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Tracing horseback riding and transport in the human skeleton
Abstract
Among the most widely used methods for understanding human-horse relationships in the archaeological record is the identification of human skeletal pathologies associated with mounted horseback riding. In particular, archaeologists encountering specific bony changes to the hip, femur, and lower back often assert a causal link between these features and prolonged periods of mounted horseback riding. The identification of these features have recently been used to assert the early practice of mounted horseback riding among the Yamnaya culture of western Eurasia during the third and fourth millennium BCE. Here, we summarize the methodological hurdles and analytical risks of using this approach in the absence of valid comparative datasets and outline best practices for using human osteological data in the study of ancient animal transport.
Horses revolutionized human history with fast mobility¹. However, the timeline between their domestication and their widespread integration as a means of transport remains contentious2–4. Here we assemble a collection of 475 ancient horse genomes to assess the period when these animals were first reshaped by human agency in Eurasia. We find that reproductive control of the modern domestic lineage emerged around 2200 bce, through close-kin mating and shortened generation times. Reproductive control emerged following a severe domestication bottleneck starting no earlier than approximately 2700 bce, and coincided with a sudden expansion across Eurasia that ultimately resulted in the replacement of nearly every local horse lineage. This expansion marked the rise of widespread horse-based mobility in human history, which refutes the commonly held narrative of large horse herds accompanying the massive migration of steppe peoples across Europe around 3000 bce and earlier3,5. Finally, we detect significantly shortened generation times at Botai around 3500 bce, a settlement from central Asia associated with corrals and a subsistence economy centred on horses6,7. This supports local horse husbandry before the rise of modern domestic bloodlines.
The origins of horseback riding remain elusive. Scientific studies show that horses were kept for their milk ~3500 to 3000 BCE, widely accepted as indicating domestication. However, this does not confirm them to be ridden. Equipment used by early riders is rarely preserved, and the reliability of equine dental and mandibular pathologies remains contested. However, horsemanship has two interacting components: the horse as mount and the human as rider. Alterations associated with riding in human skeletons therefore possibly provide the best source of information. Here, we report five Yamnaya individuals well-dated to 3021 to 2501 calibrated BCE from kurgans in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, displaying changes in bone morphology and distinct pathologies associated with horseback riding. These are the oldest humans identified as riders so far.
The regular and intense practice of a specific physical activity may lead to the development of pathological and non-pathological changes on the human skeleton. This applies, for instance, to horse riding, a determinant activity in human history, the archaeological identification of which can shed light on the lifestyles of past populations. This chapter begins by introducing why researchers might be interested in investigating horse riding practices in order to gain a better understanding of past societies. It goes on to address some aspects of anatomy and sports medicine concerning modern riders, and present different approaches used in biological anthropology and bioarchaeology to analyse the influence of horse riding on the skeleton, with a specific focus on the lower limb bones and recent studies. The chapter also includes a discussion on the main methodological limitations of this research question and provides elements of consideration for the reliable identification of skeletal changes related to the practice of horse riding.
Musculoskeletal stress markers allow the reconstruction of occupational and habitual activity patterns in historical populations. The so-called horse-riding syndrome summarizes several musculoskeletal markers which are commonly interpreted as indicators of habitual horse riding. The individual symptoms of the horse-riding syndrome, however, are still critically discussed. The skeletal remains of mounted warriors are especially suited for the analysis of skeletal markers commonly associated with a life on horseback. According to historical sources, early medieval Avar warriors were highly skilled in mounted archery and other types of mounted combat. An “equestrian lifestyle”, with many hours per day spent on horseback, was presumably a precondition for this. Hence, the historical and archaeological context of the human osteological material examined in this study is a particular asset for analyzing the so-called “horse-riding syndrome”. The aim of this study is to contribute to methodological research on the “horse-riding syndrome”, by testing possible associations between different characteristics of this syndrome within the adult population of the Avar cemetery Csokorgasse (7th-8th century AD) from Vienna, Eastern Austria. 149 Avar adult individuals (72 females and 77 males) were included in the study. Poirier´s facets, cribiform changes, plaque, as well as five qualitative traits of the Os coxae and the lower limb bones, the index of ovalization of the acetabulum (IOA), and the entheses robusticity score (ERS) were determined. Males and females differed significantly in the prevalence of Poirier´s facets, cribriform changes, and gluteal entheses. Furthermore, males showed significantly higher IOAs and ERS than females. Significantly positive associations between quantitative and qualitative traits of the horse-riding syndrome could be documented. Poirier´s facets, pronounced gluteal entheses, the index of ovalization of the acetabulum (IOA), and the entheses robusticity score were significantly related independent of sex and age. From the results of the present study we can conclude, that the association patterns between three major characteristics of the “horse-riding syndrome”, i.e. “Poiriers Facet” on the proximal femur, ovalization (vertical elongation) of the acetabulum, and pronounced entheses on the bony pelvis and the lower limb bones – typical markers of the “horse-riding syndrome” - may indeed be a valid set of traits for detecting habitual horse riders in archaeological contexts.
