Clio Der Sarkissian’s research while affiliated with Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier and other places

What is this page?


This page lists works of an author who doesn't have a ResearchGate profile or hasn't added the works to their profile yet. It is automatically generated from public (personal) data to further our legitimate goal of comprehensive and accurate scientific recordkeeping. If you are this author and want this page removed, please let us know.

Publications (18)


QC filtering
a) Histogram showing the distance between adjacent nucleotide transversions, if separated by less than 1Kbp. This revealed an excess of mutations at contiguous genomic positions (ie. 1 bp away). Although these could correspond to true single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) or multiple nucleotide variants (MNVs), they could also be enriched for spurious variants resulting from mis-mapping around small DNA insertions and deletions. b) Proportion of mutations within pre-defined MAF bins (Minor Allele Frequency), as a function of missingness across the specimens. Pre-defined MAF bins range from low- (pink) to high-frequency variants (green). The dashed line delimits the positions included (left) or excluded (right) from the analyses. The identifiability of low-frequency variants decreases with greater missingness, as expected. c) Same as panel a), for the ~7.1 M nucleotide transversions of the downsampled data set. d) Same as panel b), for the ~7.1 M nucleotide transversions of the downsampled data set.
Relative error rates
Missing mutations per site in a test genome (y-axis), relative to a modern Icelandic horse (P5782_Ice_Modern) used as high-quality reference. a) for the full data set and SNP_pval 0. b) for the downsampled data set and SNP_val 0.
On the origins of CWC horses
a) Consensus admixture graph generated from the posterior distribution of AdmixtureBayes⁶⁴, when applied to the same horse populations considered in Extended Data Fig. 4. The values between brackets summarize the proportion of graphs sampled from the posterior distribution that support a split or admixture node. Admixture from unsampled (ghosts) populations is not represented, in contrast to Extended Data Fig. 4. b) Best Admixtools2⁴ population model assuming 8 migration edges. The drift and admixture estimates are based on our extended dataset. c) Reference panel used for modeling pre-CWC clines of genetic diversity. d) Geospatial projection of the six CWC horse genomes analyzed in this study, in 10Mb-long windows.
Most supported population graph
This graph summarizes the evolutionary history of pre- and post-domestication horse lineages, with CWC horses not receiving any direct genetic contribution from the steppe. The model is split into 2 panels for clarity. The numbers reported within boxes reflect the admixture contributions from the nodes specified, while those adjacent to arrows indicate the amount of genetic drift leading to individual nodes. Population groups are detailed in Table S1 and colors are according to Fig. 1a.
Visual embedding of Struct-f4 affinities
a) The two first dimensions of a Metric MultiDimensional Scaling (MDS) analysis, summarizing the genomic affinities between horses, based on Struct-f4. To improve visualization, this excludes the five outgroup specimens. Samples are color-coded following Fig. 1a, and population groups are labelled accordingly. Horses projecting intermediate to large population groups reflect ancient clines of ancestry, stretching from the East (closer to Botai) to the West (closer to Europe). CPONT individuals, from the Central Steppe, are the closest to DOM2 horses. b) Same as a) for the downsampled dataset. c) First and third dimension of the same MDS analysis, which reveals CWC horses as the most distant European horses to DOM2 horses. d) Same for the downsampled dataset.

+8

Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2200 BCE in Eurasia
  • Article
  • Full-text available

June 2024

·

1,349 Reads

·

17 Citations

Nature

Pablo Librado

·

·

Lorelei Chauvey

·

[...]

·

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.

