The prehistoric origins of the domestic horse and horseback riding Les origines préhistoriques du cheval domestique et de l'équitation (original) (raw)

The prehistoric origins of the domestic horse and horseback riding

Bulletins et mémoires de la société d'anthropologie de Paris

Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d' Anthropologie de Paris Cet article fait suite à une communication invitée présentée lors des 1847 es journées de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris dans le cadre de la session "Les relations entre les humains et les animaux" Abstract-The findings of Librado et al. (2021) show that modern domestic horses (DOM2) emerged in the lower Don-Volga region. They imply that horseback riding drove selection that resulted in these horses and fuelled their initial dispersal, and also that DOM2 horses replaced other horses because they were more suitable for riding due to their more docile temperaments and resilient backs. In this article, I argue that captive breeding of horses leading to their domestication began in about 4500-3000 BC in the Pontic-Caspian steppe and made horseback riding necessary because managing horses, and especially moving them over long distances, required mounted herding. Horseback riding had been experimented with since the second half of the 5 th millennium BC, became common around 3100 BC during the early stages of the Yamnaya culture, and necessary by the middle of the 3 rd millennium BC at the very latest. As horseback riding became more common, selection for malleable temperaments and resilient backs intensified, resulting in DOM2 horses by about 2300-2200 BC in the lower Don-Volga region. The body size and weight-carrying ability of ancestral and early DOM2 horses were not limiting factors for horseback riding. The initial dispersal of DOM2 horses was facilitated by horseback riding and began by about 2300 +150 BC. Chariotry began to spread together with DOM2 horses after 2000 BC, but its high archaeological visibility may have inflated its importance, since chariots are of limited practical use for herding and other daily tasks. Keywords-horses, domestication, selection, riding, chariotry lisation du char à deux roues s'est dispersée avec les chevaux DOM2 après 2000 av. J.-C., mais une grande visibilité archéologique peut avoir gonflé l'importance du char, qui a une utilité pratique quelque peu limitée dans l'élevage et d'autres tâches quotidiennes.

Envisioning Early Equestrianism: Clues from Archaeology and Ancient DNA

The origins of riding have been an elusive and contentious subject for archaeologists. Recent research in archaeology and ancient DNA (aDNA) have begun to clarify early riding and the genetic make-up of the first domesticated horses. In this paper, I pull together evidence from horse bones, human remains, the first bits, and aDNA of people and horses to explore what riding may have been like around 2000 BC. The function of early bits, bit-wear, horse size and conformation are examined with reference to archaeological finds and experimental study to produce a picture of what an early riding horse may been like and, along with human remains, how riding may have been practiced. This is augmented by aDNA information regarding coat color and what early people may have been selectively breeding for in horses. The form and function of the earliest bits will be familiar to most equestrians, as will the osteological changes in people and horses that occur from riding. I draw parallels to modern bits and bitting traditions to elucidate how basic practices of horsemanship have great antiquity. I conclude with a discussion about how the language between people and horses through horse training may have been part of the domestication process itself.

In search of the ‘Great Horse’: A zooarchaeological assessment of horses from England (AD 300‐1650)

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2021

Popular culture presents a deep-rooted perception of medieval warhorses as massive and powerful mounts, but medieval textual and iconographic evidence remains highly debated. Furthermore, identifying warhorses in the zooarchaeological record is challenging due to both a paucity of horse remains relative to other domesticates, and the tendency of researchers to focus on osteological size, which makes it difficult to reconstruct in-life usage of horses and activity related changes. This paper presents the largest zooarchaeological dataset of English horse bones (n = 1964) from 171 unique archaeological sites dating between AD 300 and 1650. Using this dataset alongside a modern comparative sample of known equids (n = 490), we examine trends in size and shape to explore how the skeletal conformation of horses changed through time and reflected their domestic, elite and military roles. In addition to evidencing the generally small stature of medieval horses relative to both earlier and l...

Horses and horse riders along the ages

2011

In the sequence of the project carried out in the Municipality of Golegã in February of 2009, where an exhibition of paintings was connected with a lecture, the same authors now continue and develop the previous presented event. This time the aim of the exhibition is not limited to the image of the horse and of man in rock art, which was the theme of the project of 2009, but it approaches the very diverse iconographic depictions of the horse and horse riders through time and space. The presented paintings, in a general way, get inspiration in the art from very diverse cultures around the world, adding some colour and texture to the original images which are exactly reproduced. Thus, it’s possible to observe examples of prehistoric art from the French-cantabric region, of classical Greek art, of Scythian art, Viking art, Irish art, medieval French art, Mogol art, Indian art, Japanese art and contemporary Portuguese art. In this catalogue, besides the technical description of the paintings, each work is followed by a commentary of historic and cultural character, whose aim is to spread the close relation between man and horse along the ages, high lightening some aspects like domestication, mythology, the figure of the knight/warrior, the horse as a means of transport, of war machine and an element of social status, among other cases. The words marked with an asterisk (*) have a definition in a glossary available in the last page. Like in 2009, the present exhibition is preceded by a lecture where some aspects showed in the paintings are developed and discussed, being the theme this year “Horses and horse riders since prehistory till the Middle Ages.”

Herding horses: a model of prehistoric horsemanship in Scandinavia - and elsewhere?

B. Santillo Frizell (ed)., 2004. PECUS. Man and animal in antiquity. Rome.

This article discusses a possible system of horse keeping, used in prehistoric Scandinavia, with focus on the Late Iron Age. The system, here referred to as that of free-roaming horses (Sw. utegångshästar ästar ä ), are still in use in several parts of the world and known from historic Scandinavian sources. The idea of the free-roaming horse system is to keep a surplus of horses under natural conditions, which means that the animals are left to themselves during the major part of the year, and in most cases, their lives. The systems leaves few, if any, traces in the archaeological record, but different sources indicate that there are many horses hidden behind the few stalls in Iron Age byres. However, there is ample evidence in archaeological and written sources that, when put together and illuminated by modern examples from different cultures, provide fruitful information about how great men and women kept their horses c. 1500 years ago. 1

First bioanthropological evidence for Yamnaya horsemanship

Science Advances, 2023

The origins of horseback riding remain elusive. Scientific studies show that horses were kept for their milk~3500 to 3000 BCE, widely accepted as indicating domestication. However, this does not confirm them to be ridden. Equipment used by early riders is rarely preserved, and the reliability of equine dental and mandibular pathologies remains contested. However, horsemanship has two interacting components: the horse as mount and the human as rider. Alterations associated with riding in human skeletons therefore possibly provide the best source of information. Here, we report five Yamnaya individuals well-dated to 3021 to 2501 calibrated BCE from kurgans in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, displaying changes in bone morphology and distinct pathologies associated with horseback riding. These are the oldest humans identified as riders so far.