Sandi Olsen's Interview with The National

Sandi Olsen, curator-in-charge of archaeology, was recently interviewed for The National in an article by Daniel Bardsley titled “Scientists try to uncover mystery of Arabian horse’s ancestry.” Olsen uses rock carvings (petroglyphs) to understand the origins of the Arabian horse. As the article notes, “Petroglyphs from Saudi Arabia that show equines with Arabian features date between 800 BCE and 200 CE, based on associated inscriptions.” Based on the work she’s been doing, Olsen believes that it is too soon to be making any conclusions about the Arabian site of Al Magar as many believe this to be the place where horse domestication began. According to Olsen, there are a few other possible origin sites of horse domestication, including Kazakshtan, Ukraine, or western Russia. To read more, click here. 

Photo by Esam Omran Al-Fetori / Reuters