The Botai Culture: Ancient Hunter-Gatherer Horsemen
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2024
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In Central Asia, 3500 BC, five and a half thousand years ago, lived sedentary hunter-gatherers who specialised in the hunting of horses.
For centuries, generation after generation lived on almost nothing but horse meat. It’s also possible that they domesticated horses here, keeping them in corrals in their villages, for their milk and meat. They might even have ridden these horses and used them for hunting the wild horse populations, riding on their backs with spears and bows and arrows in hand. If so, this would be an independent horse domestication process from that which led to our domesticated horses today.
So who were these people? Where did they come from and how did they live? What is the evidence that they managed and domesticated horses? And what ultimately happened to them? This is the story of the incredible horse hunters of prehistoric Central Asia, the Botai culture.
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Sources
The Oxford Handbook of the Archeology of Hunter-Gatherers: amzn.to/4f72WWz
Peter de Barros Damgaard et al. ,The first horse herders and the impact of early Bronze Age steppe expansions into Asia.Science360,eaar7711(2018)
Jeong, C. et al. The genetic history of admixture across inner Eurasia (2019)
Alan K. Outram et al. ,The Earliest Horse Harnessing and Milking (2009)
Gaunitz et al, Ancient genomes revisit the ancestry of domestic and Przewalski’s horses (2018)
Wilkin, S., Ventresca Miller, A., Fernandes, R. et al. Dairying enabled Early Bronze Age Yamnaya steppe expansions. Nature 598, 629-633 (2021)
Librado, P., Tressières, G., Chauvey, L. et al. Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2,200 BCE in Eurasia. Nature (2024)
Alan K. Outram, Horse domestication as a multi-centered, multi-stage process: Botai and the role of specialized Eneolithic horse pastoralism in the development of human-equine relationships (2023)
Peter de Barros Damgaard et al. ,The first horse herders and the impact of early Bronze Age steppe expansions into Asia (2018)
Jeong, C., Balanovsky, O., Lukianova, E. et al. The genetic history of admixture across inner Eurasia. (2019)
Zhang, F., Ning, C., Scott, A. et al. The genomic origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies. (2021)
Fages et al., Tracking Five Millennia of Horse Management with Extensive Ancient Genome Time Series (2019)
Motuzaite Matuzeviciute, G., Lightfoot, E., Liu, X. et al. Archaeobotanical investigations at the earliest horse herder site of Botai in Kazakhstan (2019)
Taylor, W.T.T., Barrón-Ortiz, C.I. Rethinking the evidence for early horse domestication at Botai. (2021)
Librado, P., Khan, N., Fages, A. et al. The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasian steppes. Nature 598, 634-640 (2021)
Librado, P., Tressières, G., Chauvey, L. et al. Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2,200 BCE in Eurasia. Nature (2024)
Charleen Gaunitz et al. ,Ancient genomes revisit the ancestry of domestic and Przewalski’s horses.(2018)
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Video Chapters
00:00 The Botai Culture
01:48 MyHeritage
03:16 Where did they come from?
05:15 Botai settlements
10:15 Horse domestication evidence
16:40 Ancient horse DNA evidence
21:46 The Late 4th Millennium BC World
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Thanks so much for watching - please hit like and do share the video on social media and with your friends and family, it really helps me enormously. You guys are the best, I appreciate your help very much.
Dan Davis giving me something great to listen to, watch, and think about while I make breakfast. Never a bad video, nothibg I won't click on immediately.
Dan Davis, can you please do a video about the ancestors of modern Eastern Asian peoples?
horsepox: thats what happens to a monoculture
Even today, populations, often towns or cities, have run into economic problems by putting all of their eggs in one basket (industry). Detroit, for instance, spent 50 years focused on automaking to the exclusion of developing other industries. When competition from Japan came, Detroit couldn't sustain its economic leadership and overall life quality in the city collapsed, becoming crime ridden, rife with violence and impoverished. I was born and raised their, witnessing much of the downtown, which began before I was born.
What race were these people exactly and who are their modern descendents?
