The Archaeology of the Horse : From the Palaeolithic to the Modern Age

The history of the relationship between humans and equines reveals the gradual development of a symbiotic association over time. This relationship began with the perception of the horse as a source of food, progressed through processes of taming and domestication, and eventually evolved into the visual metaphor of the Centaur, in which the image of the horse merges symbiotically with that of the human. This metaphor therefore functions not only as a poetic image, but also as an analytical model for understanding long-term human– horse entanglement. It demonstrates a form of symbiosis in which the horse is not merely a cultural animal, but something far more complex. Through careful analysis from iconographic and material culture perspectives, The Archaeology of the Horse examines themes of social power, warfare, mobility, ideology, socio-cultural systems, and religious and ritual significance. In this context, the horse emerges as a key analytical tool across rock art, material culture, and bioarchaeology. The transition from a source of food to Centaur should be understood not as a narrative of human dominance over the horse, but as a long and dynamic process of co-evolution, in which humans and horses shaped a shared history. Consequently, this book seeks to begin to explore the many nuances that have characterised the relationships between human and horse over the millennia and pave the way for future research.