Pitt, CMU team up to study history of horses

Recent archaeological research has produced convincing evidence of the earliest documented… Recent archaeological research has produced convincing evidence of the earliest documented domestication of horses. The joint research project enlisted scientists from both the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the University of Pittsburgh.

The team has unearthed phosphorous-rich soil samples that would indicate the presence of horse manure 5,600 years ago from the Krasnyi Yar site in present-day northern Kazakhstan. The area was home to the Botai culture, which depended on horses for food and transportation.

Using magnetic radiant imaging, post-holes were discovered at Krasnyi Yar, indicating the existence of fences and corrals. It was from these areas that assistant professor Michael Rosenmeier gathered the soil samples. They were then analyzed by associate professor Rosemary Capo, both professors of geology and planetary science at Pitt.

Recent horse manure could be expected to have significant levels of nitrogen, because of geological processes it can be released from the soil. The bulk of phosphorous, in contrast, remains stable over long periods of time. Such unnatural concentration of manure over a small area, in conjunction with the corrals, unequivocally implies domestication. Working with chemical indications was critical to the research, as changes in horse morphology have been almost nonexistent.

Likewise, physical evidence like riding material made from thongs of horsehide would have decomposed long ago. Richard Evershed, a University of Bristol biochemist, has also been searching for mare’s milk residue within the Botai pottery. The lack of fat in the milk has made it a particularly laborious project, but previous detection of mare meat within the pottery is encouraging.

There is still no accepted scientific consensus as to when horse domestication began. A popular theory postulates that domestication originated from the Ukraine and that those herders migrated eastward into Northern Kazakhstan. The importance of this research is that it provides us with the earliest known documented place of domestication and research procedures that can be used elsewhere to determine similar patterns.

The importance of horses for the Botai society was multi-faceted. For a people with no genuine agriculture, horse meat constituted the “most important aspect of the diet,” said Sandra Olsen, curator of anthropology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and co-researcher of the project. Mare milk provided the Botai with essential vitamins. The animals were later used for transportation.

The immense impact that horse domestication has imparted on human culture cannot be overstated. Horses were “the first form of rapid transit,” Olsen said. Horse riding greatly increased human mobility, helping to spread trade and language. Olsen noted that the expansion of Indo-European language “coincides fairly close with the domestication of the horse.” The use of horses had a dramatic effect on human warfare and geopolitics as well.

The research provided an excellent opportunity not only for Pitt undergrads such as James Gardiner and Andrew Stiff but for Kazakh students as well, who got the chance to use surveying, GPS and magnetic imaging equipment.

Olsen has formed close bonds with the Kazakh people through years of collaborative research and is disheartened for “American people to only learn about Kazakhstan through Borat.”