Domestication of the horse

How and when horses became domesticated has been disputed. Although horses appeared in Paleolithic cave art as early as 30,000 BCE, these were wild horses and were probably hunted for meat. The clearest evidence of early use of the horse as a means of transport is from chariot burials dated c. 2000 BCE. However, an increasing amount of evidence began to support the hypothesis that horses were domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes in approximately 3500 BCE. Discoveries in the context of the Botai culture had suggested that Botai settlements in the Akmola Province of Kazakhstan are the location of the earliest domestication of the horse. Warmouth et al. (2012) pointed to horses having been domesticated around 3000 BC in what is now Ukraine and Western Kazakhstan. Genetic evidence indicates that domestication of the modern horse's ancestors likely occurred in an area known as the Volga–Don, in the Pontic–Caspian steppe region of Western Eurasia, around 2200 BCE. From there, use of horses spread across Eurasia for transportation, agricultural work, and warfare. Scientists have linked the successful spread of domesticated horses to observed genetic changes. They speculate that stronger backs (GSDMC gene) and increased docility (ZFPM1 gene) may have made horses more suitable for riding. The date of the domestication of the horse depends to some degree upon the definition of "domestication". Some zoologists define "domestication" as human control over breeding, which can be detected in ancient skeletal samples by changes in the size and variability of ancient horse populations. Other researchers look at the broader evidence, including skeletal and dental evidence of working activity; weapons, art, and spiritual artifacts; and lifestyle patterns of human cultures. There is evidence that horses were kept as a source of meat and milk before they were trained as working animals. Attempts to date domestication by genetic study or analysis of physical remains rest on the assumption that there was a separation of the genotypes of domesticated and wild populations.