The Horse in Human History

by Pita Kelekna

Overview

The horse is surely the “aristocrat” of animals domesticated by man. This book documents the origins of horse domestication on the Pontic-Caspian steppes some 6,000 years ago and the consequent migration of equestrian tribes across Eurasia to the borders of sedentary states. Horse-chariotry and cavalry in effect changed the nature of warfare in the civilizations of the Middle East, India, and China. But, beyond the battlefield, horsepower also afforded great advances in transport, agriculture, industry, and science. Rapidity of horse communications forged far-flung equestrian empires, where language, law, weights, measures, and writing systems were standardized and revolutionary technologies and ideas were disseminated across continents. Always recognizing this dual character of horsepower – both destructive and constructive – the politico-military and economic importance of the horse is discussed in the rise of Hittite, Achaemenid, Chinese, Greco-Roman, Arab, Mongol, and Turkic states. Following Columbian contact, Old and New World cultures are contrastively evaluated in terms of presence or absence of the horse. And Spanish conquest of the horseless Americas is seen as the model for subsequent European equestrian colonization of horseless territories around the planet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521516594
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/20/2009
Pages:	476
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Pita Kelekna holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of New Mexico. Early fieldwork in indigenous societies of the Americas and later research conducted across the Middle East, Central and East Asia have well equipped her for this world-wide analysis of the importance of the horse in human society. She is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences and the American Anthropological Association.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to equestrian man and to Equus; 2. Equus Caballus: horse domestication and Agro-Pastoralism across the Eurasian steppes; 3. Nomadic horse culture of the steppes; 4. Expansion from the steppes to Southwestern and Southern Asia; 5. China and the steppes beyond its borders; 6. Equestrian Europe - solar edifices, hippodromes, and Arthurian chivalry; 7. Arabian conquest from the South; 8. Turkic-invader converts to Islam and crusader opponents; 9. From the steppes, the Altaic nomad conquest of Eurasia; 10. From Europe, Equus returns to its continent of origin; 11. Horses are us.

Editorial Reviews

"..a general and approachable discussion of horses in human society the world over..."
BMCR

"… a fascinating study in which anthropology and history work well together."
Contemporary Review

From the Publisher