RESUMO
Horses revolutionized human history with fast mobility1. However, the timeline between their domestication and their widespread integration as a means of transport remains contentious2-4. Here we assemble a collection of 475 ancient horse genomes to assess the period when these animals were first reshaped by human agency in Eurasia. We find that reproductive control of the modern domestic lineage emerged around 2200 BCE, through close-kin mating and shortened generation times. Reproductive control emerged following a severe domestication bottleneck starting no earlier than approximately 2700 BCE, and coincided with a sudden expansion across Eurasia that ultimately resulted in the replacement of nearly every local horse lineage. This expansion marked the rise of widespread horse-based mobility in human history, which refutes the commonly held narrative of large horse herds accompanying the massive migration of steppe peoples across Europe around 3000 BCE and earlier3,5. Finally, we detect significantly shortened generation times at Botai around 3500 BCE, a settlement from central Asia associated with corrals and a subsistence economy centred on horses6,7. This supports local horse husbandry before the rise of modern domestic bloodlines.
Assuntos
Criação de Animais Domésticos , Domesticação , Cavalos , Meios de Transporte , Animais , Feminino , Masculino , Criação de Animais Domésticos/história , Ásia , Europa (Continente) , Genoma/genética , História Antiga , Cavalos/classificação , Cavalos/genética , Reprodução , Meios de Transporte/história , Meios de Transporte/métodos , FilogeniaRESUMO
Age profiling of archaeological bone assemblages can inform on past animal management practices, but is limited by the fragmentary nature of the fossil record and the lack of universal skeletal markers for age. DNA methylation clocks offer new, albeit challenging, alternatives for estimating the age-at-death of ancient individuals. Here, we take advantage of the availability of a DNA methylation clock based on 31,836 CpG sites and dental age markers in horses to assess age predictions in 84 ancient remains. We evaluate our approach using whole-genome sequencing data and develop a capture assay providing reliable estimates for only a fraction of the cost. We also leverage DNA methylation patterns to assess castration practice in the past. Our work opens for a deeper characterization of past husbandry and ritual practices and holds the potential to reveal age mortality profiles in ancient societies, once extended to human remains.