Publications by authors named "Sebastien Lepetz"
Article Synopsis
- - Horses transformed human mobility, but the timeline of their domestication and integration as transport is debated, with new genetic data being used to clarify this history.
- - Analysis of 475 ancient horse genomes indicates that modern domestic horses were shaped by human intervention around 2200 BCE, after a domestication bottleneck began around 2700 BCE, leading to a significant expansion across Eurasia.
- - Evidence also suggests that there was early horse husbandry in central Asia at Botai around 3500 BCE, prior to the establishment of contemporary horse bloodlines, challenging the notion of large herds being linked to migrations around 3000 BCE.
Article Synopsis
- Scientists study old animal bones to learn how people took care of animals a long time ago, but it’s hard because the bones are often broken and there aren’t clear signs of age.
- *Using a special method called DNA methylation clocks, researchers can figure out how old some ancient animals were when they died.
- *They also looked at DNA to understand if horses were castrated in the past, which helps reveal more about how people managed animals and their lives a long time ago.
Article Synopsis
- Donkeys played a crucial role in human history as reliable transport animals, especially in tough terrains, yet their significance is not thoroughly researched.
- A study analyzed the genomes of 207 modern and 31 ancient donkeys, revealing that they were domesticated in Africa around 5000 BCE, with subsequent expansions across Africa and Eurasia.
- The research discovered a new genetic lineage from the Levant around 200 BCE, which contributed to donkey ancestry in Asia, highlighting the historical importance of donkeys in economies, particularly during the Roman era when mules were vital.
Article Synopsis
- Ancient DNA from subfossil specimens offers a way to retrieve genetic information, but environmental microbes often dominate these samples, requiring special techniques for accurate data collection.
- The study found that treating ancient DNA with a USER enzymatic mix before library construction can actually lower the effectiveness of data capture and introduce biases in the results.
- Specifically, they observed that this treatment led to uneven recovery of genetic material from different species (like horses and donkeys) in mule hybrids, suggesting that while USER-treatment may enhance some aspects of DNA quality, it complicates capture outcomes and can lead to unpredictable biases in genetic data.
Article Synopsis
- The domestication of horses significantly changed mobility and warfare, but modern breeds do not trace back to the earliest domestic horses found in Central Asia around 3500 BC.
- Research reestablishes the Western Eurasian steppes, particularly the lower Volga-Don area, as the origin of modern domestic horses, based on genetic analysis from 273 ancient horse genomes.
- The study finds that the spread of modern domestic horses around 2000 BC coincided with the emergence of equestrian cultures, refuting the idea that horseback riding was linked to the expansion of Yamnaya pastoralists in Europe.
Rationale: Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope time series performed in continuously growing tissues (hair, tooth enamel) are commonly used to reconstruct the dietary history of modern and ancient animals. Predicting the effects of altitudinal mobility on animal δ C and δ N values remains difficult as several variables such as temperature, water availability or soil type can contribute to the isotope composition. Modern references adapted to the region of interest are therefore essential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Horse domestication had a profound impact on warfare, travel, trade, and language spread.* -
- The study analyzed DNA from 149 ancient horses, revealing two distinct extinct lineages from Iberia and Siberia that didn't significantly contribute to modern horses.* -
- The Persian horse lineages gained traction after Islamic conquests, and modern breeding practices have dramatically affected genetic diversity in horses compared to earlier human management.*
The Eneolithic Botai culture of the Central Asian steppes provides the earliest archaeological evidence for horse husbandry, ~5500 years ago, but the exact nature of early horse domestication remains controversial. We generated 42 ancient-horse genomes, including 20 from Botai. Compared to 46 published ancient- and modern-horse genomes, our data indicate that Przewalski's horses are the feral descendants of horses herded at Botai and not truly wild horses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe genomic changes underlying both early and late stages of horse domestication remain largely unknown. We examined the genomes of 14 early domestic horses from the Bronze and Iron Ages, dating to between ~4.1 and 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper focuses on the horse pinworm, Oxyuris equi, in archaeology during the Holocene period, and presents an overview of past published occurrences, early mentions in texts, and new data from our paleoparasitology research. This original compilation shows that the most ancient record of the horse pinworm dates to ca. 2500 years before present (ybp) in Central Asia and to ca.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBartonella species are responsible for chronic bacteremia in domestic cats, which raises a question about the antiquity of the relationship between Bartonella species and cats that act as reservoirs for the organism. The sequencing of Bartonella pap31 and groEL genes from the dental pulp of cats dating from the 13th to 16th centuries identified the presence of B. henselae genotype Houston; the observation of a unique mutation in the results of PCR assays for Bartonella species ruled out modern DNA contamination of the dental pulp samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF