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.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: a.k.outram{at}ex.ac.uk
