Archaeologists have found the earliest direct evidence for horseback riding – an innovation that would transform history – in 5,000 year old human skeletons in central Europe.
FILE - This photo taken on Thursday, June 16, 2011 shows four Przewalski's Horses after being released at the Khomiin Tal reservation in Western Mongolia. Archaeologists have identified the earliest direct evidence for horseback riding – an innovation that would transform human history – in 5,000 year old skeletons in central Europe. FILE - This photo taken on Thursday, June 16, 2011 shows four Przewalski's Horses after being released at the Khomiin Tal reservation in Western Mongolia.
WASHINGTON — “When you get on a horse and ride it fast, it’s a thrill – I’m sure ancient humans felt the same way,” said David Anthony, a co-author of the study and Hartwick College archaeologist. “Horseback riding was the fastest a human could go before the railroads.” Researchers analyzed more than 200 Bronze Age skeletal remains in museum collections in Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic to look for signs of what co-author and University of Helsinki anthropologist Martin Trautmann calls “horse rider syndrome” – six tell-tale markers that indicate a person was likely riding an animal, including characteristic wear marks on the hip sockets, thigh bone and pelvis.
“You can read bones like biographies,” said Trautmann, who has previously studied similar wear patterns in skeletons from later periods when horseback riding is well-established in the historical record.The researchers focused on human skeletons — which are more readily preserved than horse bones in burial sites and museums – and identified five likely riders who lived around 4,500 to 5,000 years ago and belonged to a Bronze Age people called the Yamnaya.
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