Herders of the Botai culture in northern Kazakhstan kept and apparently rode horses about 3500 BC, as shown by wear on teeth, traces of mare's milk on pottery and horse corrals. Genetic work has shown that these horses were not the ancestors of today's domestic horses, which come from a lineage that spread from the Pontic-Caspian steppe after about 2200 BC. In either case, horses transformed warfare, transport and trade, shrinking Eurasia and allowing steppe peoples to move across it. Chariots followed by about 2000 BC and cavalry by the first millennium BC.
Before and after
- from c. 3,600 BCE to 2,500 BCEOrigins of Megalithic Temples of Malta
- c. 3,580 BCEEruption of Taal
- c. 3,550 BCEEruption of Pinatubo
- from 36th century BCE to 18th century BCECaral–Supe civilization
- c. 3,501 BCEPeople first tame horses on the steppe
- from c. 3,500 BCE to 2,500 BCEOrigins of Brú na Bóinne
- from c. 3,500 BCE to 2,500 BCEAfanasevo culture
- 34th century BCEWriting is invented in Mesopotamia
- from c. 3,300 BCE to 600 BCEBronze Age
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- c. 9,501 BCEBuilders raise the first monumental temple at Gobekli Tepe
- from 10th millennium BCE to 3rd millennium BCENeolithic
- from 7th millennium BCE to 2nd millennium BCEUgarit
- from c. 4,000 BCE to 3,100 BCEUruk period
- from c. 3,300 BCE to 1982Origins of Qatna
- from 4th millennium BCE to 1st millenniumAncient history
The era
This moment belongs to the Human prehistory (300,000 years ago to 3,200 BCE), the human story before writing.