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In this episode of Ethnocynology, host David Ian Howe sits down with archaeologist and anthropologist Dr. William Taylor (University of Colorado Boulder), author of Hoofbeats: How Horses Shaped Human History.
While this show usually focuses on dogs, today we shift to the other animal that transformed humanity: the horse. Dr. Taylor walks us through the evolutionary history of horses, their domestication on the Eurasian steppe, and their reintroduction to the Americas after the Ice Age. Together we explore how humans first interacted with horses—as prey, symbols in cave art, sources of milk and meat, and eventually as partners in transport, warfare, and belief systems.
Hoofbeats: How Horses Shaped Human History by Dr. William Taylor — available on Amazon and other retailers.
Topics include:
The origins of domestic horses around 2000 BC in the Caucasus steppes
Horses evolving in North America, going extinct, and being reintroduced by the Spanish
Hunting evidence from sites like Schöningen in Germany and Bluefish Caves in the Yukon
Horses in Paleolithic cave art (Lascaux, Chauvet) and the Vogelherd ivory carving
Evidence for early horse riding and chariot use in Egypt, Assyria, and beyond
The role of horses in indigenous North and South American societies before widespread European contact
Ethno-equine parallels in Mongolia, Australia, and Patagonia, where horses shaped cultural, spiritual, and economic life
This is Part 1 of a two-part series: next time, David speaks with Cassidy Thornhill of the University of Wyoming, who researches the protohistoric introduction of horses into the Americas.
If you enjoy the episode, please rate and review Ethnocynology on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It helps more people discover the show and supports the entire Archaeology Podcast Network.
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Chapters:
0:00 Intro and Dr. Wiliam Taylor
2:43 Horse domestication areas
4:40 Early evolutionary history / The Americas
6:34 Earliest human-horse interactions / Hunting / Art
10:47 Were horses milked?
13:36 The Vogelherd Horse
17:05 Curiosity Box
18:59 Horse reintroduction into the Americas
24:30 Indigenous horse interactions
28:17 Do horses do so well because they are from here?
30:49 How do we find horses archaeologically?
34:30 Horse back riding origins / Egypt / Chariots
41:29 Ethoequineology: Mongolia
43:53 Ethoequineology: Australia
45:14 Ethoequineology: Patagonia
48:03 Closing Thoughts
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Ethnocynology is brought to you by the Archaeology Podcast Network and Howe and Why productions, LLC
Director: David Ian Howe
Producers: Chris Webster, Tristan Boyle, Rachel Roden, Ashleigh Airey
Podcast editors: Rachel Roden, Chris Webster
Video editor: David Ian Howe
Music: KNOWMADIC
Intro Animations: Ilene German
www.archpodnet.com
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I did not grow up around horses but my favorite videos to watch are horse training videos. I have noticed that the techniques today are reverting back to ancient techniques and the cowboy method of tying/restraining a horse till it's spirit is broken is fading.
QUESTION 1: Which civilization and what time period did cruel horsemanship techniques begin and why?
QUESTION 2: I have heard that the Huns were/still are the best horsemen in the world over the ages while Spain is a country currently associated with great cruelty and pain inflicted in their training methods. In general terms, can you identify the best and worst horsemen today?
The horse carried man everywhere
Horse is much more pivotal to human and world progress.
In Cree the word for horse and dog share a similar connection… atim/dog and Mistatim/big dog
The answer to that first question is obviously CATS! Without cats, the first human farmers would've starved to death after the rodents destroyed the grain storage. We can hunt without dogs, we can move without horses, we can farm without oxen. But nobody defends a grain storage against rodents without cats!
Fantastic show. T. Y.
I was looking for horses with tiger striping on their legs… stumbled onto an American Indian website that showed pictures of horses that were BEFORE the release of Spanish horses, thus proving horses were already here.😮😊
Bhimbetka rock shelters in India have cave paintings of people on horses hunting and these are dated back to 30,000 bc. It’s a world heritage site as well. Not sure about dating of horses mentioned in this video. https://share.google/images/15NPf88Wj5c0vTXD7
Both are good eating…
Ive recently been reading the Upanishads and the early Hindus had such reverence for horses they sacrificed them and believed the universe was horse shaped