Horses have had a singular impact on human societies. Beyond increasing interconnectivity and revolutionizing warfare, reconfigurations of human-horse relationships coincide with changes in sociopolitical formations. How this occurs is less well understood. This article proposes that relationships of equestrianism transform people and horses reciprocally, generating new possibilities for both species. Focusing here on human benefits, equestrianism affords differential and increased mobility, access, and experience for people, which translate horse power into human power. This has particular consequences for how political authority is
negotiated. I use the tell societies of Bronze Age Hungary (ca. 2300/2200–1600/1500 BC) to model how horses were harnessed in resistance to centralized rule and social inequality as much as they were used to assert power. This interpretation challenges traditional grand narratives for the European Bronze Age, which see male elite warriors driving chariots, desirous of bronze, and instituting hierarchical, complex societies. Rather, ordinary women and men riding horses built these long-lived communities and were variously able to resist chiefly authority because of the power offered by horses. The theory starts disentangling mechanisms between local equestrianism and long-term historical changes.
Archaeological and archaeogenetic evidence points to the Pontic–Caspian steppe zone between the Caucasus and the Black Sea as the crucible from which the earliest steppe pastoralist societies arose and spread, ultimately influencing populations from Europe to Inner Asia. However, little is known about their economic foundations and the factors that may have contributed to their extensive mobility. Here, we investigate dietary proteins within the dental calculus proteomes of 45 individuals spanning the Neolithic to Greco-Roman periods in the Pontic–Caspian Steppe and neighbouring South Caucasus, Oka–Volga–Don and East Urals regions. We find that sheep dairying accompanies the earliest forms of Eneolithic pastoralism in the North Caucasus. During the fourth millennium bc , Maykop and early Yamnaya populations also focused dairying exclusively on sheep while reserving cattle for traction and other purposes. We observe a breakdown in livestock specialization and an economic diversification of dairy herds coinciding with aridification during the subsequent late Yamnaya and North Caucasus Culture phases, followed by severe climate deterioration during the Catacomb and Lola periods. The need for additional pastures to support these herds may have driven the heightened mobility of the Middle and Late Bronze Age periods. Following a hiatus of more than 500 years, the North Caucasian steppe was repopulated by Early Iron Age societies with a broad mobile dairy economy, including a new focus on horse milking.
Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare¹. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling2–4 at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc³. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia⁵ and Anatolia⁶, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 bc, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled chariots. We find that equestrianism involved strong selection for critical locomotor and behavioural adaptations at the GSDMC and ZFPM1 genes. Our results reject the commonly held association⁷ between horseback riding and the massive expansion of Yamnaya steppe pastoralists into Europe around 3000 bc8,9 driving the spread of Indo-European languages¹⁰. This contrasts with the scenario in Asia where Indo-Iranian languages, chariots and horses spread together, following the early second millennium bc Sintashta culture11,12.
Across Eurasia, horse transport transformed ancient societies. Although evidence for chariotry is well dated, the origins of horse riding are less clear. Techniques to distinguish chariotry from riding in archaeological samples rely on elements not typically recovered from many steppe contexts. Here, the authors examine horse remains of Mongolia's Deer Stone-Khirigsuur (DSK) Complex, comparing them with ancient and modern East Asian horses used for both types of transport. DSK horses demonstrate unique dentition damage that could result from steppe chariotry, but may also indicate riding with a shallow rein angle at a fast gait. A key role for chariots in Late Bronze Age Mongolia helps explain the trajectory of horse use in early East Asia.
During the Early Bronze Age, populations of the western Eurasian steppe expanded across an immense area of northern Eurasia. Combined archaeological and genetic evidence supports widespread Early Bronze Age population movements out of the Pontic–Caspian steppe that resulted in gene flow across vast distances, linking populations of Yamnaya pastoralists in Scandinavia with pastoral populations (known as the Afanasievo) far to the east in the Altai Mountains1,2 and Mongolia3. Although some models hold that this expansion was the outcome of a newly mobile pastoral economy characterized by horse traction, bulk wagon transport4–6 and regular dietary dependence on meat and milk5, hard evidence for these economic features has not been found. Here we draw on proteomic analysis of dental calculus from individuals from the western Eurasian steppe to demonstrate a major transition in dairying at the start of the Bronze Age. The rapid onset of ubiquitous dairying at a point in time when steppe populations are known to have begun dispersing offers critical insight into a key catalyst of steppe mobility. The identification of horse milk proteins also indicates horse domestication by the Early Bronze Age, which provides support for its role in steppe dispersals. Our results point to a potential epicentre for horse domestication in the Pontic–Caspian steppe by the third millennium bc, and offer strong support for the notion that the novel exploitation of secondary animal products was a key driver of the expansions of Eurasian steppe pastoralists by the Early Bronze Age. Analysis of ancient proteins suggests that Early Bronze Age dairying and horse domestication catalysed eastern Yamnaya migrations.
