Horse Domestication

by Fages, Antoine, et al 

In Brief
Genome-wide data from 278 ancient
equids provide insights into how ancient
equestrian civilizations managed,
exchanged, and bred horses and indicate
vast loss of genetic diversity as well as the
existence of two extinct lineages of
horses that failed to contribute to modern
domestic animals.
Fages et al

This paper presents direct radiocarbon measurements on horse skeletal remains from the Beaker period settlement at the site of Newgrange in Ireland, finds which have previously been argued as the earliest domestic horses in Ireland. The new determinations date the horse remains to the Irish Iron Age and shed important new light on the introduction of domestic horses to Ireland and to north-west Europe more generally. Although the new dates undermine the idea for the introduction of horses as part of a ‘Beaker package’, the early use of horse is not well defined archaeologically or chronologically and the earliest use of domestic horses in Ireland and Britain is still uncertain. This paper also identifies evidence for heavy bitting damage on the Iron Age Newgrange horse teeth and presents some possible parallels between the evidence from Newgrange and that at Tara, which has been previously linked with kingship rituals Origines du cheval domestique dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe:nouvelles datations directes des chevaux de Newgrange, Irlande, de Robin Bendrey, Nick Thorpe, Alan Outram et Louise H van Wijngaarden-BakkerCet article discute les mesures au C14 directes effectuées sur les restes d'un squelette de cheval d'une occupation de la période Beaker sur le site de Newgrange, en Irlande; trouvailles qui sont, a-t-on argumenté dans le passé, les plus anciens chevaux domestiques d'Irlande. Les nouvelles déterminations datent les restes de ce cheval de l’âge du fer irlandais et jettent une importante nouvelle lumière sur l'introduction des chevaux domestiques en Irlande et, plus généralement, dans l'Europe du Nord-ouest. Bien que les nouvelles datations sapent l'idée que l'introduction des chevaux faisait partie d'un ‘lot Beaker’, le début de leur utilisation n'est pas bien défini archéologiquement, ni chronologiquement, et la plus ancienne utilisation des chevaux domestiques en Irlande et en Grande-Bretagne reste aléatoire. Nous présentons des témoignages de gros dégâts de mors sur les dents du cheval de l’âge du fer de Newgrange et discutons de possibles parallèles entre les témoignages de Newgrange et ceux de Tara, associés dans le passé à des rituels royaux Die Herkunft domestizierter Pferde in Nordwesteuropa: Neue direkte Daten zu den Pferden von Newgrange, Irland, von Robin Bendrey, Nick Thorpe, Alan Outram und Louise H. van Wijngaarden-BakkerDieser Beitrag diskutiert direkte Radiokarbonmessungen, die an Skelettfunden von becherzeitlichen Pferden aus Newgrange in Irland vorgenommen wurden; diese Funde wurden bisher als die ältesten domestizierten Pferde in Irland angesehen. Die neuen Daten datieren die Pferdefunde in die irische Eisenzeit und werfen neues und aufschlussreiches Licht auf die Einführung domestizierter Pferde nach Irland und generell nach Nordwesteuropa. Zwar stellen die neuen Daten die Vorstellung der Einführung von Pferden als Teil des ,,Glockenbecherphänomens“ in Frage, jedoch ist die frühe Nutzung von domestizierten Pferden weder archäologisch noch chronologisch besonders gut geklärt, und ihre früheste Nutzung in Irland und Großbritannien muss noch immer als unsicher gelten. Hinweise auf starke Abnutzung der Zähne der eisenzeitlichen Pferde aus Newgrange wird in diesem Beitrag ebenso diskutiert wie mögliche Parallelen zwischen den Beobachtungen in Newgrange und solchen in Tara, die bisher mit Königsritualen in Verbindung gebracht wurden Los orígenes de los caballos domésticos en el noroeste de Europa: nuevas dataciones directas sobre los caballos de Newgrange, Irlanda, por Robin Bendrey, Nick Thorpe, Alan Outram y Louise H van Wijngaarden-BakkerEste artículo discute las mediciones directas de radiocarbono realizadas sobre restos esqueléticos de caballos, procedentes del asentamiento de época campaniforme del yacimiento de Newgrange en Irlanda; hallazgos que previamente se han considerado los caballos domésticos más antiguos de Irlanda. Las nuevas dataciones adscriben los restos de caballo a la Edad del Hierro y arrojan nuevos datos sobre la introducción de los caballos domésticos en Irlanda y, en general, en el noroeste de Europa. Aunque las nuevas dataciones debilitan la idea de la introducción de los caballos como parte del “paquete campaniforme”, su uso en momentos más antiguos no está bien definido arqueológica o cronológicamente y la primera utilización de los caballos domésticos en Irlanda e Inglaterra es aún incierta. Se presentan evidencias de daño óseo causado por mordeduras en los dientes de caballo de la Edad del Hierro de Newgrange y se discuten algunos posibles paralelismos entre las evidencias de Newgrange y las de Tara, que se han relacionado con “rituales de la realeza”(Online publication May 03 2013)

