HERDS - Horse Domestication and Early Husbandry in Central Asian Steppes: Bone Remains to Document Uses and Breeding Practices in Pastoral Societies

在所有已被驯化的动物中，很少有动物像马(Equus Caballus)那样对人类社会产生如此大的影响。马的驯化使流动性发生了革命性的变化，并改变了过去人类种群的组织。尽管它被认为是人类历史上的一个里程碑，但马匹驯化和使用的早期阶段却很难重建。马群(“中亚草原的马匹驯养和早期畜牧业：记录牧民社会的使用和饲养实践的骨骼遗骸”)将调查哈萨克斯坦的早期马业。它将集中在新石器时代的博泰文化，那里的马业已经被证明是第一个证明，以及随后的青铜时代的田园社会，看到了马术的逐步发展。其目的将是更好地了解马在这些文化中的作用，并评估它们受到人类管理的身体影响的程度。在这方面，考古骨骼代表了过去动物形态功能特征的最好的幸存直接证据。分析将对从中石器时代到青铜时代晚期的一系列考古遗址中的马遗骸进行。将使用尖端方法来表征骨骼的外部和内部结构。肌肉性能和骨骼生物力学性能的估计也将被计算出来，以推断这些早期家马的功能特征。这位研究员在马功能解剖学方面的知识完美地补充了这位来自中亚的马考古主管的强大专业知识。马群将使人们能够深入了解早期牧民社会是如何利用和选择马匹的，以及早期畜牧策略和马术技术如何影响它们的生物学特征。相反，它将提供有意义的数据，说明驯化如何有助于塑造牧民社会，改变其机动性、贸易和战争做法。

Of all the animals to have been domesticated, few influenced human societies as much as the horse (Equus caballus). Horse domestication revolutionized mobility and transformed the organization of past human populations. Although it is considered as a milestone in human history, the early phases of horse domestication and uses are however challenging to reconstruct. HERDS ("Horse Domestication and Early Husbandry in Central Asian Steppes: Bone Remains to Document Uses and Breeding Practices in Pastoral Societies") will investigate early horse husbandry in Kazakhstan. It will focus on the Eneolithic Botai Culture, where horse husbandry has first been attested, and on ensuing Bronze Age pastoral societies which sees the progressive development of equestrianism. The aim will be to better understand the role of horses in these cultures and evaluate the extent to which they have been physically impacted by human management. In that respect, archaeological bones represent the best surviving direct testimony of the morphofunctional characteristics of past animals. The analyses will be carried out on horse remains coming from a wide range ofarchaeological sites from the Mesolithic to the Late Bronze Age. Cutting-edge approaches will be used to characterize bone outer and inner structure. Estimates of muscle performance and bone biomechanical properties will also be computed to infer the functional traits of these early domestic horses. The knowledge of the fellow in horse functional anatomy perfectly complements the strong expertise of the supervisor in equine archaeology from Central Asia. HERDS will allow to gain insight into how horses were exploited and selected in early pastoral societies, and how early husbandry strategies and equestrian technologies have impacted their biological features. Conversely, it will provide meaningful data concerning how its domestication contributed to shape pastoral societies in transforming their mobility, trade and warfare practices.