Despite its transformative impact on human history, the early domestication of the horse (Equus caballus) remains exceedingly difficult to trace in the archaeological record. In recent years, a scientific consensus emerged linking the Botai culture of northern Kazakhstan with the first domestication of horses, based on compelling but largely indirect archaeological evidence. A cornerstone of the archaeological case for domestication at Botai is damage to the dentition commonly linked with the use of bridle mouthpieces, or “bit wear.” Recent archaeogenetic analyses reveal, however, that horse remains from Botai are not modern domesticates but instead the Przewalski’s horse, E. przewalskii—warranting reevaluation of evidence for domestication. Here, we compare osteological traits hypothesized to have been caused by horse transport at Botai with wild Pleistocene equids in North America. Our results suggest that damage observed in Botai horse teeth is likely generated by natural disturbances in dental development and wear, rather than through contact with bridle equipment. In light of a careful reconsideration of the mid-Holocene archaeological record of northern Eurasia, we suggest that archaeological materials from Botai are most effectively explained through the regularized mass harvesting of wild Przewalski’s’ horses—meaning that the origins of horse domestication may lie elsewhere.
The Eastern Eurasian Steppe was home to historic empires of nomadic pastoralists, including the Xiongnu and the Mongols. However, little is known about the region’s population history. Here, we reveal its dynamic genetic history by analyzing new genome-wide data for 214 ancient individuals spanning 6,000 years. We identify a pastoralist expansion into Mongolia ca. 3000 BCE, and by the Late Bronze Age, Mongolian populations were biogeographically structured into three distinct groups, all practicing dairy pastoralism regardless of ancestry. The Xiongnu emerged from the mixing of these populations and those from surrounding regions. By comparison, the Mongols exhibit much higher eastern Eurasian ancestry, resembling present-day Mongolic-speaking populations. Our results illuminate the complex interplay between genetic, sociopolitical, and cultural changes on the Eastern Steppe.
The Szeklers are a biologically and archaeologically understudied Hungarian cultural group who have occupied the Carpathian Basin since at least A.D. 1000. For most of their history, they were an autonomous group given special nontaxed status in exchange for their service to the Kingdom of Hungary as cavalrymen and defenders of the eastern front. Excavation of a church in Harghita County, Romania, has uncovered the remains of two adult males in a brick‐lined crypt beneath the pulpit of the church. The partial name ‘FERE’ was preserved in nails on the coffin lid of one of the interments. The Ferenczy family was the noble family for the area. Macroscopic observation of the skeletal remains showed several non‐normal skeletal characteristics. As a suite of traits, the characteristics suggest long‐term and frequent horseback riding per the clinical and archaeological literature. Skeletal indicators of horsemanship combined with the known responsibilities of Szekler noblemen support an interpretation of horse riding behaviour. This case study is important because it contributes to the growing understanding about skeletal modifications related to horseback riding and adds to the limited biological and archaeological literature regarding Szekler individuals.
In Eastern Europe, the use of light vehicles with spoked wheels and harnessed horse teams is first evidenced in the early second-millennium BC Sintashta-Petrovka Culture in the South-eastern Ural Mountains. Using Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates from the kurgan cemetery of Kamennyj Ambar-5, combined with artefactual and stratigraphic analyses, this article demonstrates that these early European chariots date to no later than the first proto-chariots of the ancient Near East. This result suggests the earlier emergence of chariots on the Eurasian Steppe than previously thought and contributes to wider debates on the geography and chronology of technological innovations.
This paper gives a state of the art report of an ongoing interdisciplinary project on bioarchaeological research on cemeteries in the Upper Orkhon valley, Central Mongolia, in particular at the Maikhan Tolgoi site. The archaeological focus is on the investigation of the development, use and transformation of a ritual landscape in the course of the Bronze and Iron Age. The contribution of physical anthropology is an osteological and archaeometric analysis of the human inhumations with regard to life-style and subsistence economy. A specific topic relates to the emergence of the first mounted nomads in the region. Macro- and microscopical inspection of the skeletons excavated to date reveal that males, females and children had been buried at this exceptional cemetery, and that many of the adults died at a conspicuously advanced age. Palaeodiet was reconstructed by stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen, followed by an isotopic sourcing. We show that freshwater fish was consumed on a regular basis, and that the demands of protein and carbohydrate were largely covered by secondary animal products. First analysis of stable strontium and oxygen isotopes in bone apatite suggests a considerable catchment area of the burial site.
