TY  - JOUR
A1  - Stinnesbeck, Wolfgang
A1  - Becker, Julia
A1  - Hering, Fabio
A1  - Frey, Eberhard
A1  - Gonzalez Gonzalez, Arturo
A1  - Fohlmeister, Jens Bernd
A1  - Stinnesbeck, Sarah
A1  - Frank, Norbert
A1  - Terrazas Mata, Alejandro
A1  - Elena Benavente, Martha
A1  - Aviles Olguin, Jeronimo
A1  - Aceves Nunez, Eugenio
A1  - Zell, Patrick
A1  - Deininger, Michael
T1  - The earliest settlers of Mesoamerica date back to the late Pleistocene
JF  - PLoS one
N2  - Preceramic human skeletal remains preserved in submerged caves near Tulum in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, reveal conflicting results regarding C-14 dating. Here we use U-series techniques for dating a stalagmite overgrowing the pelvis of a human skeleton discovered in the submerged Chan Hol cave. The oldest closed system U/Th age comes from around 21 mm above the pelvis defining the terminus ante quem for the pelvis to 11311 +/- 370 y BP. However, the skeleton might be considerable older, probably as old as 13 ky BP as indicated by the speleothem stable isotope data. The Chan Hol individual confirms a late Pleistocene settling of Mesoamerica and represents one of the oldest human osteological remains in America.
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183345
SN  - 1932-6203
VL  - 12
PB  - PLoS
CY  - San Fransisco
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hering, Fabio
A1  - Stinnesbeck, Wolfgang
A1  - Folmeister, Jens
A1  - Frey, Eberhard
A1  - Stinnesbeck, Sarah
A1  - Aviles, Jeronimo
A1  - Nunez, Eugenio Aceves
A1  - Gonzalez, Arturo
A1  - Mata, Alejandro Terrazas
A1  - Benavente, Martha Elena
A1  - Rojas, Carmen
A1  - Morlet, Adriana Velazquez
A1  - Frank, Norbert
A1  - Zell, Patrick
A1  - Becker, Julia
T1  - The Chan Hol cave near Tulum (Quintana Roo, Mexico)
BT  - evidence for long-lasting human presence during the early to middle Holocene
JF  - Journal of quaternary science
N2  - Numerous charcoal accumulations discovered in the submerged Chan Hol cave near Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico, have been C-14-dated revealing ages between 8110 +/- 28 C-14 a BP (9122-8999 cal a BP) and 7177 +/- 27 C-14 a BP (8027-7951 cal a BP). These charcoal concentrations, interpreted here as ancient illumination sites, provide strong evidence that the Chan Hol cave was dry and accessible during that time interval. Humans used the cave for at least 1200 years during the early and middle Holocene, before access was successively interrupted by global sea level rise and flooding of the cave system. Our data thus narrow the gap between an early settlement in the Tulum area reaching from the late Pleistocene (similar to 13 000 a) to middle Holocene (e.g. 7177 C-14 a BP), and the Maya Formative period at approximately 3000 a bp. Yet, no evidence has been presented to date for human settlement during the similar to 4000-year interval between 7000 and 3000 a. This is remarkable as settlement in other areas of south-eastern Mexico (e.g. Chiapas, Tabasco) and in Guatemala was apparently continuous.
KW  - charcoal
KW  - early Holocene
KW  - human settlement
KW  - pre-Maya settlement
KW  - sea level rise
KW  - submerged cave
KW  - Yucatan Peninsula
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3025
SN  - 0267-8179
SN  - 1099-1417
VL  - 33
IS  - 4
SP  - 444
EP  - 454
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wutke, Saskia
A1  - Sandoval-Castellanos, Edson
A1  - Benecke, Norbert
A1  - Döhle, Hans-Jürgen
A1  - Friederich, Susanne
A1  - Gonzalez, Javier
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
A1  - Lougas, Lembi
A1  - Magnell, Ola
A1  - Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo
A1  - Morales-Muniz, Arturo
A1  - Orlando, Ludovic
A1  - Reissmann, Monika
A1  - Trinks, Alexandra
A1  - Ludwig, Arne
T1  - Decline of genetic diversity in ancient domestic stallions in Europe
JF  - Science Advances
N2  - Present-day domestic horses are immensely diverse in their maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA, yet they show very little variation on their paternally inherited Y chromosome. Although it has recently been shown that Y chromosomal diversity in domestic horses was higher at least until the Iron Age, when and why this diversity disappeared remain controversial questions. We genotyped 16 recently discovered Y chromosomal single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 96 ancient Eurasian stallions spanning the early domestication stages (Copper and Bronze Age) to the Middle Ages. Using this Y chromosomal time series, which covers nearly the entire history of horse domestication, we reveal how Y chromosomal diversity changed over time. Our results also show that the lack of multiple stallion lineages in the extant domestic population is caused by neither a founder effect nor random demographic effects but instead is the result of artificial selection-initially during the Iron Age by nomadic people from the Eurasian steppes and later during the Roman period. Moreover, the modern domestic haplotype probably derived from another, already advantageous, haplotype, most likely after the beginning of the domestication. In line with recent findings indicating that the Przewalski and domestic horse lineages remained connected by gene flow after they diverged about 45,000 years ago, we present evidence for Y chromosomal introgression of Przewalski horses into the gene pool of European domestic horses at least until medieval times.
