In 2017 an exceptionally rich equestrian burial from the 10th century was discovered at Fregerslev near Skanderborg, Denmark. The burial contained a high-status horseman, buried with valuable grave goods. At the initial discovery, parts of the bridle and harness for several horses were excavated. Many further precious metal objects are indicated by means of metal detector surveys in the tomb chamber. This volume seeks to place the burial in a wider context. First of all, the preliminary results from the excavation of the Fregerslev burial are embraced. The finds and scientific results demonstrate what a remarkable burial this once was. Moreover, the description of the excavation methods and documentation procedures, the sampling strategies, and the following conservation and preservation of the finds, gives an idea of the many new scientific approaches, which may be useful when dealing with a decomposed grave in the future. Secondly the volume aims to explore the social, political, cultural and religious background of equestrian burial in a variety of countries, including Slovenia, Scotland, Sweden and Iceland. Was the burial from Fregerslev and others like it, an expression of a new powerful elite? New religious symbolism? New funerary rituals? New cultural impulses and changing values?

The Meaning of Horses: Biosocial Encounters examines some of the engagements or entanglements that link the lived experiences of human and non-human animals. The contributors discuss horse-human relationships in multiple contexts, times and places, highlighting variations in the meaning of horses as well as universals of ‘horsiness’. They consider how horses are unlike other animals, and cover topics such as commodification, identity, communication and performance. This collection emphasises the agency of the horse and a need to move beyond anthropocentric studies, with a theoretical approach that features naturecultures, co-being and biosocial encounters as interactive forms of becoming. Rooted in anthropology and multispecies ethnography, this book introduces new questions and areas for consideration in the field of animals and society.

A fascinating historical tour of 475 Thoroughbred memorials commemorating legendary Thoroughbred racehorses buried in Central Kentucky. The memorials, dating from the 1870s to present day, range from simple markers to elaborate and ornate cemeteries. Zeh brings to life the names carved in granite, from Domino, the great 19th Century champion, to Secretariat and Mr. Prospector. Richly illustrated with over 100 photographs.

A “superb” account of the enduring connection between humans and horses—“Full of the sort of details that get edited out of more traditional histories” (The Economist). Fifty-six million years ago, the earliest equid walked the earth—and beginning with the first-known horse-keepers of the Copper Age, the horse has played an integral part in human history. It has sustained us as a source of food, an industrial and agricultural machine, a comrade in arms, a symbol of wealth, power, and the wild. Combining fascinating anthropological detail and incisive personal anecdote, equestrian expert Susanna Forrest draws from an immense range of archival documents as well as literature and art to illustrate how our evolution has coincided with that of horses. In paintings and poems (such as Byron’s famous “Mazeppa”), in theater and classical music (including works by Liszt and Tchaikovsky), representations of the horse have changed over centuries, portraying the crucial impact that we’ve had on each other. Forrest combines this history with her own experience in the field, and travels the world to offer a comprehensive look at the horse in our lives today: from Mongolia where she observes the endangered takhi, to a show-horse performance at the Palace of Versailles; from a polo club in Beijing to Arlington, Virginia, where veterans with PTSD are rehabilitated through interaction with horses. “For the horse-addicted, a book can get no better than this . . . original, cerebral and from the heart.” —The Times (London)

Papers from a conference Skanderborg 27-28th of June 2019 An equestrian burial from the 10th century with an exceptionally elaborate horse harness was discovered at Fregerslev near Skanderborg in eastern Jutland, Denmark in 2012. This formed the starting point for the Fregerslev Research Project initiated by Museum Skanderborg in 2017. Two years later, the museum held a conference to present the preliminary results of the project. A group of researchers from neighbouring countries were invited to provide a wider international context for a discussion of the social, political, cultural and religious background of the Fregerslev burial. With 21 articles, Horse and Rider in the late Viking Age presents the outcome of the conference. Part I describes the excavation of the Fregerslev burial and its contents. The finds, particularly the harness fittings and the remains of a quiver of arrows, and the results of a wide range of scientific analyses demonstrate what a remarkable burial this once was. The excavation methods and documentation procedures, the sampling strategies, and the following conservation and preservation of the finds, give an idea of the many new approaches, which may be useful when dealing with a decomposed grave in the future. Part II and Part III present new research on 10th-century equestrian burials and their significance in contemporary society from a variety of countries across Central and Northern Europe.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A compelling portrait of three people who love each other but can't break through the self-created walls that keep them apart.”—Chicago Sun-Times His name is Tom Booker. His voice can calm wild horses, his touch can heal broken spirits. And Annie Graves has traveled across a continent to the Booker ranch in Montana, desperate to heal her injured daughter, the girl’s savage horse, and her own wounded heart. She comes for hope. She comes for her child. And beneath the wide Montana sky, she comes to him for what no one else can give her: a reason to believe. Praise for The Horse Whisperer “Compelling . . . a real page-turner.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Fascinating . . . moving . . . a big, engrossing book [with] an unexpected endeing that surprises mightily.”—Los Angeles Times “Brilliance pervades this five-hankerchief weepie.”—The Times (London) “Outstanding . . . a book of rare power and beauty.”—Booklist

Brilliant horsemen and great fighters, the Scythians were nomadic horsemen who ranged wide across the grasslands of the Asian steppe from the Altai mountains in the east to the Great Hungarian Plain in the first millennium BC. Their steppe homeland bordered on a number of sedentary states to the south - the Chinese, the Persians and the Greeks - and there were, inevitably, numerous interactions between the nomads and their neighbours. The Scythians fought the Persians on a number of occasions, in one battle killing their king and on another occasion driving the invading army of Darius the Great from the steppe. Relations with the Greeks around the shores of the Black Sea were rather different - both communities benefiting from trading with each other. This led to the development of a brilliant art style, often depicting scenes from Scythian mythology and everyday life. It is from the writings of Greeks like the historian Herodotus that we learn of Scythian life: their beliefs, their burial practices, their love of fighting, and their ambivalent attitudes to gender. It is a world that is also brilliantly illuminated by the rich material culture recovered from Scythian burials, from the graves of kings on the Pontic steppe, with their elaborate gold work and vividly coloured fabrics, to the frozen tombs of the Altai mountains, where all the organic material - wooden carvings, carpets, saddles and even tattooed human bodies - is amazingly well preserved. Barry Cunliffe here marshals this vast array of evidence - both archaeological and textual - in a masterful reconstruction of the lost world of the Scythians, allowing them to emerge in all their considerable vigour and splendour for the first time in over two millennia.

Volumes 37 and 38 of this annual published since 1951 include excavational reports and analytical studies on archaeology, palaeobotany and archaezoology.