Horse riding is a human activity that has particularly interested bioanthropologists and paleopathologists working on the reconstruction of activities from skeletal changes in ancient populations. However, various sample and methodological limitations, such as the absence of direct evidence connecting the individuals and the activity, result in a lack of confidence regarding what changes should be included in the so‐called “Horse Riding Syndrome”. Focusing on the ovalization of the acetabulum, regularly mentioned in literature, we analyzed comparative samples of presumed riders and non‐riders to evaluate its reliability for the identification of horse riding.
We relied on a Hungarian Conquest period collection (10th century CE), including several individuals associated with horse riding equipment or horse bones in the graves. Direct and easily repeatable measurements were used to calculate an index of ovalization of the acetabulum (IOA). The index values were compared according to the presence or absence of archaeological deposit. An extra‐group of presumed non‐riders from the documented Luís Lopes Skeletal Collection (Lisbon) was used for comparison.
Early Hungarians buried with horse‐related grave goods exhibited a higher overall IOA compared to the ones without, and those known not to ride (p = 0.049 in the latter case, with left and right values combined).
Our results suggest that the ovalization of the acetabulum may indeed be a promising indicator to be included in a set of markers for horse riding. The analysis of further different types of pathological and non‐pathological skeletal changes (e.g. joint and entheseal changes) will contribute to a more reliable identification of horse riders in anthropological collections.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-78828-9_4
In this chapter we employ a multidisciplinary approach to the study of Iron Age Samnite ‘warrior burials’ from central Italy. Building upon previous studies, which suggested that high humeral asymmetry in mechanical strength can be used as a proxy for weapon training from adolescence, we analysed the degree and laterality of asymmetry in 216 male burials, as well as the typology and layout of weapons in 153 burials from the overall sample. The relationship between martial paraphernalia in graves and the participation of the deceased in martial activities, as inferred from biomechanical analysis, has provided valuable insights into the military practices of Iron Age communities and their social significance. The research has revealed that the weapons may have been placed in the graves of individuals that did not undertake intensive military training during their lives. This suggests that they may have been used to signal social affiliation in funerals rather than actual participation of the deceased in martial practices. However, the presence and distribution of ‘prestige weapons’ in the burial sample seems to indicate a highly ‘war prowess-oriented’ society, in which status and wealth were acquired through the practice and display of fighting skills. Furthermore, the scarcity of highly asymmetric, left-handed individuals from the sample suggests that training of the right arm was systematically favoured. This is an extremely interesting result, which suggests that early Samnite armies may not have consisted of loose ranks as previously believed.
Ancient steppes for human equestrians
The Eurasian steppes reach from the Ukraine in Europe to Mongolia and China. Over the past 5000 years, these flat grasslands were thought to be the route for the ebb and flow of migrant humans, their horses, and their languages. de Barros Damgaard et al. probed whole-genome sequences from the remains of 74 individuals found across this region. Although there is evidence for migration into Europe from the steppes, the details of human movements are complex and involve independent acquisitions of horse cultures. Furthermore, it appears that the Indo-European Hittite language derived from Anatolia, not the steppes. The steppe people seem not to have penetrated South Asia. Genetic evidence indicates an independent history involving western Eurasian admixture into ancient South Asian peoples.
Science , this issue p. eaar7711
Revisiting the origins of modern horses
The domestication of horses was very important in the history of humankind. However, the ancestry of modern horses and the location and timing of their emergence remain unclear. Gaunitz et al. generated 42 ancient-horse genomes. Their source samples included the Botai archaeological site in Central Asia, considered to include the earliest domesticated horses. Unexpectedly, Botai horses were the ancestors not of modern domestic horses, but rather of modern Przewalski's horses. Thus, in contrast to current thinking on horse domestication, modern horses may have been domesticated in other, more Western, centers of origin.
Science , this issue p. 111
Innovation is the social act of appropriating new practices or techniques into an existing life. During the late 4th millennium BC, the populations of the North Caucasus and the neighbouring steppe adopted animal traction and vehicles into their lifescapes. The representation of this innovation,
however, suggests different intellectual discourses in the appropriation process. The Maikop communities selected the powerful driving force – cattle teams – for their burial representations, whereas the steppe communities chose to highlight the means of transportation – wagons. While the one emphasised a new form of extended labour and neglected the objects of traction, the other highlighted the new means of transportation and mobility, disregarding the ‘engines’ in the process. This article discusses the different
ways the same innovation can be appropriated in different communities and draws upon bioarchaeological studies to question the practical relevance of these innovations for the everyday life of the adopting societies.
Background:
Little research has examined the rates and patterns of hip flexor or hip adductor strains in student-athletes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Purpose:
To describe the epidemiology of hip flexor and adductor strains in NCAA athletes during the 2009/2010-2014/2015 academic years.
Study design:
Descriptive epidemiology study.
