HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY
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Deputy Editor in Chief Habil. Dr Algirdas Girininkas (Klaipda University, Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, Lithuania)
Members Prof Dr Claus von Carnap-Bornheim (Archälogisches Landesmuseum Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig, Germany) Dr Rasa Banyt-Rowell (Lithuanian Institute of History, Lithuania) Dr Anna Bitner-Wróblewska (State Archaeological Museum in Warszawa, Poland) Dr Audron Bliujien (Klaipda University, Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, Lithuania) Dr Diugas Brazaitis (Klaipda University, Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, Lithuania) Dr Agn ivilyt (Lithuanian Institute of History, Lithuania) Prof Dr Wladyslaw Duczko (Putusk Academy of Humanities, Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology, Poland) Dr John Hines (Cardiff University, United Kingdom) Prof Dr (HP) Rimantas Jankauskas (Vilnius University, Lithuania) Dr Romas Jarockis (Klaipda University, Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, Lithuania) Dr Vygandas Juodagalvis (Lithuanian Institute of History, Lithuania) Habil. Dr Michel Kazanski (Centre National de la Recherche Scientique, France) Dr Bartosz Kontny (Institute of Archaeology, Warsaw University, Poland) Prof Dr Marika Mägi (Tallinn University, Estonia) Habil. Dr Alvydas Nikentaitis (Lithuanian Institute of History, Lithuania) Konstantin Skvortsov (Kaliningrad Museum of History and Art, Russia) Prof Dr Jörn Staecker (Gotland University, Sweden) Dr Vykintas Vaitkeviius (Klaipda University, Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, Lithuania) Prof Habil. Dr Andrejs Vasks (Riga, University of Latvia, Latvia)
Editor ial Assistant
Jurgita ukauskait (Klaipda University, Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, Lithuania)
Archaeologia Baltica is on EBSCO’s Current Abstracts and TOC Premier Database Coverage List since 2007
Articles appearing in this journal are peer-reviewed by either internal or external reviewers.
Archaeologia Baltica volume 11 was prepared by Klaipda University Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology
Lithuanian language editor: Roma Nikentaitien Design: Algis Kliševiius Layout by: Lolita Zemlien
Published with a grant from the Directorate for the Commemoration of the Millenium of Lithuania
Cover illustration: A brooch from Laiviai (Kretinga district)
© Klaipda University Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, 2009 © Lithuanian Institute of History, 2009 © Article authors, 2009 © Klaipda University Press, 2009
ISSN 1392-5520
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   1    1CONTENTS
Editorial board
Preface  8
I . FROM HORSE DOMEST ICATION TO IMAG ES OF THE HORSE AND HORSEMEN 13
Alicja Lasota-Moskalewska, Karol Szymczak and
Mukhiddnin Khudzhanazarov.
A Problem of the Earliest Horse Domestication. Data from the Neolithic  Camp Ayakagytma ‘The Site’, Uzbekistan, Central Asia 14
Algirdas Girininkas, Linas Daugnora and and Indr Antanaitis-Jacobs. When did Domesticated Horses Appear in Lithuania?  22
Jurgita ukauskait. Images of the Horse and Horseman  in Corded Ware Culture Studies 32
Liina Maldre and Heidi Luik. The Horse in Estonia in the Late Bronze Age:  Archaeozoological and Archaeological Data 37
I I . RIDING TO HEAVEN: HORSES FR OM BURIALS 49
Andrei V. Zinoviev. Horses from Two Burials in Samland and Natangen  (Second Century AD Kaliningradskaia Province, Russia) 50
Magorzata Karczewska, Maciej Karczewski, and Anna Grzak.The Role of Horse Burials in the Bogaczewo Culture. The Key Studies  of Paprotki Kolonia Site 1 Cemetery, Northeast Poland 56
I I I . HORSES , HORSEMEN, AND EQUESTRIAN EQUIPMENT: P REPARED F OR WAR, BURIALS, AND OFFERINGS 91
Bartosz Kontny. Horse and its Use in the Przeworsk Culture  in the Light of the Archaeological Evidence 92
Wojciech Nowakowski. Horse Burials in Roman Period Cemeteries 
of the Bogaczewo Culture 115
Konstant in Skvort sov. Burials of Riders and Horses Dated to the Roman Iron Age and Great Migration Period in Aleika-3  (Former Jaugehnen), Cemetery on the Sambian Peninsula 130
Audron Bliujien and Donatas Butkus. Burials with Horses and Equestrian Equipment on the Lithuanian and Latvian Littorals  and Hinterlands (from the Fifth to the Eighth Centuries) 149
  n    t   s
Bartosz Kontny, Jerzy Okulicz-Kozaryn and Mirosaw Pietrzak. Horse Graves in the Elblg Group. The Case of the Cemetery  at the Nowinka, Tolkmicko Commune 164
Audron Bliujien and Valdas Steponaitis. Wealthy Horsemen  in the Remote and Tenebrous Forests of East Lithuania during the Migration Period 185
Christine Reich. The Cemetery of Oberhof (Aukštkiemiai) –   Horse Graves and Equestrian Equipment  206
IV. THE HORSE IN WARFARE 219
Susanne Wilbers-Rost and Achim Rost. Bones and Equipment of Horses  and Mules on the Ancient Battleeld of Kalkriese,
 Northern Germany 220
Michel Kazanski. La Cavalerie Slave À l’Époque de Justinien  229
V. THE WORLD OF HORSE SYMBOL ISM 241
Laurynas Kur ila. Symbolic Horse Burials  in the Iron Age of East Lithuania 242
Antonija Vilcne. Findings of Harness Items and the Cult  of the Horse in Latgallian and Selonian Territories 254
Guntis Zemtis. The “Divine Trial” in 12th Century Turaida  in Historical Context 270
VI. HORSE AND EQUEST RIAN EQUIPMEN T
OFFERINGS 277
Nina Lau. The Harnesses from the Thorsberg Bog: New Evidence  Regarding Cavalry Equipment of the Roman Iron Age 278
Rdolfs Brzis and Roberts Spiris. The Ogresgala abas Cemetery  and Horse Sacrice 283
Mariusz Wyczókowski and Daniel Makowiecki. Horse Sacrices in Prussia in the Early Middle Ages. Ritual Area in Poganowo Site IV, Olsztyn Province (Poland)  295
Mindaugas Berta šius. Horse Graves, Sacrice, and the Performers 
of Public Rituals 305 Chr ister Westerdahl. The Horse as a Liminal Agent  314
VII . IMAGES OF THE HORSE IN ANCIENT ART 329
Dieter Quast. The Merovingian Period Equestrians in Figural Art  330
Konstant in Skvortsov and Aleksander Khokhlov.
