Summary
Horse domestication revolutionized warfare and accelerated travel, trade, and the geographic expansion of languages. Here, we present the largest DNA time series for a non-human organism to date, including genome-scale data from 149 ancient animals and 129 ancient genomes (≥1-fold coverage), 87 of which are new. This extensive dataset allows us to assess the modern legacy of past equestrian civilizations. We find that two extinct horse lineages existed during early domestication, one at the far western (Iberia) and the other at the far eastern range (Siberia) of Eurasia. None of these contributed significantly to modern diversity. We show that the influence of Persian-related horse lineages increased following the Islamic conquests in Europe and Asia. Multiple alleles associated with elite-racing, including at the MSTN “speed gene,” only rose in popularity within the last millennium. Finally, the development of modern breeding impacted genetic diversity more dramatically than the previous millennia of human management.
Ancient DNA has the potential of adding the dimension of time to genetic studies. With a suitable sample set it should be possible to follow genetic changes over time as they occur. To date, only a limited number of ancient DNA studies that cover a large time span have been published, and all of these studies have used mitochondrial DNA. Here, we explore SNP typing as a way to access ancient coding nuclear genes. By targeting fragments of minimal size, we typed three polymorphic sites in 111 ancient cattle remains spanning some 4000 years. We showed that there has been a decrease in heterozygosity over time, especially since the late Middle Ages. We conclude that SNPs can be used to generate a time series for nuclear markers from ancient material, and thereby to study selection on genes over time.
Morphological identification of ancient bone is often problematic due to heavy fragmentation that generally influences zooarchaeological assemblages. Fish bones are more taphonomically sensitive than those of other vertebrates as they are typically smaller and less biomineralised. Thus, taxonomic identification based on the preservation of morphological features is often extremely limited and can reduce or eliminate the usefulness of an assemblage for inferring taxon information. Currently, one of the most time--and cost--efficient methods of achieving faunal identity from ancient bone is by the collagen fingerprinting technique known as ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry). ZooMS harnesses the potential of preserved collagen, which is the most dominant and time-stable protein in bone. In this research, ZooMS is applied to ancient Baltic region fish assemblages that are between 500 and 6000 years old in order to define species identity and construct assemblage compositions. Alongside inferences into environmental and biological shifts from the Neolithic era to present day in the Baltic region, we demonstrate for the first time the ability to distinguish between recently diverged members of the Salmo (salmon) and Scophthalmus (turbot) genera. ZooMS analysis highlights 7% of the collagen-containing assemblage as having been morphologically identified incorrectly and has facilitated taxonomic refinement of a further 28% of samples, including some of the morphologically indeterminate bone fragments. This research emphasises the great potential of ZooMS in identifying ichthyoarchaeological bone remains to species--level, and provides a case for the use of collagen fingerprinting in contributing to baseline fisheries and ecological data to inform modern management.
History of the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in the eastern Baltic region and its implications for the origin and immigration routes of the recent northern European wild reindeer populations PIRKKO UKKONEN, LEMBI LÕ UGAS, ILGA ZAGORSKA, LIGITA LUKŠ EVICA, ERVINS LUKŠ EVICS, LINAS DAUGNORA AND HÖ GNE JUNGNER BOREAS Ukkonen, P., Lõ ugas, L., Zagorska, I., Lukševica, L., Lukševics, E., Daugnora, L. & Jungner, H. 2006 (May): History of the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in the eastern Baltic region and its implications for the origin and immigration routes of the recent northern European wild reindeer populations. Boreas, Vol. 35, pp. 222 Á/230. Oslo. ISSN 0300-9483.A total of 45 subfossil reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) antlers and bones Á/ artefacts excluded Á/ have been found over the years in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The relatively high number of specimens suggests a stable residence of the species in the eastern Baltic region. For the first time, 12 of these finds were radiocarbon-dated. The ages of the samples range between 12 085 and 9970 14 C yr BP (14 180 Á/11 280 cal. yr BP), and cover the Lateglacial and early Holocene, a time period during which climatic conditions shifted from periglacial to temperate. The dates suggest a rapid colonization of the area during the deglaciation period and a local extinction around the Pleistocene Á/Holocene boundary. The results of the study do not support the theory that the recent wild reindeer populations of northern Europe had their origin in the Late Weichselian reindeer populations of the eastern Baltic region.
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