Methods:
Rates and patterns of hip flexor and adductor strains in collegiate sports were examined in a convenience sample of NCAA varsity teams from 25 sports. Rates and distributions of strains by mechanism, recurrence, and participation restriction time were examined. Injury rate ratios (IRRs) and proportion ratios were calculated to compare rates within and between sports by event type, sex, mechanism, recurrence, and participation restriction time.
Results:
A total of 770 hip flexor and 621 hip adductor strains were reported, resulting in overall injury rates of 1.60 and 1.29 per 10,000 athlete-exposures (AEs), respectively. In men, the rate of hip flexor strains was 1.81 per 10,000 AEs, and that for hip adductor strains was 1.71 per 10,000 AEs. In women, the rate of hip flexor strains was 1.59 per 10,000 AEs, and the rate of hip adductor strains was 1.15 per 10,000 AEs. The highest rates of strains were found in men's soccer and men's ice hockey (range, 2.47-3.77 per 10,000 AEs). Most hip flexor and hip adductor strains occurred in practice, but both had higher rates in competition. In sex-comparable sports, hip flexor strain rates did not differ between the sexes (IRR = 1.14; 95% CI, 0.96-1.36), but the rate of hip adductor strains was higher in men than women (IRR = 1.49; 95% CI, 1.22-1.81). Noncontact was the most common mechanism for both types of strains (hip flexor strains, 59.4%; hip adductor strains, 62.5%); 10.1% of hip flexor strains and 11.1% of hip adductor strains were recurrent. The highest rates of recurrence of both types of strain were found in men's and women's ice hockey (range, 16.0%-30.6%). Most hip flexor and hip adductor strains resulted in <1 week of participation restriction (hip flexor strains, 83.8%; hip adductor strains, 82.9%).
Conclusion:
The NCAA sports with the highest rates of hip flexor and hip adductor strains were men's soccer and men's ice hockey. In sex-comparable sports, men had a higher rate of hip adductor, but not hip flexor, strains. Recurrence rates were remarkably high in ice hockey. Male sports teams, especially soccer and ice hockey, should place an emphasis on prevention programs for hip adductor strains. Secondary prevention programs involving thorough rehabilitation and strict return-to-play criteria should be developed and implemented to curb the high recurrence rate of these injuries, particularly in ice hockey.
Archaeozoological remains provide a key dataset for understanding horse control in Mongolia's Deer Stone-Khirigsuur (DSK) Complex, a late Bronze Age culture dating to circa 1300-700 BC. Although no horse tack has been recovered from DSK contexts, archaeological finds from nearby areas of East and Central Asia suggest that a bridle with a noseband, soft organic bit, and rigid cheekpieces was used by late Bronze Age Mongolian herders. Osteological data from a sample of 25 ritually interred horse crania corroborate these inferences. Deformation to the bridge of the nose on several archaeological specimens suggests that DSK bridles incorporated a noseband, while limited damage to the premolars or diastema is consistent with organic mouthpiece use. A preliminary comparison between archaeological and contemporary horses ridden with known bridle equipment implies that osteological changes to the lateral margin of the premaxilla, present in the DSK sample, might have been produced by a rigid cheekpiece. This study highlights the promise of combining multiple lines of skeletal evidence with other archaeological data to reconstruct ancient equine bridles and tack.
The symbolism of the horse in Eneolithic society is explored in this paper. Recent excavations in the Eurasian steppes demonstrate the importance of horses before domestication and horse riding became common; showing they were eaten, exploited and revered.
The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000-1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on lactose tolerance than previously thought.
We generated genome-wide data from 69 Europeans who lived between 8,000-3,000
years ago by enriching ancient DNA libraries for a target set of almost four
hundred thousand polymorphisms. Enrichment of these positions decreases the
sequencing required for genome-wide ancient DNA analysis by a median of around
250-fold, allowing us to study an order of magnitude more individuals than
previous studies and to obtain new insights about the past. We show that the
populations of western and far eastern Europe followed opposite trajectories
between 8,000-5,000 years ago. At the beginning of the Neolithic period in
Europe, ~8,000-7,000 years ago, closely related groups of early farmers
appeared in Germany, Hungary, and Spain, different from indigenous
hunter-gatherers, whereas Russia was inhabited by a distinctive population of
hunter-gatherers with high affinity to a ~24,000 year old Siberian6 . By
~6,000-5,000 years ago, a resurgence of hunter-gatherer ancestry had occurred
throughout much of Europe, but in Russia, the Yamnaya steppe herders of this
time were descended not only from the preceding eastern European
hunter-gatherers, but from a population of Near Eastern ancestry. Western and
Eastern Europe came into contact ~4,500 years ago, as the Late Neolithic Corded
Ware people from Germany traced ~3/4 of their ancestry to the Yamnaya,
documenting a massive migration into the heartland of Europe from its eastern
periphery. This steppe ancestry persisted in all sampled central Europeans
until at least ~3,000 years ago, and is ubiquitous in present-day Europeans.
