Posted on 06/09/2024 3:24:03 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Horses were domesticated at least twice, researchers report June 6 in Nature. Genetic data suggest Botai hunter-gatherers in Central Asia may have been the first to domesticate the animals for milk and meat around 5,000 years ago. That attempt didn't stick. But other people living north of the Caucasian Mountains domesticated horses for transportation about 4,200 years ago, the researchers found.
Those latter horses took the equine world by storm. In just a few centuries, they replaced their wild cousins and became the modern domestic horse...
ancient people from southwest Asia known as the Yamnaya have been credited with being the first horseback riders...
The Yamnaya were pioneers who hitched up cattle-drawn carts and left increasingly dry grasslands about 5,000 years ago to make new homes in Europe and Asia. Along the way, they helped build major Bronze Age cultures in Europe... They spread Indo-European languages and left a genetic legacy for modern people that includes increased risk of multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease...
The researchers examined DNA from 475 ancient horses that lived as far back as 50,000 years ago and 77 modern horses. Combining that genetic analysis with carbon dating and archaeological data, the team established a timeline for horse domestication...
Some researchers say the finding ignores earlier evidence of horsemanship and attempts at domestication. And, says archaeologist Volker Heyd of the University of Helsinki, the Yamnaya would have needed horses in order to spread so quickly...
The only living relatives of Botai horses are wild Przewalski's horses, six of which were included in the genetic analysis of modern animals.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
Archaeologists have discovered evidence for the earliest cattle herds in northern Europe, at the site of Swifterbant in the Netherlands. Using a combination of zoological, botanical, and biochemical methods, they investigated the emergence of farming in northern Europe and found that, not only are these the earliest known domestic cattle, they were also managed in very specific ways.
Agriculture spread through central Europe around 7,000 years ago with the migration of the people of the Linear Pottery culture. North of this region, however, the indigenous inhabitants of what are now the Netherlands, northern Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain continued to live as hunter-gatherers; how and when they adopted farming remains a matter of much debate...
"Until now, the earliest clear evidence placed it around 4000 BC. Older dates were contentious," says lead author of the publication, Dr. Nathalie Brusgaard, now at Leiden University. "In particular, the question of when animals went from being hunted to being kept as livestock remained difficult to pinpoint."
"We discovered that by 4240 BC, the relationship between humans, animals, and plants had clearly changed. Cattle, sheep, and pigs were by then being kept alongside crop farming," states Dr. Brusgaard. "What is more, these early farmers had different herds of cattle that were fed and herded in different ways."
The researchers uncovered this through stable isotope analysis, a biochemical method that gives insight into the diet of ancient individuals. By looking at the diet of the cattle, they found that these animals could be separated into two different groups based on what they ate. One herd had grazed in forests, while the other had been pastured either on manured fields or in the salt marshes.Earliest cattle herds in northern Europe found in the Netherlands | Antiquity | via Phys.org | June 4, 2024
This formerly go-to source for articles croaked out in March after a shortlived transformation under another hand.
https://www.archaeologica.org/news
These four stories came from the latest Archaeology mag page.
Blood sausages and yak milk: Bronze Age cuisine of Mongolian nomads unveiled
https://www.unibas.ch/en/News-Events/News/Uni-Research/Bronze-Age-cuisine-of-Mongolian-nomads.html
A blue painted shrine is the latest discovery in Pompeii ‘treasure chest’
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/04/science/blue-sacrarium-pompeii-excavation-scli-intl-scn/index.html
The other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, alpha:
The rest of the 'animalhusbandry' and a handful of related keywords, sorted, duplicates out:
Hmmmm...that’s not what it said in Clan of the Cave Bear...
;]
The Yamnaya were the original Riders of Rohan!
I’ve had bad experiences when milking a cow.
I can’t imagine trying to milk a horse!
“But other people living north of the CAUCASIAN Mountains domesticated horses for transportation about 4,200 years ago”
Yet ANOTHER major achievement, by the White Man.
Yamnaya were some of the first people to have lactose tolerance into adulthood. It's how they were able to spread so fast, they were able to consume dairy which of course included horses’ milk.
They were at least a head or two heads taller than everyone they met on their way to E Europe and terrified the people there. Also, they arrived on horseback, which was something entirely unseen to that point and was also frightening.
They were semi nomadic and where they built structures ... each ‘long house’ was connected to the next, each had its own well and each dwelling had a forge where bronze weapons and implements were routinely forged. Amazing!
Great information is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d48bhkOiEuA
and ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzmwCZlobio
His name is Tom Rowsall (sp?) and woke jerks hate him
The Mongols rode mares. This enabled them to cross long distances quickly since the horses could convert grass to milk to feed their riders.
Horses also evolved in North America; however, they were too small and delicate for domestication. The earliest horses had five-toed feet!
(That is, had there been humans around back then to domesticate them).
It took Spanish ships to introduce horses back to the New World.
I can’t imagine trying to milk a horse!"
I did both as part of my chores when I was a kid. Goats, too, for that matter. When we sold off a foal before the mare had weaned it, I had to milk her as long as she kept filling her udders.
I remember the Lefties laughing about Bush43 trying to milk a horse. I didn't find it all all humorous and was stunned that they were publicly announcing their equine ignorance and no one was calling them on it.
Some anthropologists believe the success of the Mongol Hordes stemmed in part from the fact that they had (what then was) a rare genetic mutation that made them lactose tolerant. So when they went on the warpath, they rode mostly broodmares and their ability to digest the milk produced by their warhorses dramatically lightened their supply trains, which increased the speed of their advances.
Some also believe that the western world's higher levels of lactose tolerance is a reflection of the success of the Mongol invaders. Those who consume dairy tended to live longer, which meant that once introduced into a population, the tolerance gene tended to spread quickly.
In his narrative of the Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar wrote that the barbarians ate cheese and drank milk, but the Asian water buffalo, the milk from which is the key ingredient in "bufala mozzarella" cheese, didn't get to Italy for at least another 3-4 centuries (and maybe as many as 10), which apparently was enough time for lactose tolerance to be widespread among the Italians.
The Clan never did succeed in domesticating bears, so, what do they know? ;^)
[snip] The Yamnaya... spread Indo-European languages and left a genetic legacy for modern people that includes increased risk of multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease... [/snip]
I grew up on a farm with work horses. Never milked a broodmare. What was the purpose? We have to dry off the cattle so they will go in heat and be bred. Is that why you milked the mares?
Yup, the ancestors of the horse originated in what is now the Americas, about 55 million years ago, and the eventual Equus species spread into Eurasia and Africa beginning at least a million years ago.
https://awionline.org/content/wild-horses-native-north-american-wildlife
Although the Mongols consume milk, it appears that they lack the lactose tolerant gene.
A lot of people in India drink milk although only a minority have the lactose tolerant gene (the same mutation as found in Europe--the people who brought the Indo-European languages to India came from Eastern Europe). When milk is made into cheese or yogurt the lactose is reduced so it is less of a problem for people who are lactose intolerant.
I thought the indians ate the horses in North America until the Spanish showed up.
Certainly possible. Horses and megaverterbrates disappeared about the same time.
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