Findings of Saddles from Archaeological Excavations  in Prussian Cemetery Aleika-3 in Samland. (Preliminary Publication) 343
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   1    1VII I . Horses in E thnoarchaeo logy and Fo lk lo re 349
Sonja Hukantaival. Horse Skulls and “Alder-Horse”: the Horse as a Depositional Sacrice in Buildings  350
Giedr Šukyt. The Behaviour of Horses in Lithuanian Narrative Folklore  357
Rimantas Sliuinskas. The Image of the Horse in Poetic Texts 
of Lithuanian Folk Songs 364
Guidelines for Authors  374
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songs have maintained over 100 names, synonyms, and
loan words for irgas, the riding horse, and arklys, the
working horse  – terms that not only name the horse,
 but also show its gender (Sabaliauskas 1968, pp.147-
168; Lietuvi kalbos atlasas 1977, p.146ff). Thus, if we wanted to brag about our trotter riding horse, we would
call it irgas. But if we have a draught horse, we call
it arklys, or an old useless horse or jade (or nag, rip,  screw, hack, knacker, weed, plug ) – kuinas. The irgas  is ergiamas, which means it is straddled; it is ridden
upon by the lad who visits his lass, it is ridden to war,
or to the fair, or to some other special occasion. One
uses the arklys, however, to plough. If we wish to em-
 phasize the horse’s characteristics in distinguishing the
riding horse from the working horse, its colours have
great meaning; the discernment of the riding horse’s
colours gives it some 20 different, specic names.
So, based on age-old traditions, it is better not to buy
a piebald horse at the Lithuanian horse fair ( jomarkas) even on a Thursday, a day that otherwise is a favour - able one for market (Greimas 1990, p.163), but if one can manage to inexpensively purchase a piebald horse,
it is better not to ride it, because it is said that he who
PREFACE
Participants of the conference The Horse and Man in European Antiquity
(Worldview, Burial Rites, and Mili tary and Everyday Life)in session  
(photograph by Vaitkeviius).
 I miss the horse  I simply miss the horse, its intelligent and good eyes.
 I want something heavy to drag, or just – to graze together. Justinas Marcinkeviius
(from: Eilrašiai, Maosios poemos. Vilnius, 1975)
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doubts himself. It is difcult to say what kind of horse the goddess Laum had, since even laumirgiai or fairy
horses are known (http://www.lkz.lt). In fact, however, the “fairy horse” (dragony in English) is a large insect that, like fairies, lives near the water and is part of the
 Aeshnidae family of insects.
These rst few paragraphs of the preface are not al- lotted for an analysis of the horse in Lithuanian eth-
nological material. Rather, they are meant to intrigue
the reader, to demonstrate the signicance of the horse in Balt lands and Lithuania since ancient times. On
the other hand, Lithuania’s history of horse breeding
rst is associated with small, staunch, stable, strong, and fast horses called the  emaitukas, a Samogitian
or Lowland horse breed that is unique and native to
Lithuania. But other breeds of horses began to push out
the emaitukas from the Lithuanian farm in the second
half of the 19th century, bringing the emaitukas to the
 brink of extinction. Realizing that the emaitukas was
an inseparable part of Lithuanian historical and cultural
life because of its ancient roots and unique properties,
the Oginskis dukes founded a social organization dedi-
cated to breeding the  emaitukas. This institution or - ganized local agricultural exhibitions, drove the horses
to international exhibitions, founded a stud-farm, and
in every possible way encouraged the peasants to raise
these small, hardy horses (Prušinskas 2006, p.4ff). To-
day, the Horse Museum in Nironys (Anykšiai dis-
trict, East Lithuania), established in 1978 and one of the few museums of its kind in Europe, continues to
actualize the various meanings of the horse in the cul-
tural life of present-day Lithuanians.
Thus, the location of the international conference The  Horse and Man in European Antiquity (Worldview,  Burial Rites, and Military and Everyday Life) on 8-12
October, 2008 in Klaipda was in no way fortuitous.
The intention of both the organizers of the confer - ence – Klaipda University and the Institute of Baltic
Sea Region History and Archaeology – and the confer-
ence’s organizing committee (Audron Bliujien, Al- girdas Girininkas, Michel Kazanski, Bartosz Kontny,
Konstantin Skvortsov, Vykintas Vaitkeviius, and Vla-
das ulkus) was to demonstrate the signicance of the horse in European antiquity, from the very beginning
of its domestication. Another goal of the conference
organizers was to take a look at the signicance of the horse in the everyday life, military, burial customs, of-
ferings, worldview, and artistic expressions in various
regions of Europe. To Klaipda University’s scientists, it also was important to try to reveal the multi-layered
and multi-aspected context of the uniqueness of the
culture area of the Balts through the horse because
here, the horse still was buried and sacriced even in the 13th-14th centuries.
How these goals were met can be judged by the articles
of Archaeologia Baltica’s 11th volume. By their themes,
the articles can be organized into eight chapters. The rst chapter, “From Horse Domestication to Images of the Horse and Horsemen,” discusses the problems of
the earliest horse domestication in Central Asia and the East Baltic region (Alicja Lasota-Moskalewska, Karol
Dieter Quast during the presentation of his paper “Merovingian period equestrians in gural art” (photograph by Vaitkeviius).
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Szymczak and Mukhiddnin Khudzhanazarov; Algir-
das Girininkas, Linas Daugnora, and Indr Antanaitis- Jacobs; Jurgita ukauskait; Liina Maldre and Heidi Luik). In the chapter “Riding to Heaven: Horses from Burials,” the authors discuss the peculiarities of horse
 burial rites, including their forms, types, ages (Andrei
V. Zinoviev; Magorzata Karczewska, Maciej Karcze-
wski, and Anna Grzak). The largest number of article contributions belongs to the chapter entitled “Horses,
Horsemen, and Equestrian Equipment: Prepared for
War, Burials, and Offerings.” In European funerary
customs there is no animal that led the person into the Afterlife as meaningful as the horse. Other animals or
their parts, or birds placed into people’s graves could not
equal that of the horse in meaning because usually they
ended up in the grave as ritual food, or as an allocation
of the pleasures one had in life (such as hunting), or they were an effort of the relatives and friends to supply the
one(s) departing for the Afterlife with other, additional attendants (Bartosz Kontny; Wojciech Nowakowski;
Konstantin Skvortsov; Audron Bliujien and Donatas Butkus; Bartosz Kontny, Jerzy Okulicz-Kozaryn, and
Mirosaw Pietrzak; Audron Bliujien and Valdas Ste-
 ponaitis; Christine Reich). “The Horse in Warfare” is the fourth chapter. Unfortunately, the military and the horse were inseparable in the history of humanity; this
is illustrated by the example of the Kalkriese battleeld that continues to be investigated, as well as the opera-
tions of the Slavic cavalry during the Gothic war in
Italy (Susanne Wilbers-Rost and Achim Rost; Michel
Kazanski). The chapter “The World of Horse Symbol- ism” is represented by three Baltic region authors who
discuss various horse symbols, often explained with
difculty (e.g., the sickle), and the role of the horse in the “Divine trial” (Laurynas Kurila; Antonija Vilcne; and Guntis Zemtis). In the chapter “Horse Offerings,” the authors examine the diverse intentions by which the
horse (or its gear) became the most popularly sacriced animal (Nina Lau; Rdolfs Brzis and Roberts Spiris; Mariusz Wyczókowski and Daniel Makowiecki; Mindaugas Bertašius). Moreover, apart from being a status marker with strong ritual connotations, it might
 be suggested that the horse in prehistory was a liminal
agent between sea and land (Christer Westerdahl). The
chapter “Images of the Horse in Ancient Art” discussesthe horse’s and horseman’s images and their signi-
cance in the Meriovingian Period in Europe and what
is extraordinary unusual – gural art recently found on a wooden saddles from Medieval Time Prussian’s (Samland peninsula) from horse graves (Dieter Quast; Konstantin Skvortsov and Aleksander Khokhlov). The “Horses in Ethnoarchaeology and Folklore” chapter
examines horse skulls as depositions in buildings and
horse behaviour in Lithuanian narrative folklore (Sonja
Hukantaival; Giedr Šukyt), and ends with the image of the horse in poetic texts of Lithuanian folk songs
(Rimantas Sliuinskas). Thus, one of Lithuania’s folk - lore songbook’s many songs “Oh horse, horse, dear
horse of mine (Oi irge irge irgeli mano) …”, with its many times “polished” concise poetical text, bears
testimony of the horse’s signicance.
