The genetic identity of the earliest human-made hybrid animals, the kungas of Syro-Mesopotamia

Bennett, E. Andrew; Weber, Jill A.; Bendhafer, Wejden; Champlot, Sophie; Peters, Joris; Schwartz, Glenn M.; Grange, Thierry; Geigl, Eva-María

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abm0218

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…While this provides a rough time frame and geographical setting, our understanding of how horsemanship developed between midfourth and early second millennium BCE in the Pontic-Caspian steppe and the Middle East is still vague. This time span also sees the first horse dispersals to the west and south (1,2,10,12), the origins of modern horse breeds (1), the widespread introduction of cattle-pulled wheeled carts and wagons (13), and the Yamnaya (~3200 to 2500 BCE) expansions eastward to the Altai and Mongolia in the form of the Afanasievo culture (14) and westward into the southeast of Europe, coming to a hold at the Tisza river in eastern Hungary (15). Latest research into this event (Fig.…”

Section: Multidisciplinary Sources Of Evidence For Earliest Horsemanshipmentioning

confidence: 90%

First bioanthropological evidence for Yamnaya horsemanship

Trautmann

Frînculeasa²,

Preda-Bălănică

et al. 2023

Sci. Adv.

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The origins of horseback riding remain elusive. Scientific studies show that horses were kept for their milk ~3500 to 3000 BCE, widely accepted as indicating domestication. However, this does not confirm them to be ridden. Equipment used by early riders is rarely preserved, and the reliability of equine dental and mandibular pathologies remains contested. However, horsemanship has two interacting components: the horse as mount and the human as rider. Alterations associated with riding in human skeletons therefore possibly provide the best source of information. Here, we report five Yamnaya individuals well-dated to 3021 to 2501 calibrated BCE from kurgans in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, displaying changes in bone morphology and distinct pathologies associated with horseback riding. These are the oldest humans identified as riders so far.

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Section: Multidisciplinary Sources Of Evidence For Earliest Horsemanshipmentioning

confidence: 90%

First bioanthropological evidence for Yamnaya horsemanship

Trautmann

Frînculeasa²,

Preda-Bălănică

et al. 2023

Sci. Adv.

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“…The ritual and symbolism surrounding domestic asses during the EB have both elite and private origins. EB ass burials (including hybrids) are not only associated with elite burial and public contexts [ 97 , 139 , 140 ], they are also associated with commoner residences where they are buried beneath floors and walls [ 1 ]. We believe that the asinine burials from the E5 Strata at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath are such examples and fall into this category.…”

Section: Discussion—why Bury a Domestic Ass Under Your Floor?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Household Rituals and Merchant Caravanners: The Phenomenon of Early Bronze Age Donkey Burials from Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel

Greenfield

Ross

Greenfield

et al. 2022

Animals

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Most studies of ritual and symbolism in early complex societies of the Near East have focused on elite and/or public behavioural domains. However, the vast bulk of the population would not have been able to fully participate in such public displays. This paper explores the zooarchaeological and associated archaeological evidence for household rituals in lower-stratum residences in the Early Bronze Age (EB) of the southern Levant. Data from the EB III (c. 2850–2550 BCE) deposits excavated at the site of Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel, are illustrative of the difficulty in identifying the nature of household rituals. An integrated analytical approach to the architecture, figurines, foundation deposits, and domestic donkey burials found in lower-stratum domestic residences provides insights into the nature of household rituals. This integrated contextual perspective allows the sacred and symbolic role(s) of each to be understood and their importance for EB urban society to be evaluated.

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“…Mesopotamians were using hybrids of domesticated donkeys and wild asses for pulling four-wheeled wagons into battle 4,500 years ago-at least 500 years before horses were bred for the same purpose (Bennett et al, 2022). Kungas were the earliest bio-engineered hybrids before the material bases and mechanisms of biological heredity, development, and evolution were explained.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Likewise, some civilizations had notions on plant reproduction as, for example, the ancient Assyrians often depicted a king-like figure the Apkallu or winged-genie, apparently pollinating date palms nine centuries before the common era (BCE) ( Figure 1 ) ( Zirkle, 1935 ; Stubbe, 1972 ; Sturtevant, 2000 ). Mesopotamians were using hybrids of domesticated donkeys and wild asses for pulling four-wheeled wagons into battle 4,500 years ago—at least 500 years before horses were bred for the same purpose ( Bennett et al, 2022 ). Kungas were the earliest bio-engineered hybrids before the material bases and mechanisms of biological heredity, development, and evolution were explained.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chip Off the Old Block: Generation, Development, and Ancestral Concepts of Heredity

Poczai

Santiago‐Blay

2022

Front. Genet.

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Heredity is such a fundamental concept that it is hard to imagine a world where the connection between parents and offspring is not understood. Three hundred years ago thinking of the phenomenon of heredity bore on a cluster of distinct philosophical questions inherited from antiquity concerning the nature and origin of substances or beings that lacked biological meaning. We are reminded of this philosophical heritage by the fact that in the 18th century the study of reproduction, embryology and development was referred to as “the science of generation”. It is now clear that reproduction, the biological process by which parents produce offspring, is a fundamental feature of all life on Earth. Heredity, the transmission of traits from parents to offspring via sexual or asexual reproduction, allows differences between individuals to accumulate and evolve through natural selection. Genetics is the study of heredity, and in particular, variation of fundamental units responsible for heredity. Ideas underlying this theory evolved in considerably different and unrelated ways across a number of knowledge domains, including philosophy, medicine, natural history, and breeding. The fusion of these different domains into a single comprehensive theory in 19th century biology was a historically and culturally interdependent process, thus examining genetic prehistory should unravel these entanglements. The major goal of our review is tracing the various threads of thought that gradually converged into our contemporary understanding of heredity.

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The genetic identity of the earliest human-made hybrid animals, the kungas of Syro-Mesopotamia

Abstract: Ancient DNA identifies elite equids in Bronze Age Mesopotamia as the first human-bred hybrid animals, the enigmatic kungas.

Cited by 18 publications

References 44 publications

First bioanthropological evidence for Yamnaya horsemanship

First bioanthropological evidence for Yamnaya horsemanship

Household Rituals and Merchant Caravanners: The Phenomenon of Early Bronze Age Donkey Burials from Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel

Chip Off the Old Block: Generation, Development, and Ancestral Concepts of Heredity

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