horse domestication (Other Keyword)
1-3 (3 Records)
Although nomadic horse pastoralism remains an important way of life in eastern Central Asia, the origins of horse herding in the region and their relationship to key social developments are poorly understood. Recent work indicates that late Bronze Age people of Mongolia's Deer Stone - Khirigsuur (DSK) Complex herded horses, and used some of them for transport by circa 1200 BCE. This paper presents evidence that DSK people practiced equine dentistry and veterinary care, removing or modifying...
Horseback riding and the unintended consequences of innovation (2015)
Every technological innovation carries a social agenda, usually one that was not intended or even foreseen by its inventors. The domestication of the horse in the Eurasian steppes probably was initially an attempt to secure winter-adapted meat animals, but horseback riding transformed the initial innovation into a revolution in transport. Riding made steppe herding more efficient, transformed tribal raiding, and eventually was combined with wagon transport to create a new way of life based on...
Horseback riding, asymmetry, and anthropogenic changes to the equine skull: evidence for mounted riding in Mongolia’s late Bronze Age (Appendix S1, Supplementary Appendix) (2017)
A primary obstacle facing the study of early horse transport is the challenge of identifying ridden horses in the archaeological record. While changes to the equine skull and dentition may help identify animals that were bridled and heavily exerted, these features are typically insufficient to distinguish riding mounts from animals used to pull vehicles. This paper suggests that asymmetric deformations to the equine skull, found on domestic horses, may be useful for identifying ancient ridden...