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.

International audienceA multiproxy analysis of lacustrine sediments cored in Grand-Case Pond at Saint-Martin, north of the Lesser Antilles archipelago, reveals three distinct climatic periods for the last 3700 years. From 3700 to ~2500 yr cal. BP and from 1150 yr cal. BP to the present, carbonate mud deposition occurred in connection with pond lowstands. These periods were also punctuated by severe drought events, marked by gypsum laminae, and hurricane landfalls, leading to marine sand inputs into the pond. The intermediate time interval, from 2500 to 1150 yr cal. BP, is typified by black organic mud deposition, suggesting that hypoxic to anoxic conditions prevailed at the pond bottom. These were probably linked with a perennial pond highstand and reflect more uniform and wetter climatic conditions than today. The carbon isotopic composition of the ostracod Perissocytheridea bisulcata shows that the lowest δ13C values are recorded during the hypoxic periods, as a consequence of bacterial recycling of isotopically depleted organic matter. Such a climatic history agrees closely with that documented from other records in the Caribbean area, such as the Cariaco Basin, central coast of Belize or Barbados. By constrast, discrepancies seem to emerge from the comparison between hurricane activity recorded at Saint-Martin on the one hand and Vieques (Puerto Rico) on the other hand. We explain this apparent contradiction by a balance between two distinct storm paths in response to latitudinal shifts of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Stronger storm activity over the Gulf coast and the inner Caribbean Sea is favoured by a southern position of the ITCZ in connection with dry climatic conditions. Plausible links with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) are also suggested

Pit cave 6 on Pointe Gros Rempart (Baie-Mahault, La Désirade, French West Indies) is a stratified fossil-bearing site. While the archaeological material and faunal remains from the oldest assemblage demonstrate it to have formed during the Amerindian period, the second assemblage dates to the first one-hundred years of the island's colonial period (mid-18th to mid-19th centuries). Faunal analysis revealed the presence of 4 now locally extinct or extinct species, three of which have never before been documented on La Désirade (Ameivasp.,Leiocephaluscf.cuneusandAlsophissp.). Changing faunal spectrums (invertebrates and vertebrates) due to environmental destabilisation combined with aspects of the island's colonial economy demonstrate habitat degradation and over-grazing to be the principal causes of extinctions and or extirpations.

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Les restes culinaires de Cuccuru is Arrius (Oristano, Sardaigne) : nouveaux apports à la connaissance des économies néolithiques en domaine littoral RésuméPourtant considérée comme un véritable carrefour sur la route des premières vagues de migration des sociétés néolithiques, la Sardaigne n'a jusqu'à aujourd'hui livré que peu de données quant à ces processus de colonisation. Situé dans le golfe d'Oristano, sur la façade littorale ouest de l'île, le locus néolithique moyen du site de Cuccuru is Arrius constitue donc un document précieux pour mieux saisir les modalités d'occupation des îles Thyrréniennes. Cet article s'est plus particulièrement attaché à rendre compte des spécificités économiques de ces premières occupations de Sardaigne, à partir des témoins archéozoologiques.

Référence électronique Nathalie Serrand, « Exploitation des invertébrés par les sociétés précolombiennes des Petites Antilles »,

The islands of Guadeloupe are small oceanic islands that home to an original terrestrial mollusc fauna comprising twelve species endemic to the islands themselves and thirteen species endemic to the Lesser Antilles. With a total of seventy-three taxa characterized to species or subspecies, the Guadeloupean terrestrial molluscs form a rich, highly varied faunal community (Charles, 2016), and represent a potential source of powerful palaeoenvironmental proxies. However, Quaternary land snails are