Recent research has traced the origin of modern horses to a remarkable 4,000-year-old lineage, shedding new light on the domestication process that transformed both human and equine history.
Published in Nature on Thursday, the study reveals that around 4,200 years ago, a specific lineage of horse emerged in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, a vast plains region stretching from northeastern Bulgaria across Ukraine and into southern Russia. This lineage quickly became dominant across Eurasia, suggesting that this was the pivotal moment when humans began widespread domestication and distribution of horses.
What set this particular horse lineage apart was a genetic mutation that altered the shape of its back, likely making these horses easier to ride. "In the past, you had many different lineages of horses," explained Pablo Librado, an evolutionary biologist at the Spanish National Research Council and co-author of the study. The research analyzed 475 ancient horse genomes from archaeological sites across Eurasia, dating back up to 50,000 years, and identified a significant genetic shift around 4,200 years ago.
This genetic type rapidly spread across the continent, with horses in Spain resembling those in Russia within just three hundred years. Ludovic Orlando, a molecular archaeologist at the Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse, noted, "We saw this genetic type spreading almost everywhere in Eurasia – clearly this horse type that was local became global very fast."
The study attributes this swift transformation to the Sintashta people of the Bronze Age, who domesticated these genetically distinct horses and utilized them to expand their territories dramatically. This process of domestication wasn't a singular event but a gradual transformation, evidenced by archaeological findings of horse milk consumption dating back 5,500 years and the earliest horse ridership around 5,000 years ago.
Researchers also traced the very earliest horse ancestors to North America, which migrated across the Bering Strait into Asia around a million years ago before flourishing in Asia and eventually going extinct in the Americas. Unlike other domesticated animals such as dogs, pigs, and cattle, horses experienced a rapid reduction in genetic diversity due to human-driven selection, highlighting their unique role in human societies.
Laurent Frantz, who studies ancient creature genetics, remarked, "Humans changed the horse genome stunningly quickly, perhaps because we already had experience dealing with animals. It shows the special place of horses in human societies."
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Scientists trace origin of the modern horse to a 4,000-year lineage
cgtn.com
