Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42127202›Full record

ReviewScience advances2026

Horse genetics, archaeology, and the beginning of riding.

David Anthony, Martin Trautmann, Volker Heyd

Abstract readHistorical ArticleReview
In one paragraph

Review in Science advances, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

David AnthonyHartwick College, Oneonta, NY 13820, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9122-0313
Martin TrautmannDepartment of Cultures/Archaeology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.ORCID 0000-0003-0057-6563
Volker HeydDepartment of Cultures/Archaeology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.ORCID 0000-0002-0889-6513

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Recent papers argued that the domestication of horses can be equated with the appearance of favorable genetic mutations that are first evident in individuals in the DOM2 clade dated about ∼2200-2100 BCE. We challenge the idea that this genetic shift alone defines domestication. Evidence from archaeology, ancient DNA, osteology, and other disciplines shows that horses from multiple genetic backgrounds (DOM1, DOM2, and, as we suggest here, DOM3) were managed, milked, and ridden long before 2200 BCE. Yamnaya groups (∼3200-2600 BCE) rode DOM2 horses-the direct ancestors of modern domestic stock-while incorporating them into diets, rituals, and mobility systems. Selection for traits linked to endurance and temperament began centuries earlier. Rather than a sudden breakthrough, domestication was a protracted, regionally varied process whose transformative effects on human mobility and social organization began as early as the fourth, if not the fifth millennium BCE, and set the stage for later DOM2 dominance.

Indexed as

ArchaeologyAnimalsDNA, AncientDomesticationHistory, AncientHorsesHumansDNA, Ancient

Identifiers

PMID42127202
PMCPMC13170673

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.