Audron Bliujien
Translated by Indr Antanaitis-Jacobs
Jurgita ukauskait presenting her paper “Images of the horse and horseman in Corded Ware Culture studies”
(photograph by Vaitkeviius). .
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Li tera ture
mitologijos studijos. Vilnius–Chicago: Mokslas. DIDYSIS Lietuvi kalbos odynas [on line]. Available from:
http://www.lkz.lt  [Accessed 22 May 2009]. LIETUVI kalbos atlasas, 1977.  Lietuvi kalbos atlasas.
 Leksika, I, Vilnius: Mokslas, 146-148.
PRUŠINSKAS, K., 2006. emaitukai. emaii em, 3/52,
4-7.
SABALIAUSKAS, A., 1968. Balt kalb namini gyvuli  pavadinimai (j kilm ir santykis su atitinkamais slav pa-
vadinimais. Lietuvi kalbotyros klausimai, X, 101-187.
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Ayakagytma ‘The Si te’ and the E qui dae   r ema i n s
Today Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ became one of the most important Neolithic sites of Central Asia. Discov- ered in 1995 during a systematic survey carried on by Polish-Uzbek Archaeological Expedition, it is situated some 130 km North of Bukhara city, in the south-east- ern part of a steppe-desert area, called the Kyzyl-kums
(Fig. 1.1). Its geographic coordinates are: 40 o
39’05’’N;64o37’06’’E (Szymczak, Khudzhanazarov 2006,  p.11).
Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ is located in a distance of about 300 m from an edge of a vast (ca 20 sq. km) Ayakagyt- ma Depression, partly lled up by an articial, brackish lake. A neolithic camp covers a fragment of a relatively
 plain promontory, closed from the East by a limestone island hill, and from the remaining three sides – by the steep gorges (Szymczak, Khudzhanazarov 2006, pp.9- 16).
A regular excavation in Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ startedin 1996, and was continued, with some breaks, till 2004  – altogether 7 seasons of stationary eld research. By that time more than 125 m2 were carefully explored, yielding an extremely rich and valuable collection of artifacts: more than 60000 int, stone and pottery
mobile items were documented, together with other features, such as an oven, hearths and pits (Szymczak, Khudzhanazarov 2006, pp.37-60 and 196-201). Since 2004 an excavation in Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ is contin- ued by French-Polish-Uzbek Archaeological Mission, directed by Dr Frederique Brunet from Maison Rene Ginouves de l’Archeologie et de l’Ethnologie, CNRS,
 Nanterre, France.
The stratigraphical observations allowed us to estab-
lish that the Neolithic settlement in Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ had two clearly separated phases: an Early Neo- lithic, 14C dated to ca 8000–7400 cal. BP, and a middle neolith one, 14C dated to ca 6000–5000 cal. BP. Al- most one and a half millennium lasting settlement gap
 between those two phases, according to our data, was caused by the deluging of the area of the camp by rais- ing waters of an adjacent great water reservoir, called
 by us the Io Sea (Szymczak, Khudzhanazarov 2006). Additionally, we found it possible to divide an early neolithic phase into three sub-phases, marked (starting from the youngest as: a – ca 7500–7400 cal. BP, b – ca 7700–7500 cal. BP, and c – ca 8000–7700 cal. BP) (Szymczak et al. 2004).
One of the most interesting groups of nds discovered during an excavation was a rich collection of animal remains, connected directly with the Neolithic settle-
A PROBLE M OF THE EA RLIEST HO RSE DOM EST ICATIO N. DATA FRO M THE NEO LIT HIC CAM P AYAKA GYT MA ‘THE SITE’ , UZBEKISTAN, CENTRAL ASIA 1
ALICJA LASOTA-MOSKALEWSKA, KAROL SZYMCZAK AND
MUKHIDDNIN KHUDZHANAZAROV
Abstract
The authors discuss the archaeozoological indicators for horse domestication, and come to a conclusion that a considerable increase of horse remains, accompanied by a presence of other certainly domesticated species could be one of them. With such a situation we have to do in Ayakagytma ‘The Site’, Uzbekistan, where in the Early Neolithic layers dated to 8000–7400 cal. BP, a share of horse remains reach 30–40%. It would suggest the earliest horse domestication known today.
Key words: Central Asia, Neolithic, Kyzyl-kums, Ayakagytma ‘The Site’, horse domestication.
1  Field and laboratory research of Polish-Uzbek Archaeological Expedition, and Polish-Uzbek Archaeological Project was nanced by Polish Committee for Scientic Research /Komitet Bada Naukowych/, grants Nos. 1 H01G 011, 2 H01H 036 and N 109 019 31/0991, Institute of Archaeology Warsaw University, Institute of Archaeology Uzbek Academy of Sci - ences in Samarkand, Foundation for Polish Science /Fundacja na Rzecz Nauki Polskiej/, Association ‘Wspólnota Polska’, Mianowski Fund – Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Letters /Kasa im J. Mianowskiego – Fundacja Popierania
 Nauki/, and Scientic Union of Students of an Institute of Archaeology Warsaw University /Koo Naukowe Studentów Instytutu Archeologii Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego.
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I FROM HORSE DOMESTICA- TION TO IMAGES OF THE HORSE AN D HORSEMEN
ment. Among the bone and tooth fragments, the horse
remains played a very important role. Already in the earliest horizons a share of the pieces identied as be- longing to the Equidae family reached 30.0–40.0% (Table 1). In comparison with other Eurasian Neolithic sites such numbers are rather unique. Could it evidence, or suggest at least, an earliest domestication of horse? Let us try to have a closer look on this problem.
