RE: Equids
WIlliam C. Wilson (Wildbill@ilhawaii.net)
21 Dec 1994 01:40:13 GMT
It is my understanding that the pre-clovis (>12,000 yr)sites
are still not accepted as valid. This places man in the new world we
well before the extinction of the horse. It is my understanding
that the peoples involved are from the north west regions of
Siberia and functioned as big game hunters on the tundra and in
Taiga as the glaciers retreated. The horse domesticaters, @6000 yrs
later, were herders on the edge of the Ukrainian plains. This puts
them about 5000 miles away across some of the most difficult terrain
on Earth. You also have 6000 yrs of cultural differences to effect.
On the idea that the horse has always been in America, I
agree that you have to find an explanation for why the Native Americans
report no horses as present until after the arrival of the Spanish.
Also, I understand that you could /can? track the dispersion of the
Spanish horse via indian stories of its first arrivals in each tribe.
The fossil evidence I've heard /read about says that the
Pleistocene American Horse was about the same as the Polish Wild
Horse that still survives. Most of our modern large horses are
the results of (relatively) modern breeding practices and needs.
(ie.. you don't need a big strong fairly fast horse to pull a plow,
chariot, wagon, etc; but you do to carry a 180 lb man, 80 lbs of
armour and 20-30 lbs of weapons at a galloping charge. Once you have a
horse like that, It is great for pulling large heavy wagons if you
don't have an armoured knight to carry around of course. You could
pull the same wagon with several smaller horses of course, too.)
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