Alterations in human skeletons associated with horse riding possibly provide the best source of historical information on this fundamental practice for civilization.
An international team of researchers led by the University of Helsinki, Finland, has uncovered the oldest evidence of horsemanship by studying human skeletons found in regions west of the Black Sea. These are the remains of five individuals from the Yamnaya culture dated between 3021 and 2501 BC. C., in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary, showing changes in bone morphology and different pathologies associated with horse riding. These are the oldest humans identified as horsemen so far, communicated The last friday.
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The origins of horsemanship
The origins of horsemanship remain elusive. It is widely accepted that horses were bred for their milk, approximately between 3,500 and 3,000 BC. C. However, regardless of it being an indicator of domestication, this does not confirm that they were used to be ridden.
“Equestrianism appears to have evolved shortly following the putative domestication of horses on the western Eurasian steppes during the fourth millennium BCE. C. It was already quite common in members of the Yamnaya culture between 3000 and 2500 BC. C.”, says Volker Heyd, professor of archeology at the University of Helsinki.
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Riding equipment used by ancient horsemen is rarely preserved, and the reliability of equine dental and jaw pathologies remains in question. However, horsemanship has two interacting components: the horse as mount and the human being as rider. The alterations associated with horsemanship in human skeletons, therefore, possibly provide the best source of information.
The riding traces on the skeletons
The research used a set of six diagnostic criteria established as indicators of equestrian activity (the so-called ‘riding syndrome’). These criteria are related to specific bone changes and trauma that can typically be caused by falls, kicks, or horse bites. The team developed a scoring system that takes into account the diagnostic value, distinctiveness, and reliability of each symptom.
“There are no unique features [en los esqueletos humanos] that indicate a certain occupation or behavior. Only in their combination, as a syndrome, do symptoms provide reliable information to understand habitual activities in the past,” explains Martin Trautmann, a bioanthropologist in Helsinki and lead author of the study. publishedlast Friday, in Science Advances.
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The human remains were found in burial mounds called kurgans, belonging to the Yamnaya culture, which were between 4,500 and 5,000 years old. The Yamnaya were nomadic herders of cattle and sheep and are believed to have migrated from the Pontic-Caspian steppes to find greener pastures in what is now Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia. “The fairly high prevalence of these traits in the skeletal record […]shows that these people rode horses regularly,” says Trautmann.
an intriguing burial
“We have an intriguing burial in the series,” says David Anthony, a professor at Hartwick College, USA, and co-author of the study. «A tomb dated around 4300 B.C. C. in Csongrad-Kettöshalomin, Hungary, long suspected for its pose and artifacts, which might belong to an immigrant from the steppes. He surprisingly displayed four of the six horsemanship pathologies, possibly indicating that he rode a millennium before the Yamnayas,” Anthony said.
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