These results provide support for the theory of a steppe origin of at least
some of the Indo-European languages of Europe.
At present, there is no accepted standardised lexicon in English to describe burials and
the position of buried human remains. Terms have tended to vary with the investigator
and rely on loose, but often ill-defined systems of previous use. As a consequence, there
are myriad terms used to describe the same phenomena or, as the case may be, no
single well-defined term to do so. This means that new terms are continually invented –
and sometimes re-invented bearing different nuances – that hinder use of published
work and make comparisons across works difficult. In France for the last 40 years,
Duday, his colleagues and students have published a series of papers employing a standard
burial terminology that, until recently, was only available in French and in French
language publications. Due to limited language competency of English-language scholars
and a desire of French scholars to publish in their own (very precise) native language,
these seminal works have not influenced English-language use. They clearly lead the way
to the development of a standard vocabulary. What follows is a critique of previous
non-standard terminological use and a series of suggestions to remedy this situation.
This contribution’s debt to French language scholarship is clear, but it does not reproduce
a mere translation of terms. Rather, it tries to synthesise French use with Englishlanguage
scholarship. Its weakest point is that it does not integrate terms from other
European languages that also have a long legacy of regional and time-specific application,
nor can it claim to do so in other world languages. This is work for the future. This
treatment concentrates on adult remains, with archaeothantological study of infant and
children’s remains being at only a very anecdotal level to date.
Archaeological excavations were started in 2004 during the Yenikapi station
project which is the most important change centre of Metro railway system
and Marmaray hub passage in the European side. Many antique shipwrecks
have been revealed and the area was confirmed as the Theodosius harbour.
On the 58.000 m2 excavation area many archaeological items and scattered
horse skeletons were recovered. By examining those horse skeletons, their
relation with the Theodosius harbour were studied and questions about the
management conditions and rearing purposes of Byzantine horses were tried
to be answered. It was thought that the Byzantine horses had been used for
riding and loading at Yenikapi, in an attempt to give the presumptive reasons
of pathologies on those skeletons.
En archéologie, la pratique cavalière est abordée à partir de sources iconographiques ou écrites, de vestiges matériels (mors, éperons et étriers), d'ossements de chevaux et, parfois, de vestiges humains. En anthropologie biologique, plusieurs marqueurs osseux de cette pratique (parfois regroupés sous l'intitulé « syndrome du cavalier ») ont été reconnus. Toutefois, l'analyse des marqueurs osseux d'activité (MOA) nécessite le respect de règles méthodologiques strictes qui n'ont pas toujours été suivies dans les études antérieures de la pratique cavalière. L'étude du squelette du jeune sujet [20-39 ans] du site de « La Tuilerie » à Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne), probablement un guerrier de haut rang de l'époque mérovingienne, ouvre de nouvelles pistes de recherche pour distinguer un ensemble fiable des modifications associées à cette pratique. Ce jeune individu présente des lésions et une adaptation osseuse structurelle, l'ovalisation de l'acetabulum, probablement liées à la pratique équestre. Cette étude confirme l'intérêt de mettre en place un protocole d'étude stricte associant l'utilisation conjointe des données archéologiques, anthropologiques et médicales pour distinguer des critères spécifiques de reconnaissance de la pratique cavalière.
IntroductionHistory of Activity StudiesMethodological ConsiderationsProspects for Future ResearchReferences
In 1998, this journal, the International Journal ofOsteoarchaeology, published its second ever specialissue entitled ‘Stress Markers’ (Peterson & Hawkey,1998). That special issue provided the framework forstudy of activity-related stress using, what were thencommonly called, ‘musculoskeletal stress markers ’.The papers in that issue proved seminal: defining astandard recording method (Hawkey & Merbs, 1995;Peterson, 1998; Steen & Lane, 1998), interpretativeapproach and research questions for over a decade. [...]
The papers in this special issue all highlight a variety ofaspects and approaches to the study of EC. There areclear problems relating to methodology and the rela-tionship between EC, occupation and biomechanics.The major conclusions drawn from these papers arethe emphasis on the need for new research directionsthat will, if adopted, improve our understanding ofEC and allow their use for the study of pastpopulations.
Resume. — Depuis les dix dernieres annees, les travaux consacres a la reconstitution d'activites humaines passees par l'observation de lesions mineures observees sur l'os humain ancien ont connu un important developpement. Cependant les principaux ecueils de ce type d'approche doivent etre bien connus et d'importantes restrictions methodologiques doivent a present etre faites pour conserver a ce domaine de recherche toute sa credibilite.
