The spread of the domestic horse in northern China during the pre-Qin period and its influencing factors

Abstract

The latest research shows that horses were domesticated in western Eurasian Steppes and spread through Eurasia then. However, the process of spreading domestic horses in northern China and the factors that influence it remain unclear. This study systematically collected archaeological documents and related information on horse bones unearthed in northern China. We first sort out domestic horses' emergence and spatiotemporal distribution and then analyse them in the context of the natural environment and the history of human activities. Evidence shows domestic horses first entered the Loess Plateau region from the Altai Mountains-Hexi Corridor. As the climate became humid and the human occupation enforced, domestic horses appeared on the routes eastward from the Tianshan Mountains and southward from the Mongolian Plateau. Horse-drawn chariots were introduced to northern China around 1300 BCE, they first developed in the Central Plains due to the strong social foundation of the Shang Dynasty. After 1000 BCE, the spread of horseback pastoralism played an essential role in developing the arid inland areas of northern China.