一个国际考古小组日前在哈萨克斯坦境内发现了人类最早驯化马的证据,这一发现将人类驯化马的历史向前推进了大约1000年。
英国埃克塞特大学和布里斯托尔大学领导的这个考古小组在3月6日出版的美国《科学》杂志上介绍说,他们发现的证据可以追溯到大约5500年前的波泰(Botai)文化,波泰现位于哈萨克斯坦北部。他们的研究表明,马最初被驯化并不单纯是供人类骑射之用,也为了给人类提供食物来源如马奶等。
考古人员对波泰地区出土的马的骨骼进行分析后发现,这些马的脚骨与青铜时代已驯化的马相似,而与同一地区的旧石器时代野马不同。某些古代波泰马的头骨还揭示了这些马牙齿上有戴马嚼子的印记。研究人员通过采自波泰陶器碎片的同位素数据分辨出了来自马奶的油脂,考古人员甚至还能确定这些马是在夏季被挤的奶。
研究人员认为,这些发现证实至少某些波泰马已被驯化,这是迄今所记录的人类最早驯化马的证据。
埃克塞特大学考古学家艾伦·乌特勒姆表示,马的驯化在人类历史上具有重要意义,他们的研究将野马驯化史向前推进了1000年,有助于更好地研究人类的早期发展史。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推荐原始出处:
Science 6 March 2009:DOI: 10.1126/science.1168594
The Earliest Horse Harnessing and Milking
Alan K. Outram,1* Natalie A. Stear,2 Robin Bendrey,3,7 Sandra Olsen,4 Alexei Kasparov,1,5 Victor Zaibert,6 Nick Thorpe,7 Richard P. Evershed2
Horse domestication revolutionized transport, communications, and warfare in prehistory, yet the identification of early domestication processes has been problematic. Here, we present three independent lines of evidence demonstrating domestication in the Eneolithic Botai Culture of Kazakhstan, dating to about 3500 B.C.E. Metrical analysis of horse metacarpals shows that Botai horses resemble Bronze Age domestic horses rather than Paleolithic wild horses from the same region. Pathological characteristics indicate that some Botai horses were bridled, perhaps ridden. Organic residue analysis, using 13C and D values of fatty acids, reveals processing of mare's milk and carcass products in ceramics, indicating a developed domestic economy encompassing secondary products.
1 Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QE, UK.
2 School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TS, UK.
3 CNRS UNR 5197, Muséum Nationale d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris 75005, France.
4 Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA 15206–3706, USA.
5 Institute for the History of Material Culture, RAS, St. Petersburg 191186, Russia.
6 Kokshetau University, 020000 Kokshetau, Akmolinsk Oblast, Kazakhstan.
7 Department of Archaeology, University of Winchester, Winchester SO22 4NR, UK.