first step in human globalization--horseback riding, The

Carnegie, Jul/Aug 2002 by Olsen, Sandra

Archaeologist Sandra Olsen explains the oldest evidence of taming wild horses in Discover magazine (March, 2002)

For nine summers archaeologist Sandra Olsen of the Anthropology Section of Carnegie Museum of Natural History has returned to the same windswept, grassy plains in the heart of the Eurasian steppe, in Kazakhstan.

There she studies life in the prehistoric village of Krasnyi Yar, a primitive settlement dating to some 5,500 years ago. Olsen knows that in this site the ancient Botai people endured harsh nine-month winters, dressed in furs from small mammals, huddled around campfires in pit houses dug into the ground, and ate horsemeat.

But not only did they eat horsemeat, Olsen says, they herded horses, and probably used them for transport. Thus the Botai were in fact among the first to invent horseback riding, and this development changed human behavior forever. Prior to riding horses people walked, carried their cargo on their shoulders, or used boats along rivers and coasts. Horses were the first form of rapid transit. They were fleet of foot, carried one or two people or heavy loads, and could survive in a poor environment. Thus by turning their prey into transport, the ancient horse culture of the Botai enabled isolated human societies to develop into interconnected spheres of influence.

By studying the clues from horse bones and burials in northern Kazakhstan, and asking the right questions, Olsen deduces that wild horses were hunted from horseback and domestic horses were kept as livestock. People used horse manure for building material, butchered horses for food near the village, and fashioned horse jawbones into thong-making tools. Some 5,500 years ago, horses were buried with their owners, perhaps like faithful servants to accompany a person or family in the afterlife. in today's remote villages, Kazaks still enjoy a bitter-tasting drink called "koumiss" made from fermented mare's milk, boys are taught to ride at age four, and a marathon 20-minute horse race is a highlight of the various horse games at local festivals.

With generous support from the National Science Foundation and Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Olsen and her colleagues from England and Kazakhstan continue to investigate this turning point in the history of humankind. Olsen's co-director, Bruce Bradley, a world-renowned stone toolmaker, has found a quarry where the Botai collected raw materials to fashion arrowheads and scrapers. Colleague Alan Outram is looking for residues of horse milk in their ancient pottery to prove that the Botai consumed koumiss just as their modern counterparts do.

The Discover magazine article has led to National Public Radio and BBC radio interviews, and BBC's Horizon program plans to visit the site and make a film.