'I rode through the desert': equestrian adaptations in southern hemisphere arid zones

Summary

The ‘Columbian exchange’ set in motion by Europe’s fifteenth- to nineteenth-century expansion overseas has produced some of the most far-reaching biological and cultural changes of the entire Anthropocene epoch. One of the most widespread aspects of its exchanges was the introduction of the horse to parts of the world where it had previously been absent. Alongside the internationally well-known Plains of North America, these regions included several southern hemisphere arid zones: Patagonia; the Karoo and Kalahari of southern Africa; and the deserts of Australia. This paper explores the equestrian adaptations developed by the Indigenous inhabitants of these three areas and tries to explain the variability apparent in the timing, scale, nature, and consequences of their adoption of the horse.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Biological Exchange in the Anthropocene: Archaeological and Genetic Perspectives

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