Domestication
Domestication of the horse most likely took place in central Asia prior to 3500 BC. Two major sources of information are used to determine where and when the horse was first domesticated and how the domesticated horse spread around the world. The first source is based on palaeological and archaeological discoveries, the second source is a comparison of DNA obtained from modern horses to that from bones and teeth of ancient horse remains.
The earliest archaeological evidence for the domestication of the horse comes from sites in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, dating to approximately 3500–4000 BC. By 3000 BC, the horse was completely domesticated and by 2000 BC there was a sharp increase in the number of horse bones found in human settlements in northwestern Europe, indicating the spread of domesticated horses throughout the continent. The most recent, but most irrefutable evidence of domestication comes from sites where horse remains were interred with chariots in graves of the Sintashta and Petrovka cultures c. 2100 BC.
Domestication is also studied by using the genetic material of present day horses and comparing it with the genetic material present in the bones and teeth of horse remains found in archaeological and palaeological excavations. The variation in the genetic material shows that very few wild stallions contributed to the domestic horse, while many mares were part of early domesticated herds. This is reflected in the difference in genetic variation between the DNA that is passed on along the paternal, or sire line (Y-chromosome) versus that passed on along the maternal, or dam line (mitochondrial DNA). There are very low levels of Y-chromosome variability, but a great deal of genetic variation in mitochondrial DNA. There is also regional variation in mitochondrial DNA due to the inclusion of wild mares in domestic herds. Another characteristic of domestication is an increase in coat color variation. In horses, this increased dramatically between 5000 and 3000 BC.
Before the availability of DNA techniques to resolve the questions related to the domestication of the horse, various hypothesis were proposed. One classification was based on body types and conformation, suggesting the presence of four basic prototypes that had adapted to their environment prior to domestication. Another hypothesis held that the four prototypes originated from a single wild species and that all different body types were entirely a result of selective breeding after domestication. However, the lack of a detectable substructure in the horse has resulted in a rejection of both hypotheses.
Read more about this topic: Horse
Other articles related to "domestication":
... Self-domestication describes theories of how humans developed and evolved ... The idea of self-domestication was used by early Social Darwinism which, according to psychiatrist Martin Brüne in an article "On human self-domestication", developed from the ... screening are typical examples where our self-domestication is most directly apparent," writes philosopher Masahiro Morioka, who also says that "Through domesticating ourselves like ...
... Her research suggests that experimentation in plant domestication may have started in the uplands, instead of the rich soiled flood plains as former theories have suggested ... lived in the uplands and would be able to experiment with domestication without having to travel great distances to get to the fertile flood plains ...
... The domestication of animals is the oldest documented instance of keeping animals in captivity ... Some were failed domestication attempts ... Contrary to domestication, the ferociousness and natural behaviour of the wild animals were preserved and exhibited ...
... Supporters of such human rewilding argue that through the process of domestication, human wildness has been altered by force ... Rewilding is about overcoming human domestication and returning to behavior inherent in human wildness ... Rewilding intends to create permanently wild human cultures beyond domestication ...
... From chapter 9 of Guns, Germs and Steel, six groups of reasons for failed domestication of animals are Diet - To be a candidate for domestication, a species must be easy to feed ... mating rituals prohibiting breeding in a farm-like environment make poor candidates for domestication ... species are too mean and nasty to be good candidates for domestication ...