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.

Multiple geographical regions have been proposed for the domestication of Equus caballus. It has been suggested, based on zooarchaeological and genetic analyses that wild horses from the Iberian Peninsula were involved in the process, and the overrepresentation of mitochondrial D1 cluster in modern Iberian horses supports this suggestion. To test this hypothesis, we analysed mitochondrial DNA from 22 ancient Iberian horse remains belonging to the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and the Middle Ages, against previously published sequences. Only the medieval Iberian sequence appeared in the D1 group. Neolithic and Bronze Age sequences grouped in other clusters, one of which (Lusitano group C) is exclusively represented by modern horses of Iberian origin. Moreover, Bronze Age Iberian sequences displayed the lowest nucleotide diversity values when compared with modern horses, ancient wild horses and other ancient domesticates using nonparametric bootstrapping analyses. We conclude that the excessive clustering of Bronze Age horses in the Lusitano group C, the observed nucleotide diversity and the local continuity from wild Neolithic Iberian to modern Iberian horses, could be explained by the use of local wild mares during an early Iberian domestication or restocking event, whereas the D1 group probably was introduced into Iberia in later historical times.

Les recherches réalisées à Grotte Fosca (Castellón, Espagne) ont posé une nouvelle perspective pour l’étude du processus néolithisateur en Méditerranée occidentale. La domestication, présente dès le VI millénaire associée à des céramiques non cardiales, modifie le schéma traditionnel de cette étape initiale. Cette problématique, que nous résumons en trois points, est le sujet de notre communication :1. Connaissance de la mécanique par laquelle un substrat socio-économique amorce un changement vers l’acquisition de la nouvelle économie productrice.2. Révision des matériaux céramiques considérés comme des horizons chronologiques-culturels déterminant les premières étapes du néolithique.3. Délimitation du tableau chronologique de l’origine du néolithique ancien.

En Levant ibérique des recherches semblent indiquer que la dynamique évolutive n’est pas liée aux changements naturels de l’environnement. Les auteurs étudient le substrat écologique et le développement de groupes dont le système économique culminera dans l’adoption complète d’une nouvelle base agro-sylvo-pastorale.L’exemple de la Cova Fosca met en évidence une utilisation intensive des ressources locales. L’hypothèse de la présence d’ovicaprins, semblables morphologiquement aux types domestiques, est avancée antérieurement aux débuts du VIIe millénaire B.P.