Download

Advancing responsible genomic analyses of ancient mollusc shells

May 2024

·

114 Reads

The analysis of the DNA entrapped in ancient shells of molluscs has the potential to shed light on the evolution and ecology of this very diverse phylum. Ancient genomics could help reconstruct the responses of molluscs to past climate change, pollution, and human subsistence practices at unprecedented temporal resolutions. Applications are however still in their infancy, partly due to our limited knowledge of DNA preservation in calcium carbonate shells and the need for optimized methods for responsible genomic data generation. To improve ancient shell genomic analyses, we applied high-throughput DNA sequencing to 27 Mytilus mussel shells dated to ~111–6500 years Before Present, and investigated the impact, on DNA recovery, of shell imaging, DNA extraction protocols and shell sub-sampling strategies. First, we detected no quantitative or qualitative deleterious effect of micro-computed tomography for recording shell 3D morphological information prior to sub-sampling. Then, we showed that double-digestion and bleach treatment of shell powder prior to silica-based DNA extraction improves shell DNA recovery, also suggesting that DNA is protected in preservation niches within ancient shells. Finally, all layers that compose Mytilus shells, i.e., the nacreous (aragonite) and prismatic (calcite) carbonate layers, with or without the outer organic layer (periostracum) proved to be valuable DNA reservoirs, with aragonite appearing as the best substrate for genomic analyses. Our work contributes to the understanding of long-term molecular preservation in biominerals and we anticipate that resulting recommendations will be helpful for future efficient and responsible genomic analyses of ancient mollusc shells.


Divergence and gene flow history at two large chromosomal inversions underlying ecotype differentiation in the long-snouted seahorse

January 2024

·

98 Reads

·

7 Citations

Molecular Ecology

Chromosomal inversions can play an important role in divergence and reproductive isolation by building and maintaining distinct allelic combinations between evolutionary lineages. Alternatively, they can take the form of balanced polymorphisms that segregate within populations until one arrangement becomes fixed. Many questions remain about how inversion polymorphisms arise, how they are maintained over the long term, and ultimately, whether and how they contribute to speciation. The long‐snouted seahorse ( Hippocampus guttulatus ) is genetically subdivided into geographic lineages and marine‐lagoon ecotypes, with shared structural variation underlying lineage and ecotype divergence. Here, we aim to characterize structural variants and to reconstruct their history and suspected role in ecotype formation. We generated a near chromosome‐level genome assembly and described genome‐wide patterns of diversity and divergence through the analysis of 112 whole‐genome sequences from Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Black Sea populations. By also analysing linked‐read sequencing data, we found evidence for two chromosomal inversions that were several megabases in length and showed contrasting allele frequency patterns between lineages and ecotypes across the species range. We reveal that these inversions represent ancient intraspecific polymorphisms, one likely being maintained by divergent selection and the other by pseudo‐overdominance. A possible selective coupling between the two inversions was further supported by the absence of specific haplotype combinations and a putative functional interaction between the two inversions in reproduction. Lastly, we detected gene flux eroding divergence between inverted alleles at varying levels for the two inversions, with a likely impact on their dynamics and contribution to divergence and speciation.


Divergence and gene flow history at two large chromosomal inversions involved in long-snouted seahorse ecotype formation

July 2023

·

95 Reads

·

1 Citation

Chromosomal inversions can play an important role in divergence and reproductive isolation by building and maintaining distinct allelic combinations between evolutionary lineages. Alternatively, they can take the form of balanced polymorphisms that segregate within populations over time until one arrangement becomes fixed. Many questions remain about how these different inversion polymorphisms arise, how the mechanisms responsible for their long-term maintenance interact, and ultimately how they contribute to speciation. The long-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus guttulatus) is known to be subdivided into partially isolated lineages and marine-lagoon ecotypes differentiated by structural variation. Here, we aim to characterise these differences along the entire genome, and to reconstruct their history and role in ecotype formation. We generated a near chromosome-level reference genome assembly and described genome-wide patterns of diversity and divergence through the analysis of 112 whole-genome sequences from Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Black Sea populations. Combined with linked-read sequencing data, we found evidence for two megabase-scale chromosomal inversions showing contrasted allele frequency patterns across the species range. We reveal that these inversions represent ancient intraspecific polymorphisms, one being likely maintained by divergent selection, and the other by associative overdominance. Haplotype combinations characterising Mediterranean ecotypes also suggest the existence of potential interactions between the two inversions, possibly driven by environment-dependent fitness effects. Lastly, we detected gene flux eroding divergence between inverted alleles at varying levels between the two inversions, with a likely impact on their long-term dynamics.


