The horse plays a key part in the mythologies of the Indo-Europeans. And no wonder, because its domestication was most likely one of the main factors that facilitated the expansion of Indo-European culture across Eurasia. Indeed, I've just spotted some uncanny parallels between the results of a study on ancient horse DNA, published in PLoS One today, and the info in many of my blog posts about the early steppe tribes who began migrating from Europe during the late Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. The paper also presents data that corroborates the later spread of Altaic groups from eastern Central Asia during the Iron Age.
...
Our dataset has a bias of pre-domestic samples from Asia. For this reason one has to be careful when proposing putative centers of domestication. Notwithstanding, our results postulating local introgressions of wild mares and multiple domestication episodes in Europe and East Asia are not speculative. Both of these regions contributed significantly to determine the genetic portfolio of modern breeds during the Bronze and Iron Ages. Likewise, the mismatch distribution of the early-domestic European and Siberian horses produced evidence for a bottleneck 1500 years after the postulated origin of domestic horses in North Kazakhstan around 3500 BC [21]. Furthermore, our data on Bronze and Iron Age horses indicate local domestication and/or introgression of East Asian haplotypes. The evolution of these private East Asian haplotypes was enhanced by the isolation of Mongolian and Chinese wild horses due to the Altai-Mountains and the Takla Makan and Gobi deserts. These geographical barriers effectively segregated them from their cousins in the Eurasian steppe.
...
Considering our data from the Bronze Age horses, it appears that domestic horses spread soon after their initial domestication. Horse-riding was probably the catalyst for such fast spreading, starting an unprecedented process of gene flow 5,500 years ago.
...
Our dataset has a bias of pre-domestic samples from Asia. For this reason one has to be careful when proposing putative centers of domestication. Notwithstanding, our results postulating local introgressions of wild mares and multiple domestication episodes in Europe and East Asia are not speculative. Both of these regions contributed significantly to determine the genetic portfolio of modern breeds during the Bronze and Iron Ages. Likewise, the mismatch distribution of the early-domestic European and Siberian horses produced evidence for a bottleneck 1500 years after the postulated origin of domestic horses in North Kazakhstan around 3500 BC [21]. Furthermore, our data on Bronze and Iron Age horses indicate local domestication and/or introgression of East Asian haplotypes. The evolution of these private East Asian haplotypes was enhanced by the isolation of Mongolian and Chinese wild horses due to the Altai-Mountains and the Takla Makan and Gobi deserts. These geographical barriers effectively segregated them from their cousins in the Eurasian steppe.
...
Considering our data from the Bronze Age horses, it appears that domestic horses spread soon after their initial domestication. Horse-riding was probably the catalyst for such fast spreading, starting an unprecedented process of gene flow 5,500 years ago.
Our dataset has a bias of pre-domestic samples from Asia. For this reason one has to be careful when proposing putative centers of domestication. Notwithstanding, our results postulating local introgressions of wild mares and multiple domestication episodes in Europe and East Asia are not speculative. Both of these regions contributed significantly to determine the genetic portfolio of modern breeds during the Bronze and Iron Ages. Likewise, the mismatch distribution of the early-domestic European and Siberian horses produced evidence for a bottleneck 1500 years after the postulated origin of domestic horses in North Kazakhstan around 3500 BC [21]. Furthermore, our data on Bronze and Iron Age horses indicate local domestication and/or introgression of East Asian haplotypes. The evolution of these private East Asian haplotypes was enhanced by the isolation of Mongolian and Chinese wild horses due to the Altai-Mountains and the Takla Makan and Gobi deserts. These geographical barriers effectively segregated them from their cousins in the Eurasian steppe.
...
Considering our data from the Bronze Age horses, it appears that domestic horses spread soon after their initial domestication. Horse-riding was probably the catalyst for such fast spreading, starting an unprecedented process of gene flow 5,500 years ago.
...
Considering our data from the Bronze Age horses, it appears that domestic horses spread soon after their initial domestication. Horse-riding was probably the catalyst for such fast spreading, starting an unprecedented process of gene flow 5,500 years ago.
Considering our data from the Bronze Age horses, it appears that domestic horses spread soon after their initial domestication. Horse-riding was probably the catalyst for such fast spreading, starting an unprecedented process of gene flow 5,500 years ago.