Horses and chariots played a crucial social, cultural and military role in the emergence and development of early states in China. Little research, however, has explored the life histories of individual chariot horses or assessed their role as working animals. Here, the authors present a detailed zooarchaeological and palaeopathological study of eight adult male horses, used for pulling chariots, recovered from a single chariot-horse pit at the burial site of Shijia in north-western China. The characterisation of key osteological differences between chariot horses and ridden horses is offered as a contribution to the toolkit available for the archaeological investigation of human-horse interactions around the globe.
Significance
This study provides insights into the emergence and adoption of equestrian technologies in China. Analysis of ancient horse bones from Shirenzigou and Xigou in eastern Xinjiang demonstrates that pastoralists along China’s northwest frontier practiced horseback riding and mounted archery by the fourth century BCE. This region may have played a key role in the initial spread of equestrian technologies from the Altai region into the heartland of China’s early settled states, where they eventually facilitated the rise of the first united empires in China and triggered extensive social, political, and economic exchanges between China and its neighbors on the Eurasian Steppes.
Akin to approaches encouraged by Verano (1997) in the Andes, and Ortner (2011, 2012) for general paleopathological studies, this article focuses on accurate descriptions and definitions of osteoarthritis, entheses, and long bone cross-sectional geometry. By evaluating these conditions as part of biological responses to abnormal skeletal changes and biomechanical stress, the pathogenesis of each condition is discussed. Further, this article emphasizes a "small data" approach to evaluating these conditions in ancient culturally and biologically related human populations, where the study samples must have good skeletal preservation, where estimates of age and sex need to be included as major factors, and where abnormalities need to be described and evaluated. This article also discusses global clinical and osteological research on ways scholars are currently trying to establish industry-wide methods to evaluate osteoarthritis, entheses, and long bone cross-sectional geometry. Recent studies have focused on rigorous evaluation of methodological techniques, recording protocols, and inter-and intra-observer error problems. Additionally, scholars have focused on physical intensity of movement using biomechanics, evaluated burials of known occupation, and used complex statistical methods to help interpret skeletal changes associated with these conditions. This article also narrows to focus on these conditions within "small data" areas throughout the Andes. Finally, this research concludes with describing future directions to understand skeletal changes, such as more multidisciplinary studies between osteologists and pathologists, working with living people to collect CT, x-rays, or computer-aided motion capture, and a stronger focus on how these conditions correlate with intense biomechanical changes in younger individuals.
The present study analysed macromorphological characteristics of the muscle attachment sites of lower limbs, hypothesising that everyday physical activities influence the macromorphology of the bone at the entheses. Our specific goals were to investigate how different habitual activities influence the morphology of the muscle attachment sites of lower limbs in two different medieval populations from Serbia: agricultural vs horse‐riding populations.
The skeletal material used in this study comprised two different populations: a Medieval Avarian population of horse riders from two necropolises (Pionirska Ulica and Čik, in Bečeј); and an agricultural population represented by two sites – Medieval Vinča near Belgrade, and Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica), site No85.
The macromorphological analysis of the entheseal changes (ECs) encompassed 10 entheses of the lower limbs. Morphological appearance of entheses was evaluated using the visual reference system proposed by Villotte.
The results revealed an age dependence in one muscle of the lower limbs (m. gluteus maximus) among the agricultural population, suggested by more pronounced ECs in the older age categories. Among the Avarian population, more pronounced EC scores were recorded in the older age groups for the attachment site of m. soleus, while in the case of the iliopsoas muscle, ECs were more common in younger ages. The results revealed more pronounced EC scores in males in both populations. Between the riders and agricultural populations, results indicated that only the adductor muscles which are specific for horse riders were singled out, showing a more pronounced ECs in the horse riders’ population.
Results of our study showed that the level of physical activity mostly increased with age. In both investigated populations EC scores were more pronounced in males comparing to females. Moreover, we noted that the evaluation of entheses of adductor muscles could provide the most reliable criteria for the identification of riders among the general population.
The study of ante-mortem trauma is a popular and important aspect of palaeopathological analysis. The majority of publications focus on a particular assemblage, skeletal element or type of fracture, with case studies of single individuals with multiple/unusual traumata being much rarer in the literature. This paper presents the case of an adult male from the Bronze Age site of Sharakhalsun, Russia, buried, uniquely, in a sitting position on a fully assembled wagon, who displayed evidence for multiple healed ante-mortem fractures of the cranium, axial and appendicular skeleton. The mechanisms and likely etiologies of the fractures are presented, with reference to modern and 19th century clinical literature, and possible interpretations suggested: that the individual was involved in a severe accident involving a wagon or draft animals, or both, a number of years before his death. The suggestion is also made that the unique burial position of the individual was a form of commemoration by the community of the survival and recovery of the individual from such a serious incident.
