The domestication of the horse

Type:

Book Chapter

Author:

M. S. Drower

Published:

2017

Publisher:

Routledge

The four main species of the genus Equus appear to have been distributed over the forests and plains of the Old World during the Pleistocene period in separate geographical zones. Those are the onagers or half-asses in Hither Asia, the asses in northern and north-east Africa, the zebras in the south and east of Africa and the caballine horses in Europe and in Central Asia north of the great mountain ranges. All these species are capable of producing hybrids, and all but the zebras have been domesticated by man. There is little evidence, written or archaeological, for the presence of the domesticated horse in the Middle East until a little before 2000 B.C. Domestication, necessarily a gradual process, must have been achieved earlier and elsewhere. Horses are not however depicted in prehistoric rock-drawings in Palestine or Egypt. The bone tablet from Susa which appears to be a tally of domesticated equids with short bristle-manes must depict onagers.

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