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<article article-type="research-article" dtd-version="1.3" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xml:lang="en"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">nsc</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title xml:lang="en">Archaeology, Ethnology &amp; Anthropology of Eurasia</journal-title><trans-title-group xml:lang="ru"><trans-title>Археология, этнография и антропология Евразии</trans-title></trans-title-group></journal-title-group><issn pub-type="ppub">1563-0110</issn><publisher><publisher-name>IAET SB RAS</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.1.129-139</article-id><article-id custom-type="elpub" pub-id-type="custom">nsc-901</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="heading"><subject>Research Article</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="section-heading" xml:lang="en"><subject>THE METAL AGES AND MEDIEVAL PERIOD</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="section-heading" xml:lang="ru"><subject>ЭПОХА ПАЛЕОМЕТАЛЛА</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>Ancestors of the Oriental Horse in Eurasia: Origin and Distribution</article-title><trans-title-group xml:lang="ru"><trans-title></trans-title></trans-title-group></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes"><contrib-id contrib-id-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1658-1669</contrib-id><name-alternatives><name name-style="western" xml:lang="en"><surname>Kovalevskaya</surname><given-names>V. B.</given-names></name></name-alternatives><bio xml:lang="en"><p>Dm. Ulyanova 19, Moscow, 117036</p></bio><email xlink:type="simple">ver.kov@mail.ru</email><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-1"/></contrib></contrib-group><aff xml:lang="en" id="aff-1"><institution>Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences</institution><country>Russian Federation</country></aff><pub-date pub-type="collection"><year>2020</year></pub-date><pub-date pub-type="epub"><day>25</day><month>03</month><year>2020</year></pub-date><volume>48</volume><issue>1</issue><fpage>129</fpage><lpage>139</lpage><permissions><copyright-statement>Copyright &amp;#x00A9; Kovalevskaya V.B., 2020</copyright-statement><copyright-year>2020</copyright-year><copyright-holder xml:lang="ru">Kovalevskaya V.B.</copyright-holder><copyright-holder xml:lang="en">Kovalevskaya V.B.</copyright-holder><license xml:lang="ru" license-type="creative-commons-attribution" xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" xlink:type="simple"><license-p>Данная работа распространяется под лицензией Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.</license-p></license><license xml:lang="en" license-type="creative-commons-attribution" xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" xlink:type="simple"><license-p>This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.</license-p></license></permissions><self-uri xlink:href="https://journal.archaeology.nsc.ru/jour/article/view/901">https://journal.archaeology.nsc.ru/jour/article/view/901</self-uri><abstract><p>This study discusses the origin and dispersal of the Oriental agile horse, using a range of data—historical, faunal, genetic, and iconographic. It focuses on the Akhal-Teke horses as the model breed of the Oriental horse. Their unambiguous ancestors were horses ridden by the Pazyryk chieftains (400-200 BC). Findings about the Oriental horses, based on the analysis of the Akhal-Teke and Pazyryk breeds, are compared with osteological and iconographic data relating to horses from adjacent territories. This paper looks at horse breeding in Iran and at the Nisaean breed— the earliest one mentioned in written sources. Using the criteria outlined by the prominent Russian horse expert W.O. Witt, the exterior of the Oriental horse is described, and its homeland and dispersal across the neighboring areas are reconstructed. The likely homeland was Central Asia from the Caspian coast to Fergana, and the time of origin is between the beginning of horse riding and military campaigns. The Oriental horse was possibly an outcome of a cross between the domesticated horse from the Middle Volga and the tarpan of the Eurasian or Asian steppes.</p></abstract><kwd-group xml:lang="en"><kwd>Oriental horse</kwd><kwd>Akhal-Teke</kwd><kwd>Nisaean horse</kwd><kwd>origin</kwd><kwd>distribution</kwd><kwd>Eurasia</kwd><kwd>Middle East</kwd><kwd>1000 BC-1000AD.</kwd></kwd-group></article-meta></front><back><ref-list><title>References</title><ref id="cit1"><label>1</label><citation-alternatives><mixed-citation xml:lang="ru">Alekseev V.P. 1990 Domashnyaya loshad Mongolii. In Arkheologicheskiye, etnograficheskiye i antropologicheskiye issledovaniya v Mongolii, A.P. Derevianko, S. Natsagdorj (eds.). Novosibirsk: Nauka, pp. 149-167.</mixed-citation><mixed-citation xml:lang="en">Alekseev V.P. 1990 Domashnyaya loshad Mongolii. In Arkheologicheskiye, etnograficheskiye i antropologicheskiye issledovaniya v Mongolii, A.P. Derevianko, S. Natsagdorj (eds.). 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