YT actually told me about this one. Clicked immediately! I've been turning wrenches for close to 20 years now. But when my customers ask me what else I would be doing, i always say archeology & anthropology. They're always genuinely confused. Anyways, I always enjoy your content and story telling. Thank you.
Everything he has posted is excellent. My boy is a talented story teller and teacher and knows what he doesn't know and happily gives his opinion on a theory. You would probably like the fall of civilizations, another fine production.
Mundane job, interesting hobby!
Me too.
Dan Davis and North 02 do amazing work keeping up with the journals.
You really want to have fun- consider taking a vacation close to a dig. They LOVE real world wrenches. You can get room and board trading your skill.
I remember pulling spark plug out of an old merc outboard and cleaning the plug with a lighter. You would have thought i was a magician...
@stripeytawney822 north 02 is a good name drop... glad to see him being promoted... for such a young guy he does amazing work... for anyone really... but especially someone just starting out
Yep!! 06 Electician (techie).. gotta make a living..
Archeology, anthropology, paleontology and geology.. among other subjects, have always been interests.
We can't specialize in everthing..
Be Well!! 😃
@@stripeytawney822when I was a Helpdesk tech, I had lawyers, engineers, accountants and other professionals asking "how do you know this stuff?"
We all have our forte.. a scientist can't commute without a mechanic.. nor can they telecommute without a "techie"...
There is nothing "mundane" about being a skilled professional in your field.
I do however, think you gave great advice about taking the opportunity to partake in your "outside" interests..
They could use the help and a great chance to learn more and be involved in something you feel is special and cool!!
Be Well!! 😃
Dan Davis, Pete Kelly, and Paul Cooper are doing what The History Channel constantly fails to do.
Completely agree.
All three are excellent. And I am a bitch when it comes to writing.
You are a genius.
PBS (Nova) actually attempted this subject several years ago. However at that time they bought heavily into the theory that horses with worn teeth meant some ancient alien domestication of horses.
As Dan pointed out, the theory of teeth wear proving domestication has since been heavily criticized. Good for him for telling both sides of this debate.
@@tomkinstle1925this made me chuckle.
History Channel died when Ice Road Truckers was born
Paul Cooper is an amazing content creator ❤ no ads and long-form content. a true legend.
The possibility that the Przewalski horses are just the long-free ferals of the Botai culture blew my mind when I first heard of it. Shows how few certainties there are even in the ancient past, or at least how we understand that past.
Makes me even prouder that my country keeps the studbook and plays an active role in the survival of these animals with a very successful re-introduction program. It's a shame we weren't able to do the same with the native tarpan horse. At least the rewilding efforts with moor ponies are well on their way all over Europe.
A paleontologist friend of mine who specializes in horse (& camel) evolution says they're domesticated which honestly blew my mind when I first heard that. They've been "feral" so long though I don't think we can call them domesticated anymore
@@platedlizardamerican camels are the best! Same with the original american horse
Them injuns killed them all and ate them. Well thats what covid vax science cult says
It's an interesting conjecture. If the Przewalski horses are indeed descended from domesticated (or feral) Botai horses, then it sets the stage for the Mongolians to domesticate them once they spread that far east.
Hard to prove, given the (according to Dan) sketchy evidence, but nevertheless feasible.
I love Dan Davis’ videos because they don’t have a sense of academic pretension or fear of retribution in case of an error. They instill a sense of wonder and a deep yearning for knowledge in the viewer, and they bring what can easily feel like distant peoples and cultures to life in a way that is truly wonderful. Dan, if you see this comment, thank you for sharing all the amazing information and stories that you do with us; we truly appreciate it
Thank you so much 🙏
Exactly, it's great storytelling, not just dry facts. And I love the accompanying visuals (especially in this one - horsies! yey!).
This kind of stuff really helps me avoid the synaptic pruning that occurs to most people once they finish school. Thanks for helping me stay smarter than a 5th grader.
This
Well-researched, well-composed, and aesthetically pleasing, I like your videos even better than your books. Finding this much resources on such an obscure topic must have required a great deal of effort. Hats off to you!
