Anders Alexandra – Lőrinczy Gábor szerk.: A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Archaeologica 12. (Szeged, 2011)
László BARTOSIEWICZ: Ex Oriente equus... A Brief History of Horses between the Early Bronze Age and the Middle Ages
MFMÉ - StudArch 12 (2011) 127-136 EX ORIENTE EQUUS... A BRIEF HISTORY OF HORSES BETWEEN THE EARLY BRONZE A GE AND THE MIDDLE A GES László BA R TO SIE WICZ INTRODUCTION Wild horses once lived all along the Eurasian steppe belt. However, the time and place of first horse domestication are difficult to pin down within this broad region. Identifying the first domestic forms is a complex task, since horse is an animal whose skeletal dimensions have not spectacularly increased during early domestication. Moreover, due to the relatively rare meat exploitation of valuable horses, their bones do not consistently occur in the food refuse most commonly recovered by archaeologists. At prehistoric sites, it is usually impossible to tell whether horse bones represent a rarely hunted game animal or a precious domesticate. Even such interpretations of the masses of horse bone in the food refuse of Copper and Bronze Age settlements dated to the 4 t h millennium BC such as Dereivka (Southern Ukraine) or Botai (Northern Kazakhstan), have been contested for a long time. It is near impossible to tell whether these rich horse bone assemblages represented a turning point in domestication (OLSEN 2006), since single bone finds reveal little about the wild or domestic status of individuals. Secondary products derived from domestic animals include forms of exploitation that do not require killing the animal. In addition to the typically quoted examples of milk, wool and labour, the practical work to which horses were put in combination with their aforementioned significance as companion animals (as well as symbols of wealth and power) secured horses a very special place among domesticates across the world. Given the difficulties of morphometric identification, domestic horses may be best recognized on the basis of archaeological evidence of their secondary exploitation. While bone finds scattered at settlements usually derive from food remains (meat being by definition the primary product of any animal), the presence of complete or at least partial horse skeletons may indicate that the animal was accorded a proper burial. Isolated horse skulls and hooves of negligible food value are also often found in ritual contexts. These, as well as complete skeletons, also offer a unique possibility for the morphological study of ancient horses. Bones of ordinary food animals tend to be far more fragmented and dispersed. Morbidity patterns (LEVINE 1999) as well as possible bitwear on premolar teeth (ANTHONY ET AL. 2006, 138) were also used in the tentative identification of domestic horses. Convincing artifactual evidence of horseback riding, however, is present only in the form of horse gear such as bridle cheek pieces and harness elements (not to mention chariots; Fig. 1, 1). The recent identification of mare's milk residue identified on pot shards was a discovery that finally shed some light on the indubitable domestic status of horses at least at the site of Botai (OUTRAM ET AL. 2009). NOMADISM AND HORSES, A BRIEF CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW The importance of horses in nomadic lifeways has attracted particular attention. This animal was probably less important in herding than in long distance population movements and successful warfare, way before the conventional AD 5 t h-8 t h c. chronological limits of the Migration Period in 127
