May/June 2018 Issue

MONGOLIA: The Dongoin Shiree steppe in eastern Mongolia contains a unique 8th-century funerary monument that suggests the region was an important power center during the Second Turkic Khaganate. A stone sarcophagus was placed at the center of an earthen mound and surrounded by 14 stone pillars inscribed with Turkic runes. They comprise one of the largest collections of Turkic inscriptions ever found in Mongolia. One passage reveals that the deceased individual was an important and highranking official during the reign of Bilge Khagan (r. 716–734).

KAZAKHSTAN: It has long been thought that all modern domesticated horses are descended from those first tamed by the Botai culture in Kazakhstan about 5,500 years ago. Surprisingly, analysis of ancient DNA from 20 Botai horses has shown that they are not ancestors of our modern horses, but of Przewalski’s horses, considered to be the last remaining wild horses. If Przewalski’s horses are, in fact, not wild, but feral descendants of the Botai, it would mean that there are no longer any truly wild horses in existence today.

ETHIOPIA: Footprints left by children as young as 12 months offer a glimpse of family dynamics 700,000 years ago. The prints at Melka Kunture were left by a group of Homo heidelbergensis individuals gathered around a shallow pool, where evidence of stone tool knapping and the butchered carcass of a hippopotamus were also found. The small children’s footprints reveal how they tagged along as the adults carried out their daily activities, perhaps to observe and learn important survival skills such as hunting and toolmaking.