I've studied history, pre-history, archeology, and anthropology about all my life, and I've never seen anything close to the quality that Dan Davis puts out. There's something tremendously satisfying in learning about very early European life, honestly. Usually, when we think about European archeology, it's focused around far more modern stuff, especially in the British Isles. There's never mention of these Tribes like the Botai or what they contributed to the grand story! To think that they might have been the first horsemen is pretty amazing.
Exactly! I feel like I need to start my post graduate research all over again.
Botai were not Europeans. They were the ancestors of monstrous Mongolian Sods and Rotters.
@@busterbiloxi3833 And that's part of the European continent. Reign your racism in a bit so you can appreciate the beauty of the world.
you have no idea how much this vid made my day. im a farrier, i do this to live closer to my ancestors. i have been saying it for years theres missing info on the domestication of horses and we will find it in the step hunters/herders before the yamnaya and look at that there it is!!! i will ask people who float horse teeth on their opinions on the teeth wear patterns. i am so excited to hear more about this discovery in the future. finally proof that pushes the date back! As horses changed due to domestication so did tack and horsemanship one group the numidians, had an older style of horsemanship that they imported from anatolia. i believe it is a good historical account to use as reference to how early horsemanship would have looked like, likely not to dissimilar to the botai despite the thousands of years.
Cheers fellow farrier!
Excellent, as always, Dan! It's interesting that only two days ago I watched a video on the Crecganford UA-cam channel about a common myth across many ancient cultures that involved horses, dogs, and humans. The myth basically says that the Creator was making the first man from clay. He was busy on something else as well, so he left a dog to guard the clay figure. The dog had no fur. In those days horses had wings. One flew down, worried that if humans were created, they would hunt and kill horses. The dog was supposed to guard the clay figure, but the horse tricked him by offering him a fur coat. The horse tried to trample the clay figure, but as he tried, the Creator returned. The horse only managed to make a hoof print in the belly of the clay figure. This is why humans have a navel. After this, the Creator removed the wings of all the horses, and allowed the dog to keep his fur coat, so that he could always guard humans. This is why the dog is "Man's best friend". Also, many later stories, influenced by the ancient myth of the horse as the antagonist against humans, treated the horse as evil. It makes me think that wild horses must have seemed like they could fly, because they were so fast and intelligent. It seems that the Botai people had managed to "remove the wings" of the horses, and were helped by dogs. Sometimes myth and archaeology match.
Really impressed that you were able to draw on a June 2024 paper to use it in a video on these people.
Looks like a fascinating culture. I would have to think that they had a whole religion centered around the horse. And the domestication would be incredible if that is what happened.
Riding bareback seems like an accomplishment in itself. I can't believe they would do it without any kind of stirrups.
The American Indians prove that not only bare back riding is possible, but also shooting arrows while hanging / hiding under their horses' neck. Comanche stories are that they could shoot arrows as fast as the revolver while riding. Astonishing of course. Maybe our young ones should get their training?
Like many things, bareback riding is a skill best learned when young. Anyone can ride a horse with a saddle, stirrups, bit and bridle -- but to ride bareback and with minimal devices for controlling the horse is a real skill. Not impossible, and with dedication to the task it is achievable. The North American Indians being a case in point.
Clearly,Ayla ("Clan of the Cave Bear" fiction) was a big influence.
But you need to breed big enough horses before you can think about riding them. I go with the milk-and-meat theory
I appreciate that Dan resisted the urge to tell a more definite version of the story about the Botai people riding horses (which would be popular with the website) and instead gave us the truth: that it's not really known yet. Lots of respect for that
I’m already hyped to watch this after my shift is over!
Great Work as always, the ambience turned out great.
Im watching while working 👍
Your humility as you reach the edges of your own knowledge of archaeogenetics is an absolute credit to you as a creator. We dont hear people point that out often enough - it should be more normalised, in exactly the way you did it
Thank you. It's the molecular science stuff in the pottery sherd studies and horse osteology studies that you have to be an expert in to assess whether it's good science or not. Very specialist fields so when they have back and forth debates in publications, one expert saying the science isn't good and a responder saying "yes it is" then as a layman it's not really possible to even have your own opinion other than going by vibes.
@@DanDavisHistory it's just as compelling for us as your audience to hear you report the controversy. So much of this is mystery - you've always had a talent for presenting the possibilities and letting us enjoy each one in turn.
