seda DNA: proxy for mapping presence of domesticated Horse mitochondrial haplogroups in the Pyrenees

Horse domestication has had major impact on human civilization through mobility, warfare and economy.

In spite of horse domestication being one of the most important turning points in the human history, lack of reliable well preserved archaeological records have been an obstacle in investigating earliest horse domestication and environmental factors influencing it. Furthermore if and how early husbandry practices influenced local environment is unknown.

PALEOS here proposes to use interdisciplinary approach for this purpose. It will combine Prof. Ludovic Orlando’s expertise in paleogenomics and Dr. Kuldeep More’s in sedimentary genomics and paleo-environmental reconstruction through organic geochemistry analyses.

Eneolithic Botai site in northern Kazakhstan chosen for this research shows strong evidence indicative of pastoral husbandry, involving milking and harnessing. It, thus, provides a unique opportunity to catch domestication red-handed at its earliest.

During the 3rd millennium BCE, different domestic horses superseded Botai horses and the descendants of Botai people also vanished.

What made Botai culture to choose this environment as a breeding ground for horses and why did it stop is presently unknown. One hypothesis posits that local environmental changes at Botai may have become incompatible with husbandry.

Additionally, little is known about the husbandry techniques that allowed Botai people to domesticate the horse for the first time.

PALEOS plans to take several soil sediment cores that will be split in half with each half for organic geochemistry and genomic analyses.

Organic geochemistry part will reveal paleoclimate changes while genomics part will reveal changes in eukaryotic and prokaryotic community.

When combined we will get holistic picture of dynamics of husbandry practices in relation to the local paleoenvironmental changes. Furthermore, plant and microbial data obtained from the site will shed light on dietary specification of Botai horses.