Horse domestication is an important and controversial topic, in large part because it’s intimately tied to the debate over the location of the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) homeland. Based on the currently available genetic and archaeological data, it seems likely that all modern domesticated horse breeds ultimately derive from the Pontic-Caspian steppe in Eastern Europe (see here and here).
In the interview linked to below (click on the image) horse expert Alan Outram reveals that a new paper will be published within months that will test this theory, and either confirm or debunk it.
Outram also talks about the colonization of Central Asia during the Middle Bronze Age by groups from the west associated with the Sintashta culture. He says that this was probably an aggressive process, akin to the more recent European colonization of North America, that may have pushed the Botai people, who were the indigenous inhabitants of the Kazakh steppe, and their horses far to the east. This, he suggests, might explain why the Przewalski horse of Mongolia appears to be derived from the Botai horse.
See also…
The mystery of the Sintashta people
Focus on Hittite Anatolia
Friendly Yeniseian steppe pastoralists
Source
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