What a Glorious Day
0:41 "For centuries, generation after generation lived on almost nothing but horsemeat" - IKEA would be proud of them!
- Sorry, I know it's a silly joke, but I really wanted to make it, and I didn't have the opportunity until this...
😂
Another intriguing piece of content. As we’ve come to expect from this channel.
Your commitment to bringing us the latest research, in a form digestible to the interested layperson, is much appreciated.
Thank you!
I can't remember if I heard this somewhere, made this connection on my own, or if someone I personally know made the connection, but right the image/idea I have in mind about how the Botai culture got on with horses is basically like the modern Sami people with reindeer. Or rather, a more primitive (for lack of a better term) version thereof. Reindeer are still semi domesticated today (unless I'm mistaken) but they do exist in managed herds, and are sometimes ridden or harnessed to pull sleds/carts. So I think that at least later on, the Botai culture probably managed herds of semi domesticated horses (perhaps somewhere between tame and "in the process of domestication") and maybe rode the more docile members of their managed herds, perhaps even to aid in the hunting of the truly wild population.
I'm not sure there's a reliable way to prove something like this tho. But I am glad that new techniques and technologies are actively being developed to try to answer questions like this! Thanks for covering this interesting topic
I have concluded that if someone is doing something excellent there is a common ingredient. Love. Mister D loves ancient history and telling stories and loves science and learng new things and inspiring people.
So much better than anything on TV channels . All they seem to want to do is make a film about the presenter or presenters as often there are several covering the same topic and taking it in turn to speak one sentence each and presumably getting paid handsomely for their efforts
That outro describing the different things going on was great
After a quick perusal of the comments, I'm looking forward to watching this even more. Love your work. Thanks Mr. Davis.
Dan, another incredible video. Is the Gods of Bronze Series ever gonna get a follow-up book?
@22:10. Cool, I saw that Egyptian shield shaped rock at the National Gallery of Victoria last week. It was half as tall as me! On loan from the British Museum.
I have caught, trained, and ridden American Mustangs in my youth. The thought of being faced with catching them or hunting them on foot is pretty daunting. Especially on a regular basis.
Yes indeed although Botai horses were only about 14 - 15 hands tall.
I love these histories that are of societies that weren't the same ones we always hear about. Fascinating!!
I like how the Samoyed is used as the example of Botai canines. A truly ancient breed (one of the oldest it is said). The Samoyeds seem to have been bred as hunting dogs,, herders, and hearth and home companionship. It's not a big stretch to think of sammies being used to hunt and herd the early Przewalski's horses.
Exelant work Danny-boy, keep em coming.
❤ your work!!! Thanks for giving us this knowledge
Excellent work and presentation Dan.
What a wonderful place to live. Horses are extremely important.
Brilliant, thank you for uploading this for us. Greetings from South Africa!
Brilliantly interesting and thought provoking. Great pictures. . Thank you.
Brilliant stuff, as usual!
Enjoyable and informative as ever.
As always Dan, a truly wonderful and thought provoking video ❤ 👏👏👏 🐴
Thanks dan davis!
I absolutely love this channel!
Get home, check my phone, there's a new Dan Davis video - rounding the weekend off nicely
Nice, always waiting.
Always enjoy your videos, Dan.
You tell such fascinating stories, I really should start reading your books.
Your creativity is unmatched. This video is incredible!
Thank you.
Another great video! I just noticed it and I'm listening to it on my 35 minute drive to work. I love all your videos.
Thank you 👏🐴🐎
I owned horses in my lifetime, and I believe it's genetic....every modern human is drawn to something - may it be art, dance or music - which connects him to his ancestors.... I call it "ancestral memory" and everyone on the planet owns it
I believe people are drawn to whatever is available to them in their culture in their early years . Hence modern peoples attraction to cars football TV soaps and computer games
My ancestral memory tells me to liberate Constantinople from the vicious occupation of the Turkish Bastards!
Awesome! Thank you for this!
I always love learning about an ancient culture I've never heard of before, great video!
Always a good day when you gift us with a new video!
