Discovery in Hungary provides evidence for world’s first horse riders

When humans first started using animals for getting around, it was a huge turning point in our history. Horses played a particularly important role in early society in terms of transport. That is why it is such a remarkable discovery that archaeologists have recently found the oldest evidence of humans identified as riders. 

Archaeologists have recently found burial mounds dating back 4,500-5,000 years suggesting that some groups of people were already riding horses at that time. Such burial mounds have been found in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia, as well as in Hungary. The discovery has been reported in Cosmos Magazine, based on a research article published in the scientific journal Science Advances.

Martin Trautmann from the University of Helsinki and his team have found the first direct evidence that horse riding may have been part of Yamnaya culture. The culture originated from the Pontic-Caspian steppes, and it extended from present-day Bulgaria all the way to Kazakhstan. Trautman said that horse riding had been most likely common among the Yamnayas between 3000 and 2500 BCE.

Archaeologists excavated ancient Yamnaya graves in which they found skeletons with physical traces of horse riding. At least 24 of the remains examined were found to have traces that suggested they had been “possible riders”. At least 5 individuals were found with signs indicating that they had been “highly probable riders”.

These latest findings confirm previous assumptions that horse riding played a major role in the expansion. However, as the skeletal record has shown so far, physical violence is unlikely to have occurred during the expansion.

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Evidence dating back to the earliest times found in Hungary

In Hungary, evidence of horse riding was found dating back even further. At Csongrád-Kettőshalom, the archaeological team found an even older burial dating back to 4300 BCE. The team distinguished 6 types of riding pathologies during their examination of the remains. This burial was quite different from the others, according to David Anthony, Professor Emeritus of Hartwick College USA. Four out of the six indicators were identified on the remains found in Hungary. The professor noted that since this is an isolated case, it was not possible to draw conclusions from this alone. Although, based on the pose and the artifacts, it can be concluded that the burial site belongs to immigrants from the steppe.

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Source: cosmosmagazine.com, science.org