HISTORIE PAARDEN

PREHISTORIE:

The evolution of the horse can be traced through fossil remains to the Hyracotherium, originally identified as the Eohippus: a small, leaf-browsing mammal of the Eocene Epoch, 55 million to 38 million years ago. Hyracotherium, about the size of a fox, had four toes on its forefeet and three on its hind feet. Several species and related genera appeared in North America and Eurasia during the Eocene. Then, apparently, the Eurasian species died out, but the American species gave rise in the Oligocene Epoch, 38 million to 24 million years ago, to the genus Mesohippus.
In the Miocene Epoch, 24 million to 5 million years ago, Mesohippus was succeeded by Hypohippus and Anchitherium. Both of these genera probably migrated to Eurasia from North America. Other descendants of Mesohippus were Miohippus and Merychippus; the latter genus developed high-crowned teeth, permitting it to feed by grazing on grass rather than browsing on leaves. Among the descendants of Merychippus in the Pliocene Epoch were Hipparion, which apparently spread from North America to Eurasia, and Pliohippus, which appears to be the progenitor of the modern genus Equus, which includes the domestic horse.
During the Pleistocene Epoch, which began 1.6 million years ago, the genus Equus apparently spread from North America to Eurasia, Africa, and South America. Subsequently, the native American horses died out, possibly as a result of disease. Cave dwellings in Europe indicate that horses were plentiful on that continent during the early Stone Age (about 2 million years ago to about 4000 BC). Dismembered skeletons of horses have been found in sufficient numbers in and near Stone Age dwellings to show that horses were frequently killed and eaten. In Neolithic times (about 4000 BC to 2000 BC), when Europe was largely forested, the number of horses evidently declined. Remains of the Bronze Age (about 1000 BC) include bits and pieces of harness, which clearly demonstrate that horses had become domestic animals in this period.

PRÉHISTORIE - GANGEN - MODERNE PAARDEN