Top tier content as always! 🎉
“Many people don’t realise ‘Dan’ is often an abbreviation or shortening of ‘Daniel’”. - world renowned historiography and numismatic analysis professor Writing.
@@HedonisticPuritan-mp6xv sarcasm was invented by the first horse people. Half horse half people. - famous scholar.
I wonder if the horse culture of the Central Asian Steppes is passed down through the generations. I truly believe that behavior is passed down generationally. The Scythians and the Mongols are just two of many cultures who's success was powered by the horse. Great video.
Edited to say that if you've ever been in close proximity to wild horses, such as or in the American West, you'll know how difficult it is to even get close to them. They're smart, work together, incredibly fast, and can be aggressive if threatened. When there are this many bones in such close proximity to one another, the assumption that the horses had been domesticated is entirely reasonable.
You can get close to feral horses. I often do.
Kneel down near the herd, focus on the ground ( a rock, a plant, a piece of broken glass, a stick), be still and they will get around you to protect you. They do this for each other too.
I have looked up after 10 minutes or so and been face to face with them.
They spit out sugar cubes I brought them and went back to eating their scrub brush. Once trust has developed, they may let you rub their ears and or muzzle. If they recognize me, they sometimes run up to me.
I once came across TWIN new borns, about a day old when out hiking. The mother allowed me to get about 10 yards away and did not freak out. One twin would nurse while the other stared at me. Then, they traded jobs after a while. I did not have to kneel down that time. They seemed to trust me.
I can sense their energy and look forward to that experience with them.
Highly unlikely. The Scythians were in Iron age people 3000 years after the botai. The horses we have now all descended from horses that the yamaya domesticated. The horses that the botai hunted have gone extinct
@@georgemoore2226wow! I guess I cannot live thousand lives to experience everything... ❤
Thanks!
Another very interesting and informative video, thank you
Dan, you make phenomenal videos
Your videos are events for me now.
Excellent video!
Love all the clips of the gorgeous horses ❤
Another wonderful historical coverage video about (Botai culture is that it lived in the central area of Asia ... their relationship to demostic and wild horses 🐎 ...this magnificent work shared by an excellent (Dan Davis history) channel
So fascinating.
Thanks mate.
Excellent work
Another very interesting video about a culture I didn't really know despite being so fascinating.
Love the video and this content. Have you ever planned on making a video about the Natufian culture? They are perhaps the most interesting of them all.
Yea! Made my day!
Incredible . Thankyou
This is a great video.
Cheers again thank you
Great video, and great story telling. Such a fascinating period of history/prehistory. Thank you for bringing this odd and interesting culture into my imagination. Much appreciated.
This is a Good Day, Mr Davis has been busy !
It is amazing how you can make dry science so interesting and captivating. Wonderful & wonder full. Thanks.
Thanks
Outstanding, new nothing of this culture . Quite fascinating!! What a tough and hardy people they must have been!!
Good video bro
I love it.
Having horses to pull small sledges or wagons would be a large advantage over dogs doing the same. Having these horses to pull heavy things like logs would be very helpful.
Very, very good made documentary video😮. These old civilizations are very facsinating😊
Great video as always.
But must admit, hearing afanasievo being mentioned makes me hope an episode about this culture/people is on your to do list.
Might be one of the furthest eastward migrations made (not counting contiguous empires), and one of the last of significance of this kind maybe.
Later waves would almost always go the other way.
What if the horses were semi-domesticated like reindeers in northen emisfer? Botai people could easily travel along them in the first part of their existence. Later on they could have animals that could go and eat grass all day, and the animals could return home when the sun goes down. This is a practice that is even used today
Your description of their relationship with horses reminds me a lot of modern reindeer. They are herded and ridden but also butchered and milked.
One thing I can share with others is a the posdible reason for the dog burial being common on the western side of the settlement. I lived on a farm in the mountains and I burned an old loyal working dog a sheepdog birder collie in his faveroute evening vantage point which just happenes to looking west from my family home, he had a big rock there to look out from and he used to dig a hole nearby to lie out in winter even though he has a house he chose that spot so I buried him there. Oerhaps this might just be coincidence ir it nay be common for Digs to choose weetern sude vantage points for evening vigilance who knows.
incredible
Wonderful work! I could add something too, though it might be amateur-ish, but I guess Syntashta and Botai cultures could possibly be same folks, just migrating along the steppe and dealing with local game during several generations and changing climatic conditions
This is going to be good!