Some remarks on horse domes t i ca t ion and i t s ind ica to rs
A general process of horse domestication is not recog- nized in detail yet. If we set the basic questions: what
 progenitor, where, and when was domesticated, it would
appear that we are only able to give some suggestions,
 but not the valid answers. It seems that relatively the least complicated is to point out the progenitor, which was probably a wild horse, Equus ferus, occurring in the Early Holocene over the vast territories of Europe and Asia from Portugal, all the way through France, Mid- dle and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, down to western China (Benecke 1998). On such a large area it could develop various local forms, among which described are two main subspecies: tarpan, and Przewalski horse. In theory both those subspecies could be considered as the progenitors of the contemporary domesticated horses, which domestication most probably had a poly- topic character. Polytopy concerns all the animals of a wide range of occurrence, because their domestication could be realized by different human groups independ-
Table I . Shares o f the rem ains o f par t i cu la r an imal spec i es in an a rchae ozoolog ica l as semblage f r om Ayakagytma ‘ The Si t e ’ (percen t s coun ted in re la t ion to a to ta l number o f iden t i f i ed bone and too th remains in par t i cu lar s t ra t ig raph ica l un i t s )
specie lower settlement layer upper settlement layer   8000–7700 BP 7700–7500 BP 7500–7400 BP 6000–5000 BP
n % n % n % n %cattle 170 31.5 30 21.4 25 29.8 17 5.6 camel 118 21.9 18 12.9 42 50.0 257 84.5 Equidae 190 35.3 61 43.6 9 10.7 18 5.9 sheep/goat 15 2.8 6 4.3 4 4.7 1 0.3
 pig 3 0.6 3 2.1 2 2.4 5 1.7 dog 2 0.4 1 0.7 - - - -  buffalo 5 0.9 7 5.0 - - - - aurochs/bison 25 4.6 - - - - 1 0.3 gazelle 5 0.9 7 5.0 2 2.4 4 1.4 roe deer/fallow deer  1 0.2 1 0.7 - - - - Cervidae 5 0.9 5 3.6 - - 1 0.3 wild sheep - - 1 0.7 - - - -
TOTAL: 539 140 84 304
Fig. 1. Location of Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ in Central Asia where the earliest known today probably domesticated horse remains come from (Drawing by M. Róycka. To the right: a copy of an old Persian miniature showing a white horse in Central Asian steppe (painted by Toshev Davlat from Bukhara, 2004).
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ently in many places and in various times. Neverthe- less, it seem unlikely that Przewalski horse was a direct
 progenitor of domesticated horse for one fundamental reason – it has a different number of chromosomes. In such a situation we are left with tarpan; although we do not know yet its exact genotype, but polish horse, which is a direct continuation of tarpan, has the same number of chromosomes as all the contemporary do- mesticated horses (2n = 64).
A process of domestication could start nearly every- where, where only tarpan occurred – in Europe, as well as in western Asia. The most difcult quest would be to indicate where and when exactly that process took
 place for the earliest. Usually a chronology of domes- tication of a certain species is being set up on the bases of the dates obtained for the animal remains on which the morphological changes characteristic of domes- tication could be observed. Unfortunately, in case of
horse such changes could not be easily demonstrated, most probably because for a very long time the ways of life of wild and domesticated horse were quite similar (Fig. 1.2). In a situation when we do not have at our disposal the unequivocal morphological determinants, we should seek for other features, which could at least suggest domestication. Today we accept several such features.
One of them is an appearance in archaeological mate- rial of the artifacts directly indicating the use of horse, e. g. the parts of horse harness. We should mention that
one of the oldest in Europe horse bits was found in Biskupin (Great Poland), in the Early Iron Age, Luti- sian culture deposits (Drzewicz 2004). It was produced of a deer’s antler.
Many researchers consider that in prehistoric times horse could be used as a sacricial beast, buried, to- gether with other household beasts, in separate or hu- man/animal graves. In Poland many of such burials are found in the late Neolithic sites attributed to Globular Amphorae and Corded Ware cultures (Kaczorowska 1999). However, we should not forget that in Polish
 Neolithic we have numerous intentional burials of wild animals as well.
For the third, analyzed are also the changes and an increase of differentiation of the average sizes of ani- mal bones, because it is widely accepted that process of domestication causes a considerable variability in animals’ constitution and dimensions. Benecke (1998) observed the signicant increase of variability of lon- gitude of the third phalang of the Bronze and Iron Age horses in relation to the Early Holocene individuals. Such a phenomenon is conrmed in numerous bone collections from Spain, France, Germany, Poland,
Ukraine, and western Asia.
At last, an often used indicator for horse domestication is an increase of share of its bone remains in osteologi- cal material. This feature seems to be quite reliable,
 because it shows the growth of interest in a certain species among the prehistoric peoples. Even if it does not prove that such a species was fully domesticated, it is more than probable that at least it could be already tamed. One should only remember that in case of horse, its share should be necessarily confronted with a share of the remains of the beasts of chase, in order to exclude an intensive wild horse hunting.
The similar premises are being used to conrm not only horse domestication, but also domestication of the other species which domesticated forms do not show the univocal morphological features, e.g. llamas and alpacas in South America (Lavallée 1990), or geese in Egypt (Boessneck 1988). A group of features men- tioned above was used by Benecke (1998), who came
to a conclusion that the earliest horse domestication could take place in an environment of the Neolithic Tripole culture on Dniepr River, Ukraine. In an osteo- logical material from that region, dated for the rst half of the sixth millennium BC, a large number of horse remains of highly differentiated sizes was described, together with a presence of horse, and other domes- ticated animal bones, in human burials. O. Zhuravlev (2004), who is of an opinion that horse domestication started in another Ukrainian Neolithic unit – the Bug- Dniestr culture, mentions a similar possible date: the fourth millennium BC. Additionally, the same author records that by that time the differentiation of the siz- es of horses visibly increased, which is demonstrated on an example of their phalangs. In relation to south- western Europe, Benecke (1994), citing H.P. Uerpman, suggests that local horse domestication could occur in the rst half of the third millennium BC, among the tribes representing the late Neolithic Globular Am-
 phorae culture. Also in other European animal bone collections dated for the third millennium BC, Be- necke (1994) himself noted a conspicuous increase of the horse remains. Even though on certain areas their
shares were not identical, a general tendency could beclearly observed in many series from Slovakia, Germa- ny, Central Poland, and Hungary. In the latter country, a share of horse remains was the highest and reached 18.0%.
Horse domes t i c a t ion in Pol i sh Neol i th ic
Quite interesting is a position of horse in Polish Neolith- ic, where its general representation among the remains of domesticated animals is rather low (Laprus-Madej
1998). In the Banded Pottery culture the horse remains
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appear only in 8 out of 18 studied assemblages, with the shares closing in a range between 0.05–5.43%; in the Lengyel culture they appear in 9 out of 20 studied assemblages with shares between 0.32–2.05%; in the Funnel Beaker Culture – in 21 out of 37 studied as- semblages, with shares between 0.30–5.37%, although a single site yielded as much as 33.3% of such remains. Only rarely, but in various forms, the horses occur in
 burials: as the complete, individual sepulchers, as well as added to human graves (Kaczorowska 1999). As the detail analysis showed, the dimensions of the Neolithic horse long bones are slightly smaller in average than the Paleolithic and Mesolithic ones. The maximum of the process of decreasing of horse dimensions is noted in Polish Bronze Age (Kobry 1984). It is believed that in course of domestication, increasing, as well as decreasing of the dimensions of horse skeleton is pos- sible, but once such a process starts, it is always uni-
directional and continuous. Its direction depends on away a species was exploited, and on a way it was bred. The size increasing is usually connected with breeding selection (Lasota-Moskalewska 2008).
Recapitulating the remarks made above, we may ac- cept that a process of horse domestication in the Polish
 Neolithic is marked by a start of decreasing of the di- mensions of the discussed animals, and of using them as sacricial beasts. On the other hand, the low shares of horse remains, in relation to the shares of the re- mains of other positively domesticated species would suggest that so early start of larger scale horse domes- tication is doubtful, although we could point out the single sites with quite high shares of horse remains. It all could indicate a possibility of rather local, tentative domestication.
