RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Ancient genomes revisit the ancestry of domestic and Przewalski’s horses JF Science JO Science FD American Association for the Advancement of Science SP 111 OP 114 DO 10.1126/science.aao3297 VO 360 IS 6384 A1 Gaunitz, Charleen A1 Fages, Antoine A1 Hanghøj, Kristian A1 Albrechtsen, Anders A1 Khan, Naveed A1 Schubert, Mikkel A1 Seguin-Orlando, Andaine A1 Owens, Ivy J. A1 Felkel, Sabine A1 Bignon-Lau, Olivier A1 de Barros Damgaard, Peter A1 Mittnik, Alissa A1 Mohaseb, Azadeh F. A1 Davoudi, Hossein A1 Alquraishi, Saleh A1 Alfarhan, Ahmed H. A1 Al-Rasheid, Khaled A. S. A1 Crubézy, Eric A1 Benecke, Norbert A1 Olsen, Sandra A1 Brown, Dorcas A1 Anthony, David A1 Massy, Ken A1 Pitulko, Vladimir A1 Kasparov, Aleksei A1 Brem, Gottfried A1 Hofreiter, Michael A1 Mukhtarova, Gulmira A1 Baimukhanov, Nurbol A1 Lõugas, Lembi A1 Onar, Vedat A1 Stockhammer, Philipp W. A1 Krause, Johannes A1 Boldgiv, Bazartseren A1 Undrakhbold, Sainbileg A1 Erdenebaatar, Diimaajav A1 Lepetz, Sébastien A1 Mashkour, Marjan A1 Ludwig, Arne A1 Wallner, Barbara A1 Merz, Victor A1 Merz, Ilja A1 Zaibert, Viktor A1 Willerslev, Eske A1 Librado, Pablo A1 Outram, Alan K. A1 Orlando, Ludovic YR 2018 UL http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6384/111.abstract AB The domestication of horses was very important in the history of humankind. However, the ancestry of modern horses and the location and timing of their emergence remain unclear. Gaunitz et al. generated 42 ancient-horse genomes. Their source samples included the Botai archaeological site in Central Asia, considered to include the earliest domesticated horses. Unexpectedly, Botai horses were the ancestors not of modern domestic horses, but rather of modern Przewalski's horses. Thus, in contrast to current thinking on horse domestication, modern horses may have been domesticated in other, more Western, centers of origin.Science, this issue p. 111The Eneolithic Botai culture of the Central Asian steppes provides the earliest archaeological evidence for horse husbandry, ~5500 years ago, but the exact nature of early horse domestication remains controversial. We generated 42 ancient-horse genomes, including 20 from Botai. Compared to 46 published ancient- and modern-horse genomes, our data indicate that Przewalski’s horses are the feral descendants of horses herded at Botai and not truly wild horses. All domestic horses dated from ~4000 years ago to present only show ~2.7% of Botai-related ancestry. This indicates that a massive genomic turnover underpins the expansion of the horse stock that gave rise to modern domesticates, which coincides with large-scale human population expansions during the Early Bronze Age.