The horse in the Bronze Age

The domestication and spread of the horse is a much-debated subject. However, there is no clear evidence that the domesticated horse came to Europe before the second millennium BC. In the southeastern part of the continent the horse probably arrived in connection with the use of war chariots. The Sun Chariot is one of southern Scandinavia’s earliest examples of the horse being used as a draught animal. We do not know whether the horse was used as a riding and draught animal at the same time. In principle this could well have been so, but no certain evidence has yet been found of the horse being used as a riding animal in the Bronze Age.

Horsehead-shaped handles appear on the golden bowls of the Late Bronze Age, among others on this bowl from Mariesminde Mose on Funen.