This article presents a consensus terminology for entheseal changes that was developed in English by an international team of scholars and then translated into French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and German. Use of a standard, neutral terminology to describe entheseal morphology will reduce misunderstandings between researchers, improve the reliability of comparisons between studies, and eliminate unwarranted etiological assumptions inherent in some of the descriptive terms presently used in the literature.
This book provides an overview of Bronze Age societies of Western Eurasia through an investigation of the archaeological record. Philip L. Kohl outlines the long-term processes and patterns of interaction that link these groups together in a shared historical trajectory of development. Interactions took the form of the exchange of raw materials and finished goods, the spread and sharing of technologies, and the movements of peoples from one region to another. Kohl reconstructs economic activities from subsistence practices to the production and exchange of metals and other materials. He also examines long-term processes, such as the development of more mobile forms of animal husbandry, which were based on the introduction and large-scale utilization of oxen-drive wheeled wagons and, subsequently, the domestication and riding of horses; the spread of metalworking technologies and exploitation of new centers of metallurgical production; changes in systems of exchange from those dominated by the movement of luxury goods to those in which materials essential for maintaining and securing the reproduction of the societies participating in the exchange network accompanied and/or supplanted the trade in precious materials; and increasing evidence for militarism and political instabilities as reflected in shifts in settlement patterns, including increases in fortified sites, and quantitative and qualitative advances in weaponry. Kohl also argues forcefully that the main task of the archaeologist should be to write culture-history on a spatially and temporally grand scale in an effort to detect large, macrohistorical processes of interaction and shared development.
Roughly half the world's population speaks languages derived from a shared linguistic source known as Proto-Indo-European. But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe? Until now their identity has remained a tantalizing mystery to linguists, archaeologists, and even Nazis seeking the roots of the Aryan race.The Horse, the Wheel, and Languagelifts the veil that has long shrouded these original Indo-European speakers, and reveals how their domestication of horses and use of the wheel spread language and transformed civilization. David Anthony identifies the prehistoric peoples of central Eurasia's steppe grasslands as the original speakers of Proto-Indo-European, and shows how their innovative use of the ox wagon, horseback riding, and the warrior's chariot turned the Eurasian steppes into a thriving transcontinental corridor of communication, commerce, and cultural exchange. He explains how they spread their traditions and gave rise to important advances in copper mining, warfare, and patron-client political institutions, thereby ushering in an era of vibrant social change. Anthony describes his discovery of how the wear from bits on ancient horse teeth reveals the origins of horseback riding. And he introduces a new approach to linking prehistoric archaeological remains with the development of language. The Horse, the Wheel, and Languagesolves a puzzle that has vexed scholars for two centuries--the source of the Indo-European languages and English--and recovers a magnificent and influential civilization from the past.
The horse is ridden by means of the bit, and the bit leaves its trace on the horse's teeth. The beginnings of horse-rising are here identified by defining and detecting microscopic bit wear on equid teeth, using comparative samples from 4 countries and 25 000 yr of prehistory. Scanning electron microscope analysis demonstrates that bit wear is clearly distinguishable from other tooth damage. It first occurs in the Ukraine, USSR, at about 4000 BC. Soon thereafter, mobility became a cultural advantage that transformed Eurasian societies. Horses, not wheels, provided the first significant innovation in human land transport, with an effect comparable in scope to that of the introduction of the steam locomotive or private automobile. Horseback riding contributed to profound changes in trade and trade routes, settlement patterns, warfare and other inter-societal relations, grassland subsistence practices, social organization and political ideology. -from Authors
Skeletal remains of 35 individuals from the Croatian excavation site Kamen Most - Kaldrma from the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries were analyzed anthropologically. Due to specific skeletal characteristics, eight of them were analyzed in great detail in this study. The results of additional analysis indicated that all bone elements, except pelves, of all eight persons belonged to males. All pelvic girdle have characteristics of female sex and pronounced muscle attachments that are both indicative of horse riding. All eight persons had at least two of six changes on femora indicative of horse riding. Vertebrae of seven persons (one person did not have preserved vertebrae) have Schmorl's nodes. Signs of advanced osteoarthritis were found on all joints in all eight persons. All of them also have visible signs of periostitis especially on lower extremities. Pathological signs of trauma were found in five persons. Two of them had skull fractures and the rest had fractures of extremities which are also characteristic for horse riders. The average age of all eight persons was above 45 years at death. DNA analysis confirmed male sex for seven individuals. The results were additionally confirmed by later archeological findings of tombstones with illustrations of horse riders.
The author presents new radiocarbon dates for chariot burials found in the region between Europe and the Urals, showing them to belong to the twentieth-eighteenth centuries BCE. These early dates, which pre-empt the appearance of the war chariot in the Near East, are transforming the ancient history of Eurasia and the early Mediterranean civilisations, pointing to the Volga-Ural area as an important centre of innovation for early Europe.