The First Traces of Horseback Riders Were "Eastern Cowboys"

Deterioration of human remains reveals they were riding horses as far back as 5000 years ago.

People from the steppes of modern-day Russia and Ukraine quickly spread over Eurasia about 5,300 years ago. These "Yamnaya" left a genetic legacy on people from central Europe to the Caspian Sea within a few decades. Due to their livestock herding and highly mobile lifestyle, archaeologists now refer to them as "eastern cowboys.” But evidence of horseba…