From modern Khazistan comes the influence of the Late Stone Age Botai Culture c. 3700 - 3000 BCE, named after the current town at the site. Living at the cusp of the Copper and Bronze Ages, the Botai are considered the first culture to domesticate horses.
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Domestication means active animal husbandry or selective breeding, skeletal changes reflecting domestic use or warfare, diet, and evidence of animals born and raised in captivity. An animal tamed from the wild isn't considered domesticated.
The Botai are foragers and hunter gathering tribes who take advantage of the increased wild horse population on the Steppes. They live in settlements along the Imanburlyq River of North Kazakhstan.
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Wild horses are primary prey for the Botai, and before long they learned to tame wild horses, breed and develop them for riding and hunting. The first to master the skills of horseback riding, the Botai rode domesticated horses to hunt the wild horses of northern Kazakhstan between 3500 and 3000 BCE.
The domesticated horses are not considered related to today's horse (Equus ferus caballus). They're closer kin to the Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii).
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Also called the Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse, it's native to the Central Asian Steppes. Przewalski's was bred back from the brink of extinction in the late 20th century but remains endangered.
Although the horse is of a different species of Equus ferus, it's the first evidence of horse domestication and riding. Later cultures such as the Yamanaya Steppe People domesticated the direct ancestor of the modern horse.
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Botai settlements in this period include 50 to 150 pit houses. Unlike other early sites no cattle or sheep bones appear, only those of horses and dogs. Of the thousands of animal bones found in graves and waste deposits, 65% to 99% come from horses.
According to analysis of pottery shards, the Botai are milk drinkers. They keep horses for meat, riding and milk. In later excavations milk is absent from their diet and pottery shards show more animal fat.
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Bones may be used in building structures, much like the work of the early mammoth people. Sinews may be used for sewing and binding. Horsehair was still considered the best furniture stuffing in the 19th century CE.
Before the Botai, other groups of people traveled through the vast steppe lands. They made semi-permanent settlements indicating attempts at horse hunting, but not much luck. Settlements were small, animal remains insignificant, and overall the people prefer to roam.
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Many believe the Botai are the first to domesticate and use horses for riding and hunting. Scientists tend to dispute the level of horse domestication among the Botai, with some claiming the Botai hunted wild horses on foot but never domesticated them.
Others point to the widespread occurrence of mass sites of horse dung and high-phosphorus soil deposits, indicating the presence of horses kept in corrals. A circular construction with pole holes indicate at least one corral at Krasnyi Yar, the settlement most studied.
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Bit wear also indicates a horse was ridden or driven as the bit creates abrasion on the molar teeth of the horse. Absence of bit wear isn't necessarily a sign or wildness as horses can be ridden and guided without a bit. Earliest evidence of bit wear comes from a Kazakhstan site dating to 3500 BCE.
Due to availability of resources the Botai people could form a more settled culture than those who came before. The people went from habits of roaming hunters or semi-sedentary gatherers to dwelling in settlements of over 160 buildings.
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Buildings are used as private houses or for public events. Pit houses were often built close together with rooftop openings and most of the house underground. Urban neolithic settlements like Çatalhöyük, even older, use the rooftop entrance concept
Early evidence of metal working doesn't extend to the Botai people, who use tools of horse bone, wood and stone, and cook and store food in pottery vessels. Hand axes made of stone are similiar to those of weapons centuries ago, created from sharp-edged flint or other stone.
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