Discoveries

April 11, 2023

The Horses of Old

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Millions of years ago, horses roamed North America before they went extinct around 11,000 years ago. However, in the 16th century, Europeans reintroduced them to the eastern coast of the present-day United States, which had a significant impact on Indigenous ways of life.

While first introduced to the east coast around 1519, there have been historical debates about how and when the animals reached the American southwestern and western regions.

Now, recent research conducted by an international team of researchers and Native American groups has shed light on this issue, Live Science reported.

They wrote in a new study that horses were present and domesticated by Indigenous people in the western regions long before Europeans arrived in those areas.

Initially, Spanish documents and sources suggested that horses became more prevalent in the west and southwest after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt when Indigenous people forced Spanish settlers out of what is now New Mexico. But oral histories of the Comanche and Shoshone mention the equines decades before the revolt.

The researchers utilized various tools, including radiocarbon dating, and ancient and modern DNA analysis, to investigate the remains of 33 horse specimens collected across the US.

The team’s findings revealed that some horses, one from New Mexico and one from southern Idaho, dated back to the early 1600s. They also showed that horses were abundant in the Southwest and Great Plains by 1650.

DNA comparisons revealed that these horses were closely related to the Spanish horse bloodlines, but they were not directly imported from Europe. Instead, these creatures were dispersed from Spanish settlements along Indigenous trading routes in the early 17th century.

Further analysis also showed that the Native peoples fed, cared for, and even rode the hoofed animals.

This study not only challenges previous historical accounts but also opens the door for further research into the social dynamics between the horses and Indigenous groups, who formed close and sacred bonds with them.

This story originally appeared in the April 11, 2023 newsletter, The Spiral.