Herding Horses
No one knows exactly when people began raising, harnessing, or riding horses, but evidence from archaeology and ancient art shows that all of these skills were well developed by 1500 B.C.E.
Perhaps some of the first humans to breed and herd horses were the Botai people of Central Asia. At the ancient Botai site of Krasnyi Yar, in Kazakhstan, archaeologists find evidence that these villagers began raising domestic horses for meat by around 3500 B.C.E.
The people here grew no crops—the number of butchered bones left behind indicates that horses were the mainstay of the local diet. But to sustain their village’s large population, these people had to rely on herding, not just hunting.
Fenced-in areas appear to have acted as corrals for horses, which were raised for milk as well as meat. Even horse manure came in handy as roof insulation. Leather-crafting tools left behind indicate that villagers likely made rawhide into bridles, whips, and lassos.
However, it wasn’t until around 2000 B.C. E. that the people living in Kazakhstan and eastern Russia began putting horses to work pulling chariots. And horseback riding didn’t become common until around 1500 B.C. E., when the people of Afghanistan and Iran appear to have taken up the sport.