Improving the extraction of ancient Yersinia pestis genomes from the dental pulp

May 2023

·

307 Reads

·

4 Citations

iScience

Ancient DNA preserved in the dental pulp offers the opportunity to characterize the genome of some of the deadliest pathogens in human history. However, while DNA capture technologies help, focus sequencing efforts, and therefore, reduce experimental costs, the recovery of ancient pathogen DNA remains challenging. Here, we tracked the kinetics of ancient Yersinia pestis DNA release in solution during a pre-digestion of the dental pulp. We found that most of the ancient Y. pestis DNA is released within 60 min at 37°C in our experimental conditions. We recommend a simple pre-digestion as an economical procedure to obtain extracts enriched in ancient pathogen DNA, as longer digestion times release other types of templates, including host DNA. Combining this procedure with DNA capture, we characterized the genome sequences of 12 ancient Y. pestis bacteria from France dating to the second pandemic outbreaks of the 17th and 18th centuries Common Era.


Fig. 1. Sample spatial and chronological distribution. (A) American samples. Processed archaeological and/or museum specimens are shown as red triangles, with those successfully sequenced shown as a plain circle; modern specimens are indicated with squares. LP, Late Pleistocene [data from Vershinina et al. (26)]; ELEN, Equus lenensis (Siberia). (B) Ancient Eurasian samples in the comparative panel (table S1). Horses from western Beringia are colored in purple, the remaining in blue. Modern genomes are not projected on the map but are provided in table S1. (C) Geographic visualization of Bayesian radiocarbon dates for early horse dispersals.
Fig. 2. Phylogenetic affinities. (A) Y-chromosomal maximum-likelihood tree (N = 110; 5244 nucleotide transversions). (B) Mitochondrial maximum-likelihood tree (N = 340; 16,406 base pairs). (C) Neighbor-joining tree based on ~7.5 million nucleotide transversions (N = 241; left), and the corresponding genetic ancestry profiles (right). The ancestry proportions for K = 7 genetic components were estimated using Struct-f4 (28). Sample names written as "OGLAKO/Apache" represent modern North American horses culturally associated with Apache communities. LP, Late Pleistocene; ELEN, Equus lenensis (Siberia); DOM2, modern domestic lineage descending from a lower Don-Volga genetic source expanding to Eurasia after 4200 years ago.
Fig. 3. Temporal changes in the genomic makeup of American horses. (A) Ternary plots showing ancestry combinations of the historic horse genomes from North America. (B) Ternary plots showing ancestry combinations of the modern horse genomes from North America. Ancestry proportions were estimated using qpAdm modeling and rotating 37 possible donor sources. Models with highest P values are shown where multiple models could not be rejected. Asterisks depict two samples for which the ancestry profiles presented correspond to the second best qpAdm model (table S3), while the cross accompanying OGLAKO/Ojiwbe2 indicates that its best qpAdm model involves Galiceño and Icelandic horses as donor populations, instead of British sources (supplementary materials section 6). (C) Relative genetic affinities of historic and modern North American horses to Jal5885 versus Welsh horses. Genetic affinities are estimated using f 4 -statistics in the form of (S-URAL, X; C-PONT, Jal5885 or Welsh), where X represents historic and/or modern horses from North America, and C-PONT horses
Fig. 4. Horse herding in the 17 th century CE. (A) Osteological indicators of bridling and riding: (1) palatal damage from curb bit; (2) bit damage to anterior margin of lower second premolar; (3) osteoarthritis at the temporomandibular joint; (4) entheseal changes to the nuchal ligament attachment site; and (5) remodeling of the premaxilla. (B) Osteological indicators of human activity: (1) Healed kick fracture in young foal, suggesting health care. The inset shows healing at 50× magnification. (2) Ossification of the nuchal ligament, indicating use in transport or confinement and/or tethering. (C) Modeled northward dispersal of horses. Model based on archaeological discoveries and consideration of historically documented cultural developments and migrations. (D) Isotopic evidence for foddering. Stable carbon and oxygen and strontium isotope sampling locations for the Kaw River horse, as measured in millimeters from the root (lower-right third molar). Sampling locations are represented on the x axis as the midpoint of a 2-mm section (e.g., the section from 0 to 2 mm is shown as "1" on the graph). Filled triangles show strontium isotope values, with stable carbon values represented by filled circles, and stable oxygen values as open circles. [Kaw horse image credit: E. Scott]
Early dispersal of domestic horses into the Great Plains and northern Rockies

