A number of hypotheses exist on many of the key issues regarding the
domestication of the horse. Although
horses appeared in
Paleolithic cave art as early as 30,000 BCE, these were
wild horses and were probably hunted for
meat. How and when horses became
domesticated is disputed. The clearest evidence of early use of the horse as a means of
transport is from
chariot burials dated c. 2000 BCE. However, an increasing amount of evidence supports the hypothesis that horses were domesticated in the
Eurasian Steppes approximately 3500 BCE; recent discoveries in the context of the
Botai culture suggest that Botai settlements in the
Akmola Province of
Kazakhstan are the location of the earliest domestication of the horse. Regardless of the specific date of domestication, use of horses spread rapidly across
Eurasia for transportation,
agricultural work and
warfare.