An international team of researchers recently analyzed the genomes of horses who lived in Anatolia and the Caucasus between 9000 and 500 BCE. They were looking for evidence about hose domestication. Specifically, they looked at the animals’ mitochondrial DNA, Y-chromosomes, and DNA markers linked to coat color.
The results suggested genetic patterns associated with domestication appeared suddenly in the Anatolian horses around 2000 BCE. But if horses had been domesticated in Anatolia, as has been theorized, the traits would have been acquired gradually. The imported horses then bred with local wild Anatolian horses and donkeys, producing mules between 1100 and 800 BCE.