March 2023

·

1,738 Reads

·

23 Citations

Science

The horse is central to many Indigenous cultures across the American Southwest and the Great Plains. However, when and how horses were first integrated into Indigenous lifeways remain contentious, with extant models derived largely from colonial records. We conducted an interdisciplinary study of an assemblage of historic archaeological horse remains, integrating genomic, isotopic, radiocarbon, and paleopathological evidence. Archaeological and modern North American horses show strong Iberian genetic affinities, with later influx from British sources, but no Viking proximity. Horses rapidly spread from the south into the northern Rockies and central plains by the first half of the 17th century CE, likely through Indigenous exchange networks. They were deeply integrated into Indigenous societies before the arrival of 18th-century European observers, as reflected in herd management, ceremonial practices, and culture.


DNA methylation-based profiling of horse archaeological remains for age-at-death and castration

February 2023

·

346 Reads

·

6 Citations

iScience

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.


Sex in the city: Uncovering sex-specific management of equine resources from prehistoric times to the Modern Period in France

February 2022

·

290 Reads

·

7 Citations

Journal of Archaeological Science Reports

Sex identification from fragmentary archeozoological assemblages is particularly challenging in the Equid family, including for horses, donkeys and their hybrids. This limitation has precluded in-depth investigations of sex-ratio variation in various temporal, geographic and social contexts. Recently, shallow DNA sequencing has offered an economical solution to equine sex determination, even in environments where DNA preservation conditions is not optimal. In this study, we applied state-of-the-art methods in ancient DNA-based equine sex determination to 897 osseous remains in order to assess whether equal proportions of males and females could be found in a range of archeological contexts in France. We found Magdalenian horse hunt not focused on isolated bachelors, and Upper Paleolithic habitats and natural traps equally balancing sex ratios. In contrast, Iron Age sacrificial rituals appeared to have been preferentially oriented to male horses and this practice extended into the Roman Period. During Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Modern Period, cities emerged as environments largely dominated by horse males. This strong sex-bias was considerably reduced, and sometimes even absent, in various rural contexts. Combined with previous archaeozoological work and textual evidence, our results portray an urban economy fueled by adult, often old, males, and rural environments where females and subadults of both sexes were maintained to sustain production demands.



FIG 1 Historical label for a museum specimen at the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen, Denmark. Museum documentation enabled curators to decipher and translate the Danish inscription into "Mytilus edulis L. Drift Ice in the Kara Sea. The Dijmphna Expedition." This documentation, however, leaves scarce contextual information useful for downstream analyses and interpretations, such as precise collection date and geographical coordinates, environmental conditions of the find, and postcollection processing. (Photo courtesy of Clio Der Sarkissian.)
FIG 2 Main characteristics and challenges of ancient metagenomic DNA. The original "endogenous" aDNA (i.e., the original DNA in the sample) of a wide range of sample types often makes up only a small fraction of the total genetic content of a sample. Contaminating environmental DNA from close relatives will often reduce confidence in taxonomic profiling and variant calling due to alignment of reads with variants from organisms other than the true ancient organism under investigation. True aDNA has a greater frequency of characteristic C-to-T deamination miscoding lesions at 59 molecule termini (and a corresponding G-to-A mutation on the complementary 39 strand of double-stranded libraries). True aDNA fragment distributions typically peak at short lengths, often around 30 to 70 bp, compared to the long lengths of modern DNA.
Ancient Metagenomic Studies: Considerations for the Wider Scientific Community

