Will Taylor's Reserach Featured in the Conversation
Professor Will Taylor's research on domesticating horses had a huge impact on human society − this new science rewrites where and when it firstÌýhappened and is featured in The Conversation.
Across human history, no single animal has had a deeper impact on human societies than the horse. But when and how people domesticated horses has been an ongoing scientific mystery.
Half a million years ago or more, early human ancestors hunted horses with wooden spears, the very , and . During the late Paleolithic era, as far back as 30,000 years ago or more, ancient artists chose wild horses as their muse: Horses are the .
Following their first domestication, horses became the in the grasslands of , and key leaps forward in technology such as , helped make horses the primary means of locomotion for travel, communication, agriculture and warfare across much of the ancient world. With the aid of ocean voyages, these animals eventually reached the shores of every major landmass – even Antarctica, briefly.
As they spread, horses reshaped ecology, social structures and economies at a never-before-seen scale. Ultimately, only industrial mechanization supplanted their near-universal role in society.
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