Horse Domestication Date May Be Pushed Back 3,000 Years

AL MAGAR, SAUDI ARABIA—Some 300 stone artifacts crafted by the people of a previously unknown civilization have been unearthed in the desert of the Arabian Peninsula. The tools, arrow heads, scrapers, and statues of sheep, goats, ostriches, and horse-like animals are thought to be 9,000 years old. Some of the horses are shown wearing tack, suggesting that these people may have been the first to domesticate them. “It could possibly be the birthplace of an advanced
prehistoric civilization that witnessed the domestication of animals, particularly the horse, for the first time during the Neolithic period,” said Ali bin Ibrahim Al Ghabban of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquties.