Yidilisi Kudusi

Yidilisi Kudusi

November 28, 2025

Horse culture, Central Asian archaeology, Civilizations, Nomadic civilization.

The horse, as one of humanity’s most significant companion animals, has played an irreplaceable role across various domains—including social production, daily life, transportation, military affairs, and cultural beliefs. Central Asia, a crossroads of civilizations on the Eurasian continent, boasts a long-standing and rich horse culture characterized by distinctive regional features and profound cultural connotations. Focusing on archaeological discoveries from Central Asia, this paper systematically examines the origins, development, and dissemination of horse culture from the Neolithic Age to the Iron Age. It places particular emphasis on analyzing the archaeological significance of horse bones, horse gear, horse ornaments, and related artifacts from key sites such as the Botai Culture and the Pazyryk Culture. Research demonstrates that Central Asia was not only one of the earliest regions in the world to domesticate horses but also a major source from which horse culture spread to surrounding areas. Within Central Asian societies, horses served not only practical functions but were also imbued with rich symbolic meanings, becoming integral to the spiritual beliefs of nomadic civilizations. Against the backdrop of the ongoing Belt and Road Initiative, an in-depth exploration of the formation and evolution of Central Asian horse culture contributes to deepening mutual learning among civilizations between China and Central Asian nations, offering historical grounding and cultural ties for cross-cultural dialogue and regional cooperation.

© 2025, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license