Re: horses

Piotr,
Here is an excerpt from the Alekseev Manuscript that I mentioned to
you. The English is rough but the info is there. Sorry I didn't
have a chance to rewrite it; it's from the original batch when I
still heard Alekseev's voice. BTW, weren't you the one who said the
horse originated in North America?

Gerry


[Domestication of Camel, Horse, and Donkey: Chapter VI, The Alekseev
Manuscript]

The wild horse is found in eastern Mongolia and is known to have
lived in the Gobi Desert. Legends about wild horses have been known
from Chinese sources, but it wasn't until 1868 when Przewalskii
killed one and brought the skin and skull to Europe that a true
specimen was able to be observed. Thus a new species was fixed and
named the Przewalskii horse. This species lived in Mongolia until the
1960's; now the species is extinct in the wild and only found in
zoos. It was believed that all modern forms of horse are derived from
the Przewalskii horse but it is more likely that another form of the
wild horse survived in northern Eurasian areas until the beginning of
the 19th century. The Tarpan horse of the Russian Steppes, now
extinct, is somewhat similar to the Przewalskii horse, however,
chromosome numbers differ. The Tarpan also could have been a form of
the modern horse.

In Europe, wild horses are abundant in the Neolithic. From
archaeological bone remains and from graphic representations, the
wild horse is small in size and heavy in build with a large head and
a rough shaggy mane and tail like the recently extinct Tarpans or the
Mongolian wild pony (Przewalskii's horse).

There is an absence of the horse from Egyptian monuments prior to the
beginning of the 18th century BC and nothing older in Old Semitic
(Mesopotamian) literature . In literary sources there is no reference
to the horse as being indigenous to Arabia prior to the beginning of
the fifth century AD; however, there are many references in pre-
Islamic poetry.

Many scholars agree that the original source of the finest equine
blood is Africa, still the home of the largest variety of wild
Equidae. Then the horse passed into Europe and at an early time began
to be blended with the indigenous Celtic species. After Europe the
horse passed into Western Asia i.e. the indigenous Mongolian species
or Przewalskii's horse. Not until a later period did the horse reach
Arabia.

According to Alexeev, the origin of the domestic horse could be in
Africa or Mongolia, but from research conducted 10-15 years ago, the
domestication of the horse appears to have been in the Steppe areas
of Russia.


Dereievka, a Neolithic site in the mid Dnieper Valley, was excavated
10-15 years ago and reveals several skulls of horses. The report was
first published in Russian journals and then in European journals.
Specialists agree that the finds from Vasilievka are examples of the
domesticated horse. The site dates to the fourth millennium BC. The
domesticated horse (and camel) were not used for meat, milk, or wool
but rather for loading and riding. The first horse was used as a
loader animal for transport. An early relief in Iraq which dates to
the third millennium BC, depicts the horse as a loading animal.

Remains of the domesticated horse only have been found at Dereivka.
That the horse might have been domesticated at the end of the
Paleolithic is an "old idea". The horse was not used for riding
because the wild horse is dangerous; the only use was as a loading
animal.

The horse is depicted in Upper Paleolithic cave paintings and in
stone and bone sculpting from a number of caves in France and Spain.
In pictures of the horse, a bridle is represented; however some
scholars claim the bridle is an anatomical trait . Some scholars
believe the horse was used for meat. In many different areas,
specific breeds of horse like the thoroughbred are found.

Donkey replaced the horse in southern areas of Eurasia which were
very mountainous. The donkey is used from China to Spain; in Central
Asia and the Caucasus. Scholars agree that the wild species which
preceded the domestic donkey was the Kulan which now is found in
southeast Turkmenia but lived at an earlier time in Iran and
Afghanistan. The time of domestication is unknown but Richard Meadow
has discovered domesticated donkey in Turkmenia dating to the second
millennium BC.