Anat Biol Anthropol.  2020 Jun;33(2):57-68. 10.11637/aba.2020.33.2.57.

Origin and Diffusion of Equus caballus from the Archaeological and Genetic Perspectives

• Hong JH
• Kang IU
• Shin DH
• Kim J

• KMID: 2503814
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.11637/aba.2020.33.2.57

Abstract

In terms of history, horses are domesticated animals that has most affected the development of human civilization. Genetic studies to date revealed that domesticated horses have extremely low Y chromosome polymorphism whereas their mitotypes are very diverse. This means that there was a genetic bottleneck by a few stallions that were first domesticated in the Eurasian steppe about 5,500 years ago. However, the most recent analyses also showed the possibility that wild horse’s gene might have been introgressed into the current genetic pool of Equus caballus during the spread of the domesticated horses. This review deals with the current view on the origin and diffusion of horses from archaeological, historical and genetic perspectives. Historical records of various types of horses raised on the Korean Peninsula have been found, but there is not much genetic research yet. According to historical records, the steppe horses introduced to the Korean Peninsula through Mongolia in the 13th century are believed to have greatly influenced the genotype of ancient Korean horses. However, it is clear that a lot of data is still needed to be academically convinced of this possibility, and genetic research on horse bones found at archaeological sites in Korea and East Asia needs to continue to be conducted in the future.

Keyword

Equus caballus; Animal domestication; Phylogenetic analysis