Horse domestication and its diffusion in the Middle East and North Africa: the state of the art

Horse domestication and its diffusion in the Middle East and North Africa: the state of the art

16Much has been written on the topic and our intention is not so much to produce a new synthesis as to underline the progressive shift of horse domestication along a north‑south axis, starting in central Asia and the Eurasian steppes, and progressively reaching the Middle East, Egypt, and then Arabia.
18⦁ ⦁ Vilà⦁ ⦁ et al⦁ ., 2001.
19⦁ ⦁ Forster⦁ ⦁ et al⦁ ., 2012; ⦁ Warmuth⦁ ⦁ et al⦁ ., 2012.
20⦁ ⦁ Olsen⦁ , 2006; ⦁ Outram⦁ et al⦁ ., 2009.
17The original location —providing that a single location is concerned— and the date of horse domestication remain a burning issue. Genetic studies have been addressing this problem, defending either the hypothesis of several original areas of domestication18 or an original restricted area of horse domestication, and, as domesticated horses spread, subsequent recruitment of local mares from further wild horse populations into the domesticated herds19. Both theories locate horse domestication in central Asia and the Eurasian steppes. It is currently acknowledged that substantial support for early horse domestication is provided by the investigations carried out on the Botai culture settlements (Northern Kazakhstan), where a horse‑centered economy developed in the first half of the 4th millennium BC20. That the Botai culture displays the earlier evidence for horse domestication does not mean that it was the first to develop it.
21⦁ ⦁ Anthony⦁ , 2007, p. 298; 2013.
22⦁ ⦁ Anthony⦁ , 2013.
23⦁ ⦁ Postgate⦁ , 1986, p. 195.
24⦁ ⦁ Oates⦁ , 2003.
25⦁ ⦁ Owen⦁ , 1991.
26⦁ ⦁ Anthony⦁ , 2013.
18Not long afterwards, domesticated horse bones increased in sites of the North Caucasus, Eastern Anatolia and Azerbaijan21. Horse bones appeared on Syrian sites during the Akkad period (c. 2350–2150 BC) and in the Bactria‑Margiana Archaeological Complex (2100–1800)22. In Mesopotamia, horses were only rarely attested until after the Ur III period (c. 21st–20th cent. BC)23, at the time when the first written word for horse (literally “ass of the mountains”, referring to Zagros and Anatolia) appeared in Sumerian texts24. A seal dated to the reign of the Ur III king Šu‑Sin25 is the oldest preserved image of a man riding a horse26.
27⦁ ⦁ Clutton⦁ ‑⦁ Brock⦁ , 1974; ⦁ Clutton⦁ ‑⦁ Brock⦁ ⦁ &⦁ ⦁ Raulwing⦁ , 2009.
28⦁ ⦁ Kelekna⦁ , 2009, p. 218.
29⦁ ⦁ Clutton⦁ ‑⦁ Brock⦁ ⦁ &⦁ ⦁ Raulwing⦁ , 2009, p. 59‑78.
19It is generally admitted that horses appeared in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period (c. 1650–1550) or slightly earlier27. Whether they were brought together with chariot from Southwestern Asia into Egypt by the Hyksos28 or not is still debated29.
30⦁ ⦁ Curtis⦁ ⦁ et al⦁ ., 2012, p. 21.
20In the Bronze Age, horses were mainly used for chariotry and wagon pulling. Horse riding really took off in the Early‑Iron‑Age Luristan. In Mesopotamia, cavalry developed after 900 BC where it progressively replaced chariotry. Mounted troops started to be mentioned in the reign of Tukultī‑Ninurta II (890–884 BC) (RIMA 2: 173) and Aššurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) (RIMA 2: 205); they are displayed on the reliefs of the latter’s palace30.
31⦁ ⦁ Macdonald⦁ , 2009; 2012, p. 360.
21As long as horses were mainly used as draught animals, their absence in Arabia is no surprise. The Peninsula was definitely a hostile environment to chariotry or any kind of vehicle on tow31, and even to horse itself. It could be an explanation for its late introduction in the region, as field data collected below tend to demonstrate.