The horse: integral to Native American culture for 500 years

It is well known that the Spanish introduced horses to North America. Little did the settlers realise that the local inhabitants would adopt the feral horses into their traditions, says Dr Mac.

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The image of horses being galloped across North America’s plains by Indigenous Americans and cowboys are integral to the history of the continent. And it is well established that the Spanish conquistadors introduced horses to North America in the early 16th century. Not everyone appreciates, however, that this was a reintroduction after a vast expanse of time: research into archaeological horse remains that integrate genomic, isotopic, radiocarbon and paleopathological findings have shown that the ancestors of the genus Equus actually evolved in North America. Some of these prehistoric horses migrated to Eurasia across the ancient Bering Land Bridge, while the rest became extinct by the late Pleistocene Age.

In a strange reversal, all modern horse breeds, including today’s wild horse herds in the US, can be traced back to the equines domesticated in Eurasia.