Spanish horses joined Indigenous South Americans’ societies long before Europeans came to stay
Archaeological digs show Spanish horses were part of these societies by the early 1600s
![horse bones](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/120823_bb_early-horse-use_feat-1.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
Partial horse leg bones found in southern Argentina (shown here) contributed to new evidence that Indigenous groups incorporated these animals, introduced by Spanish colonists in the 1500s, into their cultures a century or more before Europeans permanently settled in that region.
W.T.T. Taylor et al/Science Advances 2023