Hunter-gatherers in southernmost South America integrated horses with Spanish pedigrees into their societies around 400 years ago, long before Europeans occupied that region, a new study suggests.
Spaniards reached south-central South America around 1536 but moved north after a few years, leaving behind horses and other livestock. Patagonian hunter-gatherers incorporated growing numbers of horses into their way of life a century or more before Europeans settled the region permanently in the mid-1800s, Taylor’s group concludes December 8 in Science Advances.
Related findings indicate that offspring of horses brought by Spaniards to Mexico in 1519 reached Indigenous people in North America by the early 1600s, before those groups encountered Europeans (SN: 3/30/23).
Excavated horse remains at Chorrillo Grande 1 consisted of three partial leg bones and six teeth. DNA from these finds identified three domestic horses, one male adult and two female juveniles, the scientists say. Radiocarbon dating of horse specimens, food crusts on unearthed pottery pieces and other finds places people there starting between 1599 and 1653.
2023-12-08 14:27:45
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