Domestication of horses, cattle, fowl and other animals are landmarks in the history of mankind. New evidence has arisen regarding the earliest known proof of humans domesticating horses:
By domesticating horses, humans created the first form of land transportation, vastly expanded the region within which goods could be traded and wars waged, and spread culture over huge swathes of land.
Outram and colleagues have now found the world's first "horse farms", in Kasakhstan's ancient Botai settlements. The sites date back to 3500 BC, pushing back the domestication of horses by 1000 years.
...bits and bridles leave distinct deep, parallel wear lines on the animals' teeth. The wearing can take away the enamel and dig into the dentine, and appears only on the pre-molars, in places where wild horses show no sign of wear and tear...
The Botai, whose ancestors hunted wild horses, probably also kept the animals for food. Cattle cannot graze under snow and would not have survived the steppe's harsh winters. There is also no archaeological evidence of agriculture, making it unlikely that the horses were used to till fields.
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