December 2021

·

366 Reads

·

20 Citations

Like modern metagenomics, ancient metagenomics is a highly data-rich discipline, with the added challenge that the DNA of interest is degraded and, depending on the sample type, in low abundance. This requires the application of specialized measures during molecular experiments and computational analyses. Furthermore, researchers often work with finite sample sizes, which impedes optimal experimental design and control of confounding factors, and with ethically sensitive samples necessitating the consideration of additional guidelines. In September 2020, early career researchers in the field of ancient metagenomics met (Standards, Precautions & Advances in Ancient Metagenomics 2 [SPAAM2] community meeting) to discuss the state of the field and how to address current challenges. Here, in an effort to bridge the gap between ancient and modern metagenomics, we highlight and reflect upon some common misconceptions, provide a brief overview of the challenges in our field, and point toward useful resources for potential reviewers and newcomers to the field.


Citations (14)


... Evidence for horse husbandry, however, comes from laboratory analysis revealing a number of notable results. These include isotope ratios from lipid residues on ceramics argued to represent horse milk, post-hole features with elevated phosphorous levels interpreted as corrals, dental pathologies associated with bridle mouthpiece use, genomic indicators of selective pressures associated with coat color, and shortened inter-generational intervals suggestive of reproductive control (Librado et al., 2024;Outram & Bogaard, 2019;Outram, 2023). ...

Reference:

Straight from the Horse’s Mouth: Timing and Zoogeography of Domesticated Horse Arrivals in Mongolia and China
Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2200 BCE in Eurasia

Nature

... This is consistent with a detailed characterization of the four major supergenes in herring (on chromosome 6, 12, 17, and 23) based on PacBio long-read sequencing that reveals that these originated more than a million years ago and that there is a considerable gene flux between inversion haplotypes at all four loci 51 . A similar example of gene flux between inversion haplotypes has recently been reported in the long-snouted seahorse 52 . The four supergenes play a prominent role in ecological adaptation in Atlantic and Baltic herring, and the supergenes on chromosome 17 (Fig. 1e) and chromosome 12 (Fig. 4) have both contributed significantly to the genetic differentiation of the piscivorous Baltic herring. ...

Divergence and gene flow history at two large chromosomal inversions underlying ecotype differentiation in the long-snouted seahorse
  • Citing Article
  • January 2024

Molecular Ecology

... On the other hand, the use of teeth, a veritable biological archive, makes it possible to work on the Yersinia pestis genome 28 and understand the stages in the evolution of Yersinia pestis's virulence arsenal. 26,[29][30][31] Conclusions Exploitation of teeth's dental pulp offered researchers a practical alternative, allowing the recovery of DNA, victim and pathogen, from a naturally enclosed area protected from contamination 15 . ...

Improving the extraction of ancient Yersinia pestis genomes from the dental pulp

iScience

... The diverse MSY HTs in Spanish-influenced breeds are in line with other genomic regions, such as autosomal and mtDNA ( 19 , 47 ). However, the observation of Crown lineages in these breeds proves their oriental ancestry, gives no evidence of an ancient Iberian lineage ( 5 ), and is in concordance with previous findings ( 21 ) of Crown HTs in modern and historical American horses. MSY HTs support the distinctiveness and Spanish origin of New World breeds ( 11 , 12 , 16 , 19 , 48 , 49 ) and reveal the exchange of horses from north Africa and the Iberian Peninsula at several periods (cf ref. 33 ). ...

Early dispersal of domestic horses into the Great Plains and northern Rockies

Science

... En analysant le profil de méthylation de génomes anciens à ces emplacements, il serait alors possible de déterminer l'âge au décès des individus étudiés. Cette analyse a, par exemple, été conduite sur l'ADN de chevaux anciens, et a permis de définir leur âge au décès avec une marge d'erreur de moins d'un an [12]. Une approche similaire serait donc envisageable pour les êtres humains, même si quelques limites persistent. ...