A prob lem of horse domes t i ca t ion in Ayakagytma ‘The Si t e ’
A presented review of the clues for horse domestica- tion in various areas shows that rendering a moment of the beginnings of that process is quite a difcult task.
After all, the horse remains found in burials could rep- resent wild animals, and increasing / decreasing of the dimensions could be a result of a natural, secular trend,
 but not of domestication. Thus, it seems that among the non morphological features the best indicator is a general considerable increase of horse remains in the osteological assemblages, especially when at the same time the shares of bone remains of wild animals stay at the same, relatively low level. In such a case, even if we cannot prove beyond doubt horse breeding, we should seriously take into account at least a possibil- ity of large scale taming which always, sooner or later,
ends up as domestication. From a man’s point of view,
taming was a period of adapting of a certain species for human needs. The more extensive those needs grew, the more limited was an independence of such a species. Consequently, a situation like that created the unavoidable conditions for natural, as well as for husbandry selection.
A model sketched above refers mainly to the settled farming societies. In case of the nomads, the horses were most probably chiey used as a mean of locomo- tion and transport, so their life could be not that strictly controlled. A period of adaptation of such animals could last for a very long time (some generations),
 but even in that case more probable was a husbandry rather than a natural selection. Such a selection gener- ally leads to the formation of the morphological types useful for riding, and easily standing the particular eco- logical conditions.
The horse bone and tooth nds from Ayakagytma ‘TheSite’ take, from an archaeozoological point of view, a special position (Lasota-Moskalewska et al.  2006,
 p.206ff). In osteological material belonging to the ear- liest sub-phase ‘c’ (8000–7700 cal. BP) a share of the identied as horse family remains reaches 35.2%. In subsequent layer ‘b’ (7700–7500 cal. BP) it increases even to 43.6% (Table 1). The remaining nds in major - ity belong to domesticated cattle and camel. Wild ani- mals are represented only by a few species occurring in a scarce number of bone fragments. E.g. a share of au- rochs remains totaled 5.2%, which is understandable in
a context of an intensive cattle breeding, and a need of herd extension. A conspicuous disproportion between the shares of the remains of the beasts of chase and the remains of horse family allows us to suggest that in Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ horse could be bred and used
 by the Neolithic people. With their economy based on cattle breeding, they could ride horses and camels, and use them as a mean of transport. Such a picture is well supplemented by a presence of domesticated dog (Ta-
 ble 1).
In a following sub-phase ‘a’ (7500–7400 cal. BP), horse started to be supplanted by camel, which could mark a possible change in a way of locomotion. In the youngest layer (6000–5000 cal. BP), after a long settle- ment gap, camel took a leading role (84.5% of all the identied animal remains), with a position of cattle and horse family considerably decreased. It may seem that
 by that time the whole type of the Neolithic economy had changed, possibly in a direction of an exclusive camel breeding.
Cattle bred in Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ shows the fea- tures of a long time domestication because its bones are of not too large sizes. According to the European
classication, it was cattle of a short horn type –  Bos
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taurus brachyceros. A height in withers of those ani- mals, calculated on a base of the measurements of their long bones, reached 125–130 cm, which is characteris- tic of medium tall cattle. It shows that in Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ horse was bred by a society well acquainted with other large mammals’ husbandry, who probably constantly needed horse in everyday life, and who at the same time was not forced to hunt too intensively.
In such circumstances one should not have serious doubts that in Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ we have to do with a large scale horse domestication. The possible morphological consequences of that process are addi- tionally indicated by the metrical features of the bones. Unfortunately, the studied material was in such a poor state of preservation that we have managed to meas- ure only one radius bone. Its length would indicate that an individual reached 145 cm in withers, which is considerably more than the same measurement for
wild horses. An average height of Przewalski horse is 135 cm, and of tarpan – 136 cm, with a maximum of a whole range never exceeding 140 cm. Thus, an indi- vidual from Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ would belong to a medium tall group of domesticated horses (Kobry 1984).
Of course, basing on one individual represented by a single long bone we are not able to describe a whole
 population, but at least we can state that this particular horse was most probably domesticated and bred since long ago. It could represent an already graded up race
which differed from the wild forms not only in height,  but also in shape. The graded up races usually have longer and more slender limbs, longer necks, relatively smaller heads, and bent up bellies. The similar fea- tures could be observed e.g. among the Arabian horses
 – a race developed long ago and spread all over Eu- rope already since the Roman period. Among others, the horses of such silhouettes are also represented on the prehistoric petroglyphs from Uzbekistan (Lasota- Moskalewska, Hudjanazarov 2000). It could strongly suggest an existence of an early graded up race or races developed locally on a territory of Central Asia. The
most ancient, and existing till today, race coming from that area is the Akhaltekin race (Plate I.1). Its herds live in Turkmenistan in a steppe/desert environment, usually in a vicinity of oases. The heights in withers of the contemporary Akhaltekins close in a range of 150–  157 cm. The Polish edition of the Great Encyclopedia of Horses (Edwards 2002) mentions that the origins of a discussed race are connected with racing horse
 breeding in Ashkhabad, the capital of the Republic of Turkmenistan, some 1000 years BC. It is said that the animals of that race were rode by the members of the Bactrian Guard of the Persian king Darius. The Akha- ltekins were related to the Yomudian and Turkmenian
horses whose remains, among others, were found in the Pazirisk grave mounds. The horses of all the men- tioned races can stand the heat, lack of water, and are able to run without rest for long distances.
Obviously, we do not have any direct proves that the origins of the Akhaltekin horses should be dated as
early as the Neolithic times. What we only wanted to show here, are the possible results of horse breeding gained on an arid territories of Central Asian lowlands. However, according to what we presented above, it seems that there are some proves, or reasons at least, to claim that already at the very beginning of the local
 Neolithic (a turn of the ninth and the eight cal. millen- nium BP) on a territory of the Central Asian lowlands horse could be domesticated and bred. At the same time the data regarding horse domestication on other areas of Eurasia which we gained so far allow us to
 point out that the dates from Ayakagytma ‘The Site’
are positively the earliest. It is also quite probable that since those times we should count not only a domes- tication itself, but also the constant grading up of the certain races, adopted better than wild horses for hard, arid conditions, and more useful for human nomadic mode of life.
Horse hoof p r in t s a s a de te rminan t o f domes t i ca t ion?
At the end we would like to present one more premise
which, as we are convinced, also has some value in  proving the horse domestication in Ayakagytma ‘The Site’. In the youngest layer (6000–5000 cal. BP), in the soft, muddy at rst, and then hardened ground of a cos- tal zone of a great reservoir of the Io Sea, a regular row of seven round hoof prints was recovered, identied as horse traces (Fig. 2.1-2). An unchanging distance
 between the individual prints was 55 cm (Szymc- zak, Khudzhanazarov 2006a with g.3). We tried to explain, if those traces were left rather by a wild or a domesticated animal. It seemed that a certain clue could be given by a size of a sole surface, calculated
on a basis of a maximum width of a hoof print. In our case the measurements closed in a range 15.0–17.0 cm. The same measurements for the feral horses living in the western part of North America reach from 9.5 to 15.9 cm for the fore legs, and from 8.9 to 14.6 cm for the hind legs, with a standard variation s = +/- 2 cm (Jackson 2003). Additionally, Henryk Kobry kindly measured the dimensions of the hoofs of 10 contempo- rary mixed race domesticated horses from the villages near Warsaw, Poland, and obtained the following aver- age results: 12.5 cm for pectoral /chest/ limbs, and 10.0 cm for the pelvis ones. The measured horses were ca
155–160 cm high in withers. To complete the series,
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Zygmunt Giejewski kindly measured the maximum diameters of the hoof marks of half wild polish horses
in the Research Station of Polish Academy of Sciencesin Popielno, northern Poland. Two and three years old individuals left the traces 9.0 cm (8.0–10.5 cm) wide, while the fully grown up animals, 4–25 years old, left the traces 11.0 cm (10.0–11.5 cm) wide. Two living
 polish horses had their hoofs 12.0 and 12.5 cm wide.