This paper is an introduction to the issue of the journal Arabian Humanities no 8, devoted to the horse in Arabia and in Arabian culture.
The setting of the following contributions is detailed from
specific viewpoints:
• The al‑Maqar case: an ideological historical reconstitution
• The domestication of the horse: the state of the art
• The introduction of the horse in Arabia: the state of the art
• The horse in the Islamic period
• The myth of the Arabian horse

This paper reviews the genetic history and prehistory of domesticated horses. It finds that several bottleneck events have resulted in sequentially reduced genetic variability in modern horses. During the Classical Era and Iron Age, before these bottlenecks occurred, genetic variability in horses was much higher. Also, the prehistoric horses of Iberia are shown not to be ancestral to modern domesticated horses. The origin of the DOM2 clade, to which all modern domesticated horses belong, remains uncertain until more samples are analyzed from eastern Europe and the steppes.

Peptides from human dental calculus indicate that Eneolithic populations in the Volga steppes did not milk their domesticated cattle, sheep, or goats, or horses; while in Yamnaya populations dairy foods were ubiquitous, indicating a beginning of dairying in the Yamnaya period after 3300 BC. Peptides indicated milk from cows, sheep, goats, and horses was consumed by Yamnaya people. The 2 Yamnaya individuals with horse milk exhibit the oldest known peptide evidence for horse milk consumption.

Horses have long been an essential component of the identity of the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula. Nevertheless, neither the date of its introduction in the Peninsula nor the origins of the Arabian breed can be agreed upon. What is more, many questions remain unanswered regarding the role played by horses in the Arabian Peninsula and beyond after the advent of Islam. These gaps in our current knowledge stimulate the discussion; yet they also bear the risk of shifting from a scientific discourse to an ideological one, particularly in such a region as the Arabian Peninsula. This was especially the case with the recent discovery of equid statues on the Neolithic site of al-Maqar in Saudi Arabia, which was prematurely considered the earliest testimony of horse breeding and horse riding in the world.

We need to stand back and consider the data as they are. In this respect, the purpose of this 8th issue of Arabian Humanities is to give an overview of the current knowledge on:
- The introduction of the horse to Arabia (Ch. Robin and S. Antonini);
- The origin of the Arabian breed (S. Olsen);
- Horse iconography in Arabian rock art (Ch. Robin and S. Antonini; S. Olsen) and in South Arabian art (S. Antonini);
- The role played by the horse in Rasulid diplomacy (D. Mahoney);
- The place of the horse in Mamlūk culture (M. Berriah, A. Carayon);
- The spread of furūsiyya culture in Arabia and beyond (M. Berriah, A. Carayon, D. Mahoney);
- The emergence of the myth of the Arabian horse in 19th century Arabian Peninsula (F. Pouillon).
In addition, D. Nicolle deals with the specific issue of horse armour from the late pre-Islamic period to the Ottoman Empire (D. Nicolle).

As a preamble, the extensive introductory paper has been an opportunity to go back over the al-Maqar discovery and the ideological issues at stake when dealing with the horse in Arabia.  It is also an opportunity to assess current knowledge of the domestication of the horse and its introduction in Arabia.  Furthermore, this paper presents the role of the horse in warfare, mythology, and Jihad, in the Islamic period and, finally, it also deals with the importance of furūsiyya culture in medieval times and to re-examine the myth of the Arabian horse.

Horse domestication revolutionized warfare and
accelerated travel, trade, and the geographic expansion
of languages. Here, we present the largest DNA
time series for a non-human organism to date,
including genome-scale data from 149 ancient animals
and 129 ancient genomes (R1-fold coverage),
87 of which are new. This extensive dataset allows
us to assess the modern legacy of past equestrian
civilizations. We find that two extinct horse lineages
existed during early domestication, one at the far
western (Iberia) and the other at the far eastern range
(Siberia) of Eurasia. None of these contributed significantly
to modern diversity. We show that the influence
of Persian-related horse lineages increased
following the Islamic conquests in Europe and Asia.
Multiple alleles associated with elite-racing, including
at the MSTN ‘‘speed gene,’’ only rose in popularity
within the last millennium. Finally, the development
of modern breeding impacted genetic diversity
more dramatically than the previous millennia of human
management.