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THE EARLIEST RIDERS?

Friday, March 3, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we gallop toward clues about the world’s earliest horse riders, discover Rome’s most dangerous woman ... and poke around glow-in-the-dark mushrooms.

An ancient skeleton whose bones show signs of horse riding

PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAŁ PODSIADŁO

The word “equestrian”—and even the Latin variant of "horse"—can be traced to these early Europeans.

New evidence from ancient skeletons (above) shows the earliest signs of horseback riding among these humans, who giddy-upped some 5,000 years ago. These early cowpokes, thundering through present-day Europe, didn't look like Annie Oakley or John Wayne—but they likely used horses for advantages in herding, exploration, and trading. How did researchers make the connection from these old bones?

Saddle up for the full story here.

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Brone Age depictions of horse riders

PHOTOGRAPH BY DEAGOSTINI, GETTY IMAGES

Changing perceptions: The newly discovered riders of Europe’s Yamnaya people predate the earliest Bronze Age depictions of horseback riding. Above, a limestone relief of Egyptian riders, found at the Horemheb tomb. Read more.

Want more horses?
— The fate of America’s mustangs
— The mountain doctor who rides horseback in snowstorms to see patients
— Women rodeo performers carry on ancestral traditions
— Are seahorses horses? What you should know.

OTHER STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

The scandalous empress of Rome

DAGLI ORTI/AURIMAGES

This scandalous empress was the most dangerous woman in Rome (above, a painting of Empress Messalina with a dagger)

Blood cleaning? Long COVID patients turn to unproven treatments

What is sundowning? And what can help people suffering from it?

It may be a type of white privilege: Getting accurately diagnosed with cystic fibrosis

A perilous journey led to the first climb of a remote volcano—and a gurgling discovery

You like the sensation. Do you like ASMR?

WHERE IN THE WORLD?

Images of glowing mushrooms in a rainforest

PHOTOGRAPH BY HENRIQUE DOMINGOS, IPBIO

Where is this? Glow-in-the-dark mushrooms? Yes, mycena lucentipes are one of six new species of bioluminescent mushrooms found in this rainforest. Know which country this is in? Click here to find out.

OO OO THAT GLOW

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

A picture of sacred Indigenous lands

PHOTOGRAPH BY KEVIN D. LILES, THE WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES

Georgia’s first national park? Seth Clark (left) and Tracie Revis are part of an effort with bipartisan support to designate a sacred Indigenous site as a U.S. national park, Nat Geo reports. The Ocmulgee Mounds would be co-managed by the Muscogee Nation, a tribe forcibly removed from their ancestral lands more than 180 years ago.

VIEW THIS SACRED LAND

PHOTO OF THE DAY

A cheetah photo

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS JOHNS, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

Hello cheetah: We’re celebrating World Wildlife Day with this image of a cub in Botswana's Okavango Delta. Today marks the 50th anniversary of the treaty that regulates the global wildlife trade. Ivonne Higuero, the treaty's secretary general, tells Dina Fine Maron of the importance of preserving wildlife to the ecosystem and to human health. ”It continues to be a challenge to convince people this requires major investments,” Higuero says.

Wildlife Watch, an investigative unit supported by the National Geographic Society, focuses on stories of wildlife crime and exploitation. See their work here.

OUR TOP WILDLIFE PHOTOS

Today’s soundtrack: Nefertiti, Wayne Shorter R.I.P.

This newsletter has been curated and edited by Jen Tse, Hannah Farrow, and David Beard. Have feedback? Like horses? Email david.beard@natgeo.com. Thanks for reading!

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