The above data show that a horse from Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ had the relatively large sole surfaces of hoofs, even if we took into account that a mark left in the sticky mud could be somewhat wider than a hoof it- self. So, the sizes of the Ayakagytma horse hoofs seem to be comparable with the maximum sizes of the feral
animals living in the western part of North America,
deriving from various races of European domesticated horses. A correlation of the metrical features, and an optimum indicator of body weight falling on one square centimeter of a sole surface, would lead us to a quite
 probable conclusion that a horse which left its hoof marks in Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ was relatively large, much larger than polish horses. A height in withers of the latter reaches only 136 cm, and could be compared with the heights of the wild races: tarpan and Przew- alski horse. Even though an individual from Ayakagyt- ma ‘The Site’ is dated as early as the sixth millennium cal. BP, it was already quite tall and graded up, which would again indicate a long lasting horse breeding on a territory of the present day Republic of Uzbekistan. In such circumstances our hypothesis that the horses from Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ were domesticated as early as a turn of the ninth and eight millennium cal. BP, i. e. the very beginnings of the local Neolithic, seems to be
 based on reliable data.
Conclus ions
Although we do not have the direct proves for the  Neolithic horse domestication in the Central Asian lowlands, we have tried to show the premises which let us build up such a hypothesis. The rst is an ex - tremely high share of the Equidae remains, sometimes exceeding 40%. We are well aware that not all of those remains represent horse itself, but also other species
 belonging to the same family, nevertheless, the indices like that show a great interest in horse among the Neo- lithic inhabitants of Ayakagytma ‘The Site’.
The second is the height in withers. We managed to re- construct the dimensions of only one individual, which was much taller than the wild horses. It could mean that at least this particular animal was domesticated for a long time, with grading up not excluded.
The third premise is the width of the sole surfaces measured on the bases of the hoof prints preserved in Ayakagytma ‘The Site’. They also indicate that an animal who left them was much larger than an aver- age wild individual, but t well to the sizes of horses domesticated for a long time.
The fourth, indirect premise is a presence in an os- teological material from Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ of the remains of the other fully domesticated species of mammals: cattle, sheep/goat, pig and dog, not exclud- ing a possibility of domestication of camel. It would mean that the Neolithic societies from the Kyzyl-kums were acquainted with animal breeding, and in their case horse would not be an exception. All that leads us to a more than probable conclusion that the horses were
domesticated since the very beginnings of the Central
Fig. 2. Above: the fossil hoof marks of a horse from before 5000 years in Ayakagytma ‘The Site’ (photograph
 by A. Dzbyski). Below: the contemporary horse hoof  prints in a coastal zone of a modern lake (photograph  by M. Przedziecki).
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Asian lowlands Neolithic, which is dated to a turn of the ninth and eight millennium cal. BP. At the same time, it would be the earliest date for horse domestica- tion that we have today.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their special grati- tude to Prof Dr Henryk Kobry, and Dr Zygmunt Giejewski for their labour and inventiveness in col- lecting an untypical comparative material for analyz- ing and interpreting the horse hoof marks. We would also like to thank Ulana Zieliska, M. A. for giving us a permission to publish a photograph of the Akhaltekin horse from her family farm.
Translated by authors
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SZYMCZAK, K., KHUDZHANAZAROV, M., 2006a.  Non functional hollowed features from the Neolithic camp Ayakagytma ‘The Site’, south-eastern Kyzyl-kums, Uz-
 bekistan. In:  Des trous… Structures en creux pre- et  protohistoriques, Actes du colloque de Dijon et Baume-
les-Messieurs, 24–26 mars 2006, sous la direction de Marie-Chantal Frere-Sautot Prehistories, 12. Montagnac, Dijon: editions monique mergoil, 447-451.
ZHURAVLEV, O., 2004. O poyavlenii domashnikh loshadiej na Ukrainie. In: A. KOKO, M. SZMYT, eds. Nomadyzm a pastoralizm w midzyrzeczu Wisy i Dniestru. Pozna: Wydawnictwo Poznaskie, 251-253.
ZHURAVLEV, O., 2004. O poyavlenii domashnikh loshadiej na Ukrainie. In: A. KOKO, M. SZMYT, eds. Nomadyzm a pastoralizm w midzyrzeczu Wisy i Dniestru. Pozna: Wydawnictwo Poznaskie, 251-253.
Received: 27 February 2009; Revised: 26 March 2009; Accepted: 12 June 2009
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Europoje, tiek Vakar Azijoje (1–2 pav.). Nra ir tie- siogini morfologini arkli prijaukinim rodani veiksni. Kitos arkli prijaukinimo prielaid patvirti- nanios detals yra randamos pakinkt dalys, paaukot arkli liekanos, vairs j dydiai (aukštis), arkli kau- l gausjimas archeozoologinje mediagoje.
Lenkijoje neolito laikotarpiu namini arkli kaul ap- tinkama santykinai retai, j skaiius neviršija 6%. Indi- vidai vidutiniškai yra maesni nei laukiniai arkliai – tai aiškinama veisimo atranka (I: 1 iliustr.).
Ayakagytma neolito gyvenvietje nuo jos egzistavimo  pradios Equidae radini skaiius yra ypa didelis: 35,3% c subfazje, 43,6% b subfazje ir 10,7% a sub- fazje (1 lent.). Neabejotinai namins ršys: galvijai, avys / okos, kiauls, šunys ir galimai kupranugariai. Vieno arklio, kur pavyko išmatuoti, gis ties ketera siek 145 cm. Tai gali reikšti prijaukinim ir net veis-
ls gerinim. Ayakagytma gyvenvietje aptikti ir išmatuoti neolito laikotarpio arklio kanop spaudai (2: 1–2 pav.). J
 plotis (15,0–17,0 cm) yra daug didesnis nei laukiniams arkliams bdingas kanop plotis. Tai leidia manyti, kad šis gyvnas buvo prijaukintas ir galimai veisia- mas.
 Negalime teigti, kad turime tiesiogini arklio prijauki- nimo Centrinje Azijoje rodym, taiau didelis Equi- dae radini paplitimas ir vieno individo didelis gis ties ketera ir pado paviršiaus ploio matmenys bei kit
neabejotinai namini rši egzistavimas leidia darytiišvad, kad Centrins Azijos emumose arklys galjo  bti prijaukintas jau IX–VIII tkstantmeio (cal. BP) sandroje, ir tai yra ankstyviausia šiuo metu turima data.
