Botai horses were not domestic, study says

According to a widely publicised study by Gaunitz et al., the modern Przewalski’s horse descends from the horses associated with the Botai culture from Kazakhstan about 5.500 years ago. These horses were believed to be the earliest domesticated horses. Consequently, the authors write, the modern Przewalski’s horse is not a wild horse but a feral horse [1]. 

In a very recent post on this blog, I discussed the discrepancy that, although now classified as a feral animal descending from domesticated horses, the Przewalski’s horse does not show a single typical domestic trait (f.e. paedomorphy, piebald colour or a reduced brain volume). I came to the conclusion that the Przewalski’s horse is a fully dedomesticated, post-domestic wild animal that can easily be distinguished from feral horses that have been living in the wild for a considerably shorter time (such as mustangs or brumbies). 

 

This year, however, a study came out that calls the Botai domestication theory into question. The main argument for a the Botai horses being domestic is dental damage believed to be caused by bridle mouthpieces. A study by Taylor and Barron-Ortiz 2021 found that this dental damage was more likely caused by natural tooth wear [2]. Furthermore, the mortality patterns of the Botai horses are not consistent with pastoral management [2]. Early ridden horses also show damage in the lower back area, which is not found in the Botai horses. And even more importantly, arrowheads were found in association with some of the specimen, which indicates that they were hunted. This is definitely not in line with the theory that the Botai horses were domesticated [2]. The authors write that the archaeozoological record instead suggests regularized mass harvesting of wild Przewalski’s horses and not domestic pastoring [2]. 

 

Consequently, it seems that the Przewalski’s horse never was domesticated. This is perfectly in line with the fact that the Przewalski’s horse does not show any domestic animal traits and is clearly distinguishable from feral domestic horses in behaviour [3]. This news makes me feel rather comfortable, I always had a hard time believing the Przewalski’s horse descended from domesticated horses. So it seems that the Przewalski’s horse now has its old status back again, being worlds last predomestic wild horse. I hope this study gets as much attention as the Gaunitz et al. paper. Adding it to Wikipedia might help. 

These new insights are meaningful as they emphasize the importance of the conservation of the Przewalski’s horse as a true wild animal. 

 

What is also interesting is that the time and place of the domestication of the horse is still unknown. The earliest unambiguous evidence of domestic horses is from the early decades of the second millennium BC [2]. 

References

 

[1] Gaunitz et al.: Ancient genomes revisit the ancestry of domestic and Przewalski's horses. 2018. 

[2] Taylor, Barron-Ortiz: Rethinking the evidence for early horse domestication at Botai. 2021. 

[3] Bunzel-Drüke, Finck, Kämmer, Luick, Reisinger, Riecken, Riedl, Scharf & Zimball: „Wilde Weiden: Praxisleitfaden für Ganzjahresbeweidung in Naturschutz und Landschaftsentwicklung“. 2011