DNA methylation-based profiling of horse archaeological remains for age-at-death and castration

iScience

... Similarly, two possible genetic outliers (EV15A and EV18) can be observed among the Etruscans from Monteriggioni/Colle Val D'Elsa. While the former shows a genetic makeup analogous to coeval Sardinians [29], probably representing the genetic outcome of the well-known IA connections between this island and Etruria [36], the latter is more similar to Central European BA/IA individuals, like other Etruscan outliers already described [9]. The presence of all these genetic outliers in the Italic IA, also attested among the Romans [8], is a direct consequence of the great mobility of the Mediterranean populations [7,37]. ...

Genetic history from the Middle Neolithic to present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia
  • Citing Article
  • December 2020

... Sexing paleofaunal remains can provide important data on a broad spectrum of issues. These include the animal's life history, extent of dimorphism, socio-ecological structure and behavior, as well as predator-prey relations and herd management strategies [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] . However, sex determination of fossil fauna is severely hampered by the often fragmentary nature of specimens, as it relies on the presence of sex-specific morphological features (e.g. on the pelvis, bacula, horns etc.) that are often missing or broken 8,9 . ...

Sex in the city: Uncovering sex-specific management of equine resources from prehistoric times to the Modern Period in France
  • Citing Article
  • February 2022

Journal of Archaeological Science Reports

... The table includes: taxID -taxonomic id according to NCBI nomenclature; Pers_Reads -fraction of reads covered by the clade rooted at this taxon; reads-number of reads covered by the clade rooted at this taxon; taxReads-number of reads assigned directly to this taxon; kmers -number of unique k-mers assigned to this taxon; dup-average number of times each unique k-mer has been seen and covcoverage of the k-mers of the clade in the database * Explanation of columns for KrakenUniq output: taxID -taxonomic id according to NCBI nomenclature, Pers_Reads -fraction of reads covered by the clade rooted at this taxon, reads-number of reads covered by the clade rooted at this taxon, taxReads-number of reads assigned directly to this taxon, kmers -number of unique k-mers assigned to this taxon, dup-average number of times each unique k-mer has been seen, covcoverage of the k-mers of the clade in the database P. pannorum and R. toruloides hits had breadth coverage < 1% of the reference genomes coverage; thus, we discarded both taxa from further analysis (Table 1). P. destructans and P. verrucosus had a moderate mismatch rate captured by their edit distance plots, i.e., most reads had one mismatch, which is not uncommon for damaged ancient reads (S.M. 8 Figures a and b) [36]. ...

Ancient Metagenomic Studies: Considerations for the Wider Scientific Community

... In parallel with the isotopic analysis, teeth from 14 of the 15 sampled horses were sexed by aDNA screening at the Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics, Toulouse. The procedure followed (72) and consisted of extracting ancient DNA from 200 to 480 mg of tooth powder, constructing triple-indexed DNA libraries, and processing shallow shotgun sequencing data through the Zonkey computational pipeline (73). Endogenous DNA preservation levels (0.74 to 94.1%; median = 4.6%) and the sequence data produced (408,391 to 946,136; median = 647,966) were sufficient to confirm the taxonomic status of the 14 remains as Equus caballus, identifying 9 males (stallions or castrated geldings) and 5 mares (data S1). ...

Historical management of equine resources in France from the Iron Age to the Modern Period

Journal of Archaeological Science Reports

... Over the past decade, a remarkable number of studies have been published on ancient equids and their intersections with human communities. This body of recent research deploys creative analyses and impressive sample sets to develop zoogeographical hypotheses that scholars 20 to 30 years ago could not have imagined (e.g., Anthony, 1986;Levine, 1999;Linduff, 2003;Outram et al., 2009;Anthony & Brown, 2011;Taylor, 2017;Orlando, 2020;Librado et al., 2021;Bendrey & Oakes, 2023). Such unexpected twists and turns in the narrative of horse domestication give cause for periodically stepping back and assessing the current state of theory and evidence to affirm what scholars know with confidence and what still remains to be understood. ...

The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasian steppes

Nature