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

IF 0.9 2区历史学 0 ARCHAEOLOGY

Archaeological Research in Asia Pub Date : 2025-01-22 DOI:10.1016/j.ara.2025.100596

Chao Lu, Linyao Du, Bo Tan, Liyuan Zheng, Yong Zhang, Wensheng Zhang, Lai Jiang, Lei Tang, Chengbang An

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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.

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先秦时期中国北方家马的传播及其影响因素

最新的研究表明，马在欧亚西部大草原被驯化，然后在欧亚大陆传播。然而，国内马在中国北方传播的过程及其影响因素尚不清楚。本研究系统收集了中国北方出土马骨的考古文献及相关资料。首先梳理了驯养马的出现和时空分布，然后在自然环境和人类活动历史的背景下进行分析。有证据表明，家马最早是从阿尔泰山-河西走廊进入黄土高原地区的。随着气候的湿润和人类占领的加强，从天山向东和蒙古高原向南的路线上出现了驯养的马。马车在公元前1300年左右被引入中国北方，由于商朝强大的社会基础，它们首先在中原发展起来。公元前1000年以后，马背畜牧业的传播对中国北方干旱内陆地区的发展起了至关重要的作用。

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来源期刊

Archaeological Research in Asia ARCHAEOLOGY-

CiteScore

2.50

自引率

13.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Archaeological Research in Asia presents high quality scholarly research conducted in between the Bosporus and the Pacific on a broad range of archaeological subjects of importance to audiences across Asia and around the world. The journal covers the traditional components of archaeology: placing events and patterns in time and space; analysis of past lifeways; and explanations for cultural processes and change. To this end, the publication will highlight theoretical and methodological advances in studying the past, present new data, and detail patterns that reshape our understanding of it. Archaeological Research in Asia publishes work on the full temporal range of archaeological inquiry from the earliest human presence in Asia with a special emphasis on time periods under-represented in other venues. Journal contributions are of three kinds: articles, case reports and short communications. Full length articles should present synthetic treatments, novel analyses, or theoretical approaches to unresolved issues. Case reports present basic data on subjects that are of broad interest because they represent key sites, sequences, and subjects that figure prominently, or should figure prominently, in how scholars both inside and outside Asia understand the archaeology of cultural and biological change through time. Short communications present new findings (e.g., radiocarbon dates) that are important to the extent that they reaffirm or change the way scholars in Asia and around the world think about Asian cultural or biological history.