Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare1. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling2–4 at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc3. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia5 and Anatolia6, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 bc, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled chariots. We find that equestrianism involved strong selection for critical locomotor and behavioural adaptations at the GSDMC and ZFPM1 genes. Our results reject the commonly held association7 between horseback riding and the massive expansion of Yamnaya steppe pastoralists into Europe around 3000 bc8,9 driving the spread of Indo-European languages10. This contrasts with the scenario in Asia where Indo-Iranian languages, chariots and horses spread together, following the early second millennium bc Sintashta culture11,12.

L'ambition de cet article est d'appréhender la structure sociale d'une petite communauté de Magdaléniens à travers l'analyse palethnographique d'un niveau d'occupation d'Étiolles, le niveau U5-P15. Fouillé sur 700 m 2 , ce niveau est interprété comme une partie de campement, composée de deux habitations, U5 et P15, abritant chacune une unité familiale, et associées à quatre foyers annexes. L'analyse spatiale met en évidence l'organisation des activités dans l'habitat et les remontages de silex attestent une circulation importante des produits de la taille entre les unités, essentiellement des nucléus et des lames. Cette circulation traduit la mobilité des individus dans l'espace du campement et aussi dans le temps du séjour. De nombreux échanges entre les habitations révèlent une réalité sociale complexe qui se manifeste par des comportements d'entraide et de partage, et une certaine forme de hiérarchie entre les deux familles. En outre, une temporalité inégale des deux habitations pose la question d'une recomposition du groupe magdalénien durant son séjour à Étiolles.

Le gisement magdalénien d'Étiolles se caractérise par l'existence de plusieurs types de structures d'habitat. A proximité de riches unités d'occupation, interprétées comme des habitations, ont été découvertes d'autres structures qui associent également un foyer avec des concentrations de silex taillés mais sont beaucoup plus pauvres en vestiges. Trois d'entre elles sont étudiées dans cet article et une interprétation fonctionnelle en est proposée. Elles apparaissent comme des aires d'activité non étroitement spécialisées, complémentaires des habitations. Au-delà de l'étude de ces unités satellites, il s'agit de comprendre l'organisation spatiale des activités dans un campement magdalénien et la réalité socio-économique qui la sous-tendait.

The function of prehistoric sites is a major topic of Palaeolithic research. Often opposed to the concept of culture (or style), function is considered as another key in the interpretation of prehistoric assemblages. In prehistoric archaeology, this notion involves setting the site with its components in a socio-economic system of the occupation and exploitation of a territory by hunter-gatherer societies. The model that is preferred refers to ethno- archaeological research regarding modern hunter-gatherers, in particular L. R. Binford's research. The focus of this article is to discuss this model and to question the relevance of criteria selected by archaeologists to identify the function of a Palaeolithic site. This discussion is based on the study of the Magdalenian open-air site of Étiolles that has now been excavated for more than thirty years. The characteristics of this site are discussed: duration and regularity of the occupation, seasonality, organisation of the camps, variability of the habitation structures, nature and importance of activities carried out on the site. The long duration of the excavations reveals the ambiguity of some data and the limits of a functional interpretation of the site. Furthermore, it is necessary to compare the site of Étiolles with other Magdalenian sites in the centre of the Paris Basin for the better understanding of this site and its integration into a territory. A first model of territory occupation was proposed during the late 1980s. It was based on the functional complementarity of Magdalenian sites that inferred a seasonal planning of activities. With the continuation of the excavations on several sites (Etiolles, Pincevent), and the discovery of new ones, the reality seems to be more complex. A new model is proposed. It focuses on similarities between sites. The economic exploitation of the Magdalenian territory in the centre of the Paris Basin seems to be less rigid, adapted to an area with diversified resources.