Departmental News

Posted:  Apr 30, 2014 - 09:00am

Taylor's research involves using 3D laser scanning technology to develop new techniques for the archaeological identification of horseback riding. The Research Development Grant will fund the study of horse remains from the late Bronze Age Deer Stone-Khirigsuur culture, the archaeological term for a group of associated megaliths and stone burials which were built on the Mongolian Steppe, circa 1300-700 BCE. At many of these sites, horses were ritually sacrificed, and their heads buried in small mounds around the monument's perimeter. Applying 3D craniometric techniques to skulls excavated from these features will allow me to test the hypothesis that these Deer Stone-Khirigsuur horses were being ridden, or used to pull chariots. These ancient horses hold important clues about the spread of horse transport to East Asia, and the role of the horse in prehistoric societies.