Thursday, March 28, 2024
Contact    |    RSS icon Twitter icon Facebook icon  
Unexplained Mysteries
You are viewing: Home > News > Palaeontology > News story
Welcome Guest ( Login or Register )  
All ▾
Search Submit

Palaeontology

Were horses domesticated 50,000 years ago?

By T.K. Randall
August 7, 2013 · Comment icon 16 comments

Image Credit: CC 2.0
Evidence of prehistoric horse domestication has been discovered in Siberia's Denisova Cave.
The site of some of the world's most important finds pertaining to early humans, the cave has yielded numerous prehistoric treasures over the years including the remains of an early human subspecies that lived 640,000 years ago.

Now experts believe they have uncovered the mitochondrial genome of a horse that lived 50,000 years ago, a discovery that could represent the earliest known attempt at equine domestication in history. If this turns out to be the case then it would pre-date all existing evidence of horse domestication by up to 44,000 years.
The Denisova Cave in the Altai region has given up another riveting secret to modern science, this time equine, say researchers from Novosibirsk.


Source: Siberian Times | Comments (16)




Other news and articles
Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #7 Posted by MJNYC 11 years ago
I don't think I fall into any of those categories. At least I don't think so! I did not do any of these things: Participation requests: Do not ask members to take part in offsite surveys, petitions, contests, campaigns or fundraisers. or the others. I'm just brining the plight of innocent horses to the publics attention and how they could help. I think others have done that on these forums
Comment icon #8 Posted by Goatherder71 11 years ago
If humans were using horses in any way I bet it was for food. I would like to try a nice horse ribeye.
Comment icon #9 Posted by billyf 11 years ago
I don't think I fall into any of those categories. At least I don't think so! I did not do any of these things: Participation requests: Do not ask members to take part in offsite surveys, petitions, contests, campaigns or fundraisers. or the others. I'm just brining the plight of innocent horses to the publics attention and how they could help. I think others have done that on these forums by saying people should support the legislation you are asking them to take part in a campaign....
Comment icon #10 Posted by MJNYC 11 years ago
Hmmm I don't see it as a campaign but ok. So if I just say horses are sentient beings and should be treated as such that's ok. Yes?
Comment icon #11 Posted by Harte 11 years ago
I think all beings are sentient, some more than others. Doesn't keep me from eating them though. Re this find, it's fantastic. Hope it pans out. Harte
Comment icon #12 Posted by EtherialNight 11 years ago
@MJNYC thanks for that, I have been campaigning for better treatment of horses, particularly ex race horses since I was 8 years old. While it may be seen as suggesting others take part in a petition/campaign, I think this occasion is fairly benign. It might be slightly bending the rules a little, however people can simply ignore it if they wish.
Comment icon #13 Posted by redhen 11 years ago
by saying people should support the legislation you are asking them to take part in a campaign.... It's a legislative bill before the House of Representatives, it's not an offsite survey, petition, contest, campaign or fundraiser. Anyways, it's fascinating to think about domesticated horses 50,000 years ago. I'm imagining mounted homo sapiens pursuing neanderthals. Yeah, I'm wierd like that.
Comment icon #14 Posted by MJNYC 11 years ago
Thanks EtherialNight and Redhen! Appreciate it! So many people don't know the plight of our horses, but they really love horses. So I thought, why not spread the word a bit. If this keeps up we won't have any wild horses left. And exactly, Etherial. Exceller and Ferdinand both slaughtered for their meat. Ferdinand slaughtered in Japan and I heard there was a sign on the restaurant "come dine on a champion". Now if that doesn't make you sick, what does? And, I agreed, Redhen, thinking about them riding horses so long ago made me think that if this bond is so long, why are we still so barbaric t... [More]
Comment icon #15 Posted by Capt. 10 years ago
http://www2.canada.c...html?id=6351335 An interesting article about finding a rare BIG Pleistocene horse skull in the Yukon. Most prehistoric horses were barely small pony sized while this horse was plenty big enough for domestication although there is very little proof of domestication. "The fossil that stood out the most, however, was the skull of a horse that had lived in the Arctic during the last Ice Age. This was not the typical small Yukon horse that Froese and other paleontologists had found here and in other regions of the Arctic. This was a huge animal - a Clydesdale next to an Icela... [More]
Comment icon #16 Posted by Bavarian Raven 10 years ago
Nothing wrong with eating horses. They are an animal just like any other. On topic. Cool find. I hope this proves to be true.


Please Login or Register to post a comment.


Our new book is out now!
Book cover

The Unexplained Mysteries
Book of Weird News

 AVAILABLE NOW 

Take a walk on the weird side with this compilation of some of the weirdest stories ever to grace the pages of a newspaper.

Click here to learn more

We need your help!
Patreon logo

Support us on Patreon

 BONUS CONTENT 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain access to a wide range of exclusive perks including our popular 'Lost Ghost Stories' series.

Click here to learn more

Top 10 trending mysteries
Recent news and articles