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Discussion on Research Summary: Earliest Evidence of Horse Domestication
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Wednesday, Apr 8, 2009 - 11:03 am:
In what is the earliest report of confirmed horse domestication that I am aware of it seems clear there was domestication by 3500 BC.
Science. 2009 Mar 6;323(5919):1332-5.
The earliest horse harnessing and milking.
Outram AK, Stear NA, Bendrey R, Olsen S, Kasparov A, Zaibert V, Thorpe N, Evershed RP.
Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QE, UK. a.k.outram@ex.ac.uk
Horse domestication revolutionized transport, communications, and warfare in prehistory, yet the identification of early domestication processes has been problematic. Here, we present three independent lines of evidence demonstrating domestication in the Eneolithic Botai Culture of Kazakhstan, dating to about 3500 B.C.E. Metrical analysis of horse metacarpals shows that Botai horses resemble Bronze Age domestic horses rather than Paleolithic wild horses from the same region. Pathological characteristics indicate that some Botai horses were bridled, perhaps ridden. Organic residue analysis, using delta13C and deltaD values of fatty acids, reveals processing of mare's milk and carcass products in ceramics, indicating a developed domestic economy encompassing secondary products.
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