so late.
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Papers by Christian George, High Point University