Nice !!!!
🇯🇵 Basashi, 🇮🇹 Pezzetti di cavallo, Pastissada de caval, Polpette di cavallo, 🇰🇿 Zhaya, Zhal, Qarta,
🇲🇹 Laħam taż-żiemel,
(Top 8 horse dishes in the world)
🇲🇳 Airag - fermented horse milk, Kazy
🇳🇱 Paardenrookvlees - smoked horsemeat, Leverkaas, Zuurvlees
🇮🇸 Hangikjöt - mutton or lamb which has been hung and smoked
🇫🇷 Chevaline - traditional dishes like "boudin noir", "saucisson de cheval", and "tartare de cheval".
🇲🇽 traditional dishes like "tacos de carne de caballo" and "cecina".
🇰🇷 fermented dish "suyuk" other traditional dishes like "jangeogui" and "jorim".
🇦🇷 traditional dishes like "locro" and "empanadas de caballo".
🇨🇭🇩🇪🇦🇹 Fleischkäse ('meat-cheese'), Leberkäse ('liver-cheese') Mostbröckli
🇫🇮 Meetwursti
🇸🇪 Hamburgerkött, Gustafskorv
🇳🇴 vossakorv and svartpølse, and less commonly as steak, hestebiff.
🇪🇸 Cecina
Clicked immediately. 2 days after it posted did YT decide to show me
I'm waiting for video about early Slavs!❤
Do we have any evidence of the fermentation of horse milk, as was later practised across the Steppe? The consumption of fermented horse milk alcohol may have been a suitable bonding exercise for celebrating in the 'plazas' described by the archaeologists.
How is it that you are able to research and present about cultures Ive never heard of but always imagined must have existed back in the murky depths of time
Damn, that's from my country Kazakhstan. Very nice
When I was in Spain recently I was asked if I wanted to try eating horse meat. I immediately said NO. I’m still hoping that was a bad joke even though he said he was serious.
I'm fairly sure Sandra Olsen did some experimentation on actually dragging horse carcasses back to a settlement
Young foals imprint, or bond to whoever finds them abandoned very quickly and wild horses abandon their foals for several reasons. I assume this would make domesticating them a bit easier than other wild things
So freaking interesting. The indigenous people of Kamchatka harnessed reindeer for sleds and maybe rode them. Domestication starts with capturing wild animal babies and raising them in captivity; then selectively breeding those animals for whatever reason. A group of hunters could go after wild horses using a fence trap to funnel the wild horses off a cliff, where you can access them at the bottom and kill them and drag them away on sleds, back to camp for butchering. Some foals would survive and could be captured alive.
Fascinating video. The information is really cutting edge considering that some of the scientific papers used was published within the last few months.
I wonder what those stones with holes were used for though. I was going to go with spindles for making clothes but it's hard to know. Maces for ritual sacrifice perhaps?
Either way, another fascinating and thought provoking video on a little known subject.
I dont think they used the hide cordage for whips, i think they juat used it for everyday life. Also i think they didnt "domesticate" them, i think they just took some home, and they didnt keep them, as a culture, for long enough for it to "count" as a domesticated species
I love how you show different sides of scientific research. Because rhat's science.
Siiiii!!
There's one thing quite odd to me: if there were so many horses, where were their predators? Does this mean that wolves were unable to hunt horses? If true, wouldn't this logically lead to increasing numbers of bigger predators like lions or tigers?
Logically, Botai became the "missing predator", but still, if the bones found were in some cases 99% or at least 90% from horses, I'm missing wolf or tiger bones as a result of Botai killing the predators of "their" horses.
It's hard to imagine a hunter gatherer culture living in places completely without wolves. Even on a tree-less prairie they would be able to hide in the high grass, so this lack of predator bones seems strange to me.
Modern-day elk hunters literally carry whole animals miles back to their trucks by foot.