Vert Jurgita ukauskait
Karol Szymczak
Mukhiddnin Khudzhanazarov Institute of Archaeology Uzbek Academy of Sciences Ul. Akad. Abdullaeva 3 703051 Samarkand, Uzbekistan E-mail: sarmish@mail.ru
ANKSTYVIAUS IO ARKLIPRIJAUKINIMO PROBLEMA. AYAKAGYTMA NEOLITO GYVENVIETS (CENTRIN AZIJA) DUOM ENYS
Alicja Lasota-Moskalewska,
Ayakagytma yra viena svarbiausi neolito gyvenviei Centrinje Azijoje. Ji kurta pietrytinje Kyzylkumo steps / dykumos dalyje (1 pav.). Keleto kasinjimo sezon metu aptikta gausi archeologin mediaga: titnagini ir akmenini dirbini bei keramikos. Neo- lito Ayakagytma gyvenviet egzistavo dviem aiškiai išsiskirianiais laikotarpiais: pirmoji, ankstyvoji, jos faz datuojama 8000–7400 cal. BP, antroji, vlyvoji, – 6000–5000 cal. BP. Negyvenamas laikotarpis tarp ši
fazi susijs su teritorijos utvindymu, pakilus gretimtelkini vandens lygiui (pavadinome j Io jra). Anks- tyvoji faz padalinta tris subfazes: a – 7500–7400 cal. BP, b – 7500–7700 cal. BP ir c – 8000–7700 cal. BP. Kasinjim metu surinkta ir didel osteologin ko- lekcija (1 lentel), kurioje svarbi viet um arkli kaulai. Jau ankstyviausiuose horizontuose arkli kaul ir dant kiekis viršijo 40 proc. – tai unikalus skaiius
 palyginti su bet kuria kita Eurazijos neolito kolekcija.
Apie arkli prijaukinim vis dar turime maai infor - macijos. Proceso pradia galjo bti bet kurioje lauki- ni arkli (Equus ferus) apgyventoje teritorijoje – tiek
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   A   p   p   e   a   r    i  n    L    i   t    h   u   a   n    i  a    ? WHEN D ID DO MESTIC ATED HO RSES APPEAR
IN LITHUANIA?
INDR ANTANAITIS-JACOBS
Abstract
The horse bones found in Lithuanian habitation sites that date to the Late Neolithic and to the Early Bronze Age still do not indicate that these horses were ridden upon or used to plough the soil. However, horse bones have been found in Lithuanian territory only in those sites where bones of other animals that were domesticated have been found. This suggests that domes- ticated horses in Lithuania might have spread together with other domesticated animals by way of cultural diffusion during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.
Key words: Lithuania, horses, domestic fauna, Late Neolithic, Early Bronze Age, Eneolithic.
In t roduct ion
Thirteen habitation sites are known in the Late Neo- lithic – Early Bronze Age in Lithuanian territory in which horse bones have been found (Fig. 1). Whether these bones were of wild or domesticated horses will
 be known only in the future after detailed scientic analyses. At this time, the compiled zooarchaeological data enable a determination of their nd sites’ aflia- tion from a cultural and chronological point of view.
K.L. Paaver describes the third to second millennia BC
horses living in the East Baltic as wild (Paaver 1965, p.180ff). It was thought that wild horses could have lived here in the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic peri- ods. Their bones have been found in the East Baltic in the habitation sites of Kunda, Zvidze, Osa, Zvejnieki II , Kääpa, Kõnnu, as well as in the Zvejnieki burial ground (Lõugas 1996, pp.273-291; 2006, p.75ff). According to L. Lõugas, there are no reliable data regarding the spe- cies of that time’s horses that were propagating in the forests. Nor has it yet been determined if the horses’ skeletal parts encountered in these sites are actually from later periods (Lõugas 1997, p.281ff).
Pendants made from horse ( Equus ferus) teeth found in ve (possibly six) Zvejnieki burial ground graves (Nos. 12, 42, 86, 100, 122, and possibly 201) in Latvia tell us of the possible mode of life of Mesolithic–earli- er Neolithic wild horses (Eriksson 2006, p.190). These
 pendants generally were found with pendants of teeth from other large mammals (elk, aurochs, boar, deer), and, interestingly, in graves with children (see Za- gorskis 1987). No horse bones have been found from investigated Mesolithic or earlier Neolithic sites in Lithuanian territory.
At this time it is difcult to speak about how horses lived in the forests of the East Baltic during the Mid- dle Holocene. Upon reviewing the zooarchaeological material of the site of ventoji 23, considered one of the earliest (Narva Culture) archaeological sites in Lithua- nia with a domesticated horse nd, a horse bone with a spavin pathology was established. This type of pa- thology is found in collections of later periods as well as in other researched cemeteries with horse burials in Lithuania (Daugnora, Thomas 2005). When chroni- cally inamed, the separate tarsal bones fuse together and the mobility of the hock (tarsus) joint diminishes. In the case of this ventoji 23 horse, a bilateral ossica- tion of the ligaments between the metapodials also was found, which inuenced the medial and lateral splint
 bones’ (MT II – IV) fusion with the third metapodial (MT III). This bone pathology is described as Chronica deformans tarsi et desmoiditis ossicans ligamentum interosseum and is characteristic only of horses who lived from the Roman Period to more recent centuries. This ventoji 23 horse bone was AMS radiocarbon dated to 185±40 BP (Ua-22782). Not only was this horse not bred nor hunted at ventoji in the Neolithic,
 but the calibration of its radiocarbon date shows thespecimen’s chronology as cal. AD 1650–1950 (95.4%) (Reimer et al. 2004)1.
However, in Latvia’s Abora 1 habitation site, in which Late Narva Culture artefacts dominate (Loze 1979,
 p.26), and which is dated to 3770+60 BP (TA-394) (2460–1990 cal BC (95.4%)) (Reimer et al. 2004), part 1  All radiocarbon data in this article were calibrated using
the Radiocarbon Calibration Program CALIB REV5.0.2 (copyright 1986-2005 to M. Stuiver and P.J. Reimer), in conjunction with Stuiver and Reimer 1993. The reference for all (IntCal04) calibration datasets is Reimer et al. 2004.
All calibrated dates are expressed as extremes of the 2 sig-ma range, i.e., with 95.4% probability.
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Fig. 1. Late Neolithic (1) and Early Bronze Age (2) sites (in some sites these periods overlap) in which horse bones have  been found: Late Neolithic: 1 Nida; 2 Šarnel; 3 Donkalnis; 4 Daktarišk 1; 5 Daktarišk 5; 6 emaitišk 1; 7 emaitišk 2; 8 Kretuonas 1B; 9 Kretuonas 1D; 10 Katra Ištakos 1. Early Bronze Age: 11 Kretuonas 1C; 12 Papišks 4; 13 Dusia 8.
of a bridle’s corneous tting or cheekpiece was found
(Loze 1997, p.25), which would suggest that horses were controlled or ridden upon. Remains of seventeen (MNI - minimum number of individuals) horses have
 been found in the Late Neolithic sites surrounding Lake Lubana in Latvia (Loze 1997, p.25). Analogous horse
 bridle parts made from red deer antler and which date to the Early Iron Age were found in Biskupin (Drze- wicz 2004, plate XVII). These latter artefacts belong to the Lusatian Culture. Small analogous horn ttings or cheekpieces found in East Lithuania near Lake Kre- tuonas at the emaitišk 2 site and dated to the end
of the Late Neolithic also might have been designedfor bridles (Girininkas 1990, p.87). The cross-sections of these small ttings are D-shaped with small, drilled V-shaped holes. It would have been possible to join leather bridle parts with corneous tacks through these holes in the places where they fastened on to the bri- dle’s spacer plates (Fig. 2). Moreover, the horn ttings could have been glued onto the leather with pitch or resin. Cheekpieces were made in this fashion and rivet- ed with corneous tacks in bone workshops in this very same way in Middle Age sites in Lithuania (Jarockis 1992, p.171).
