Domesticated horses are ubiquitous enough in real life and fictional worlds for it to seem like they’ve always just been there, in their “final form,” so to speak. But where and when did we
Molecular archaeologist Ludovic Orlando of the French national research agency (CNRS) and Paul Sabatier University led the interdisciplinary team. First, they visited sites from Kazakhstan to Mongolia to gather horse bones. These bones ranged in age from 2,000 to 10,000 years old. The team then
sequenced the bones’ genomes and organized them into a family tree. One that allowed the scientists to see how the horses were related to each other and their modern counterparts.Using the family tree, the scientists pinned domesticated horses’ genetic origins to one type of the equid that herders on
the western Eurasian steppedomesticated 4,200 years ago. The western Eurasian steppe, in turquoise in the image immediately below, is a vast ecoregion of Eurasia. It consists of temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands. Since the Paleolithic age, people have used the steppe as a trade route connecting Central and Eastern Europe with Central, Eastern, and Southern Asia.
“The horses living in Anatolia, Europe, Central Asia, and Siberia used to be genetically quite distinct,” Orlando told
. “[But once] we domesticated this new kind of horse, suddenly they were everywhere,” the molecular archaeologist noted.The genetic profile of the western Eurasian horse began to spread out across Eurasia; replacing existing lineages as it did so. By 3,000 years ago, it had replaced all other genetic profiles in Eurasia. Eurasia includes everything from what is modern-day Turkey to central Russia. The new horse was so entrenched in human life; it even became a symbol of Bronze Age art.
As for why this particular western Eurasian horse became so dominant? The scientists say two genetic mutations gave them the domestication edge. These predecessors to DOM2—or “second domestication”—horses had a gene mutation that helps control anxiety and aggression. As well as one that researchers have linked to chronic back pain in people. These genetic mutations, the scientists say, made the horses calmer and less likely to have back problems than earlier breeds. However, nascent domesticated horses had plenty of other problems to worry about, unfortunately. Like carrying soldiers into battle. Their more recent relatives have also had to
star in TikTok videos, which is, of course, terrible in its own right.The post
Genetic Analysis Reveals Origin of All Domesticated Horsesappeared first on Nerdist.
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