London - Horses were domesticated around 1,000 years earlier than previously believed and were used by cultures in the steppes of Kazakhstan 5,500 years ago, British scientists have found. Researchers from Exeter university in south-west Britain said in a report published in the magazine Science Friday that horse domestication can be traced back to the Botai culture of Kazakhstan.
Evidence suggested that the Botai people not only bred and rode horses, but also ate their meat and drank their milk, possibly as an alcoholic brew, some 5,500 years ago.
That would mean that they were taming horses 1,000 years earlier than domestication was previously thought to have started in central Asia, and 2,000 years before it came to Europe.
Previously, the earliest evidence of horse riding was derived from metal parts from harnesses dating from the Bronze Age. Domestication was thought to have started in central Asia, some 2,000 years before it came to Europe.
Bone remains studied by the research team showed that the horses used by the Botai people were of a similar shape to domesticated horses from the Bronze Age.
The scientists also analyzed the remains of food and drink in pottery and traces of horse meat and milk at Botai sites east of the Ural Mountains in northern Kazakhstan, a prime habitat for wild horses thousands of years ago.
Bone remains showed that the animals were similar in shape to later Bronze Age domestic horses, but different from wild horses from the same region.
This, said the experts, suggested a planned breeding programme. Horses were chosen for their physical attributes, which were then exaggerated through selective breeding.
Bit markings on the teeth of several Botai horses showed they had been bridled, presumably so they could be ridden.
Mare's milk is still drunk in Kazakhstan, usually being fermented into an alcoholic drinks called koumiss.
The new evidence suggests that the koumiss tradition dates back to the earliest horse herders.
Dr Alan Outram, from the University of Exeter, who led the study, said: "The domestication of horses is known to have had immense social and economic significance, advancing communications, transport, food production and warfare."
"Our findings indicate that horses were being domesticated about 1,000 years earlier than previously thought. This is significant because it changes our understanding of how these early societies developed."