By the most recent data, 20 individuals (MNI) of hors-
es have been found in sites dated to the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in Lithuanian territory (Table 1). The proportionately large amount of horse remains found in Late Neolithic Lithuania and Latvia, together with the cheekpieces, suggest that the horse might  have been used for riding and controlled by leather reins (but see Levine on cheekpieces 2005, p.9ff; and Clutton-Brock on bridles 1999, p.10ff).
So far there are no data regarding the use of the horse for other work in East Baltic territory during this early
 prehistoric period. Nor are there many in Western and
 Northern Europe. The only known scene of ploughing hewn into stone, in which a horse is depicted pulling a plough, is from the Tegneby area in Western Swe- den and is dated to the Late Bronze Age (Glob 1951) (Fig. 3).
Our aim in this article is to compile and systematize the earliest known archaeological and zooarchaeologi- cal data regarding horses in Lithuania in order to theo- rize when and in what environment horses, possibly domesticated, rst appeared in Lithuanian territory.
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   A   p   p   e   a   r    i  n    L    i   t    h   u   a   n    i  a    ? Table 1 . Dis t r ibu t ion of number o f horse bones and mi n imum number
of ind iv idual horses a longs ide number o f domes t i c an imal bone to ta l and MNI where ava i l ab le in excavated Late Neol i th ic to Ear ly Bronze Age s i t es in L i thuan ia
Site (Archaeological
/ MNI (where available)
Phalanx, Dentes
About 50
TibiaTibia Tibia
  2/ 1  Dentes 4
  3/ 1 Phalanx, Metatarsus 39 / 15
Donkalnis (Narva, Corded Ware)
emaitišk 1
emaitišk 2 (Narva)
  3/ 1  Mandibula,
Kretuonas 1B (top cultural layer) (Narva, Globular Amphora)
  29/ 3  Metacarpus, Phalanx
  1/ 1  Dentes 1
Tibia, Digiti
271 / 25
Mater ia l s and methods
Domesticated animal bones of cattle, sheep or goat (and possibly pig?) rst make their appearance in Lithuanian territory in Narva and Bay Coast Culture (also known as Rzucewo, Rutzau, Baltic Coastal, Bal- tic Haff, or Haffküsten Culture) sites starting in the Middle Neolithic; their amounts generally increase in Narva and Bay Coast Culture sites over the course
of the Middle Neolithic (Daugnora, Girininkas 2004, p.104ff). No horse bones, however, have been found among them. Horse bones in Lithuanian territory are known only starting in sites dated to the Late Neolithic (4400/4300–3500 BP or 3100/2900–1800 cal BC) (An- tanaitis-Jacobs, Girininkas 2002, p.11), and they occur among bones of animals known to be domesticated. An even larger amount of domesticated animal bone has
 been established from the zooarchaeological material in sites of the Early Bronze Age (Fig. 1). The most cur- rent periodization of the Early Bronze Age in Lithua- nia is 2000–1650 cal BC (Girininkas 2007, pp.3-14),
which would modify the previously published end date
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Fig. 3. The Tegneby ard petroglyph (Western Sweden). After P.V. Glob 1951, p.56 g.63.
of the Late Neolithic period. By current archaeological and zooarchaeological material, 13 Late Neolithic –
Early Bronze Age sites have been found in Lithuanianterritory in which horse bones have been discovered. The minimum number of individual horses found with- in each site is small: from one to three (Table 1). This would at least suggest that the communities of the time did not rear (or consume?) many horses.
The s i tes  Nida
By 1973-1977 research data from the habitation site of Nida (on the Curonian Spit), among the domesti- cated animal teeth of dog and cattle, as well as bone of sheep and goat, the middle phalanx (phalanx media), tibia, and calcaneus of a horse were found (Table 1) (Rimantien 1989, p.67). E. Hollack also mentions having found cattle teeth and a phalanx media of horse at Nida (Hollack 1895, p.241ff). The site belongs to the late phase of the Bay Coast Culture and the end of the Middle Neolithic Narva Culture. The Osteologi- cal Laboratory’s depository at the Lithuanian Veteri- nary Academy stores four small wrist (carpal) bones, a caudal vertebra, phalanx media (GL 5.73; Bp 6.35;
SD 5.26; Bd 5.42 cm (measurements according to Vonden Driesch 1976), and calcaneus fragment from the  Nida site. The radiocarbon date obtained from Nida’s hearth no. 24 is 4620±110 BP (Vs-631) which gave a calibrated radiocarbon date of 3640–3030 cal. BC. The radiocarbon date from hearth no. 56 is 4070±50 BP (Bln-2592), with a calibrated radiocarbon date of 2860–2470 cal BC.
Šarnel
1981–1982 (Girininkas 1977, p.57ff; Butrimas 1996,
 pp.174-191). Domesticated animal bones were found among the wild animal bones, three of which were horse
 bones (A horses left leg’s ra- dius (measuring GL 30.5; BFp 7.10; Bp 7.82; SD 3.56; Bd 7.06; BFd 5.92 cm) and frag- ment of left pelvis was found during the 1973 excavation, and right shoulder blade or scapula (SLC – 5.42; LG 4.88; BG 4.30 cm) as well as pha- lanx proximalis (Bp 4.90; SD 3.39 cm) were found during the 1982 excavation.). Two
more horse bones were found during the excavation of 1996 (Table 1). By the number of specimens, the horse
 bones comprise only 2% of domesticated animal bonesdiscovered at this site. The site contains an artefact in- ventory characteristic of the Narva and Corded Ware Cultures and has a Late Neolithic radiocarbon date of 4260±90 BP (Vs-318) or 3260–2580 cal BC.
Daktar i šk 1
Daktarišk 1 was excavated in 1979–1980 (Butrimas 1982a). Two horse bones were found in the site’s Late
 Neolithic cultural layer (Table 1), which also contained domesticated animal bones. The site contains Middle
and Late Neolithic Narva Culture as well as Corded Ware Culture artefacts (Butrimas 1982, pp.4-36). The site has a radiocarbon date of 3770±110 BP (Vs-363) (2480–1890 cal BC).
Daktarišk 5
Daktarišk 5 was investigated in 1987–1990 (Butri- mas 1988, p.5ff; 1990, p.7ff; Iršnas, Butrimas 2000,
 pp.125ff; Butrimas, Ostrauskien 2004, p.128ff) and two cultural layers were established within the site: a
 Narva Culture layer of both the Middle and Late Neo-
lithic, as well as a Late Neolithic Corded Ware Cul- ture layer.