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When humans began to charge across plains and mountains on the sleek backs of horses, it changed the course of history. The earliest definitive evidence of equestrianism dates to 4,000 years ago: In the Ural Mountains of Russia, archaeologists unearthed the remains of bridles and chariots. But some scholars say humans began relying on horses for transport a couple of millennia earlier than that, in the Eurasian steppes near the Black Sea.<\/p>\n Regardless of when this horse-human bond first emerged, it soon promoted the sharing of culture, language, and commerce between people from distant lands and transformed agriculture and warfare.<\/p>\n Now a team of researchers from France, China, and Switzerland say they have identified the specific genes in horse lineages that may have made it possible for humans to start taming and mounting these muscular animals. The genes they identified began to appear around 5,000 years ago, and are involved in temperament, movement, and the way horse bodies are shaped. The researchers published their results<\/a> in the journal Science.<\/p>\n Understanding horse evolution helps us understand ourselves.<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. \u201cThese genetic changes allowed horses to become rideable<\/a> and fast-moving, which transformed human societies by accelerating transport, warfare, and cultural exchange,\u201d says lead author Xuexue Liu, a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with the Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse in France. \u201cIn short, horse genetics and human social development co-evolved in a mutually reinforcing process.\u201d<\/p>\n Liu and colleagues analyzed ancient horse DNA collected from archaeological sites, tracking how 266 trait-associated genetic markers changed over the period when humans were breeding them. One pair of genes known as GSDMC and ZFPM1 also appear in other animals, such as mice, which helped researchers isolate and observe the effects of the genes. GSDMC is linked to spinal anatomy, motor coordination, and strength in mice, they found, while ZFPM1 is associated with anxiety and learning.<\/p>\n Understanding horse evolution helps us understand ourselves, said William Taylor, an archaeozoologist at the University of Colorado Boulder, who was not involved with the study.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this study shows very clearly that horse domestication was paired with, and probably motivated by, a desire for horse transport,\u201d Taylor wrote in an email. \u201cThe first horse herders were raising horses with only a few things in mind, namely their behavior\u2014friendliness, aggression\u2014and their movement\/roles in transport.\u201d<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Selective pressures for characteristics such as horses\u2019 heights appears later in their genetic record, which suggests to Taylor that earlier people were not breeding for specific coat colorings or other traits<\/a> important to contemporary riders.<\/p>\n \u201cThese finds suggest that early horse transport\u2014relying heavily on chariot teams\u2014was probably much different than the kind of mounted riding we know today, with different values and different logistics,\u201d said Taylor.<\/p>\n Taylor also pointed out that the findings of the study suggest that humans had little relationship with horses before 3,000 B.C. and that in those early years, humans used them almost exclusively for transport. \u201cThat\u2019s exciting, and points us toward a very different understanding of horse domestication than has been the status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n In a related Perspective<\/a>, also in Science, Laurent Frantz, who studies zooarchaeology and evolutionary genomics at Oxford University, pointed out the impressive significance to history of the very first horseback riders\u2014and these tiny bits of DNA the researchers identified.<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. \u201cAlthough the precise circumstances and the cultural identity of the people responsible for this early, intensive breeding remain a mystery, they must have had the necessary ingenuity, technology, and foresight,\u201d writes Frantz. \u201cWhat is certain is that these first riders kick-started a revolution that changed the world, demonstrating how the immense currents of history can turn on the smallest of biological changes.\u201d More from Nautilus about horses and genetics:<\/p>\n \u201cIcelandic Horses Have Good Genes<\/a>\u201d New evidence suggests their unique gaits have a complex pedigree<\/p>\n \u201cCan Science Breed the Next Secretariat?<\/a>\u201d How a \u201cspeed gene\u201d test is stirring up horse racing and athletics<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Enjoying\u00a0 Nautilus<\/a>? Subscribe to our free newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n Lead image: Brigida Soriano \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\n CD Davidson-Hiers <\/p>\n
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