Cieslak M, Pruvost M, Benecke N, Hofreiter M, Morales A, et al. (2010) Origin and History of Mitochondrial DNA Lineages in Domestic Horses. PLoS ONE 5(12): e15311. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015311
It's unclear where the first horses were domesticated. As per above, it might have been in modern-day North Kazakhstan 3500 BC. Perhaps, and my own theory is that migrants from the cattle breeding
It's unclear where the first horses were domesticated. As per above, it might have been in modern-day North Kazakhstan 3500 BC. Perhaps, and my own theory is that migrants from the cattle breedingFunnelbeaker (or TRB) culture first entered the Eastern European steppes from Central Europe on wagons pulled by oxen. After that, they began adapting to their new way of life, and eventually became the ancient steppe cowboys that many view as the stereotypical early Indo-Europeans.
Below are a couple of abstracts from studies I blogged about in recent years, which fit together very nicely with the quotes above to paint a picture of two ancient expansions from the opposite ends of Eurasia.
It's unclear where the first horses were domesticated. As per above, it might have been in modern-day North Kazakhstan 3500 BC. Perhaps, and my own theory is that migrants from the cattle breedingFunnelbeaker (or TRB) culture first entered the Eastern European steppes from Central Europe on wagons pulled by oxen. After that, they began adapting to their new way of life, and eventually became the ancient steppe cowboys that many view as the stereotypical early Indo-Europeans.
Below are a couple of abstracts from studies I blogged about in recent years, which fit together very nicely with the quotes above to paint a picture of two ancient expansions from the opposite ends of Eurasia.
Below are a couple of abstracts from studies I blogged about in recent years, which fit together very nicely with the quotes above to paint a picture of two ancient expansions from the opposite ends of Eurasia.
Below are a couple of abstracts from studies I blogged about in recent years, which fit together very nicely with the quotes above to paint a picture of two ancient expansions from the opposite ends of Eurasia.
Christine Keyser et al., Ancient DNA provides new insights into the history of south Siberian Kurgan people, Human Genetics, Saturday, May 16, 2009, doi: 10.1007/s00439-009-0683-0
The beginning of a new stage in the population history of this region (the large-scale immigration of Mongoloid groups from Eastern Central Asia and their hybridization with the Caucasoids) is documented by the markedly “eastern” tendency displayed by the series from Arzhan-2. In earlier periods, eastern traits only concentrated in separate individuals, implying that the immigration was small-scale (rather, one might speak of an infiltration of small Mongoloid groups, which were subsequently assimilated by the Caucasoids).
The beginning of a new stage in the population history of this region (the large-scale immigration of Mongoloid groups from Eastern Central Asia and their hybridization with the Caucasoids) is documented by the markedly “eastern” tendency displayed by the series from Arzhan-2. In earlier periods, eastern traits only concentrated in separate individuals, implying that the immigration was small-scale (rather, one might speak of an infiltration of small Mongoloid groups, which were subsequently assimilated by the Caucasoids).
The beginning of a new stage in the population history of this region (the large-scale immigration of Mongoloid groups from Eastern Central Asia and their hybridization with the Caucasoids) is documented by the markedly “eastern” tendency displayed by the series from Arzhan-2. In earlier periods, eastern traits only concentrated in separate individuals, implying that the immigration was small-scale (rather, one might speak of an infiltration of small Mongoloid groups, which were subsequently assimilated by the Caucasoids).
V. G. Moiseyev, Nonmetric traits in Early Iron Age cranial series from Western and Southern Siberia, Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, Volume 25, Number 1 / July, 2006, DOI: 10.1134/S1563011006010117
Our data suggest multiple domestications and introgressions of females especially during the Iron Age. Although all Eurasian regions contributed to the genetic pedigree of modern breeds, most haplotypes had their roots in Eastern Europe and Siberia.
Our autosomal, Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA analyses reveal that whereas few specimens seem to be related matrilineally or patrilineally, nearly all subjects belong to haplogroup R1a1-M17 which is thought to mark the eastward migration of the early Indo-Europeans. Our results also confirm that at the Bronze and Iron Ages, south Siberia was a region of overwhelmingly predominant European settlement, suggesting an eastward migration of Kurgan people across the Russo-Kazakh steppe. Finally, our data indicate that at the Bronze and Iron Age timeframe, south Siberians were blue (or green)-eyed, fair-skinned and light-haired people and that they might have played a role in the early development of the Tarim Basin civilization.
The analysis of nonmetric cranial traits has revealed various affinities of the Early Iron Age Western and Southern Siberian members of the so-called “Scytho-Siberian community.” Most of them descended from Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Caucasoid immigrants from the west. During the Early Iron Age, these immigrants had mostly assimilated the aboriginal populations of the steppe zone, characterized by plesiomorphic trait combinations that were still discernible in certain groups such as those associated with Krotovo and Okunev cultures.Posted by Davidski at 9:40 PM No comments:
Labels: Eurasia, horse, Indo-European, mtDNA
Source from- http://eurogenes.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0015311#pone.0015311-Outram1
No comments:
Post a Comment