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aap9691
SN  - 2375-2548
VL  - 4
IS  - 4
PB  - American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wutke, Saskia
A1  - Benecke, Norbert
A1  - Sandoval-Castellanos, Edson
A1  - Döhle, Hans-Jürgen
A1  - Friederich, Susanne
A1  - Gonzalez Soto, Javier Esteban
A1  - Hallsson, Jon Hallsteinn
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
A1  - Lougas, Lembi
A1  - Magnell, Ola
A1  - Morales-Muniz, Arturo
A1  - Orlando, Ludovic
A1  - Palsdottir, Albina Hulda
A1  - Reissmann, Monika
A1  - Ruttkay, Matej
A1  - Trinks, Alexandra
A1  - Ludwig, Arne
T1  - Spotted phenotypes in horses lost attractiveness in the Middle Ages
JF  - Scientific reports
N2  - Horses have been valued for their diversity of coat colour since prehistoric times; this is especially the case since their domestication in the Caspian steppe in similar to 3,500 BC. Although we can assume that human preferences were not constant, we have only anecdotal information about how domestic horses were influenced by humans. Our results from genotype analyses show a significant increase in spotted coats in early domestic horses (Copper Age to Iron Age). In contrast, medieval horses carried significantly fewer alleles for these phenotypes, whereas solid phenotypes (i.e., chestnut) became dominant. This shift may have been supported because of (i) pleiotropic disadvantages, (ii) a reduced need to separate domestic horses from their wild counterparts, (iii) a lower religious prestige, or (iv) novel developments in weaponry. These scenarios may have acted alone or in combination. However, the dominance of chestnut is a remarkable feature of the medieval horse population.
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/srep38548
SN  - 2045-2322
VL  - 6
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Wutke, Saskia
A1  - Andersson, Leif
A1  - Benecke, Norbert
A1  - Sandoval-Castellanos, Edson
A1  - Gonzalez, Javier
A1  - Hallsson, Jon Hallsteinn
A1  - Lougas, Lembi
A1  - Magnell, Ola
A1  - Morales-Muniz, Arturo
A1  - Orlando, Ludovic
A1  - Palsdottir, Albina Hulda
A1  - Reissmann, Monika
A1  - Munoz-Rodriguez, Mariana B.
A1  - Ruttkay, Matej
A1  - Trinks, Alexandra
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
A1  - Ludwig, Arne
T1  - The origin of ambling horses
T2  - Current biology
N2  - Horseback riding is the most fundamental use of domestic horses and has had a huge influence on the development of human societies for millennia. Over time, riding techniques and the style of riding improved. Therefore, horses with the ability to perform comfortable gaits (e.g. ambling or pacing), so-called ‘gaited’ horses, have been highly valued by humans, especially for long distance travel. Recently, the causative mutation for gaitedness in horses has been linked to a substitution causing a premature stop codon in the DMRT3 gene (DMRT3_Ser301STOP) [1]. In mice, Dmrt3 is expressed in spinal cord interneurons and plays an important role in the development of limb movement coordination [1]. Genotyping the position in 4396 modern horses from 141 breeds revealed that nowadays the mutated allele is distributed worldwide with an especially high frequency in gaited horses and breeds used for harness racing [2]. Here, we examine historic horse remains for the DMRT3 SNP, tracking the origin of gaitedness to Medieval England between 850 and 900 AD. The presence of the corresponding allele in Icelandic horses (9th–11th century) strongly suggests that ambling horses were brought from the British Isles to Iceland by Norse people. Considering the high frequency of the ambling allele in early Icelandic horses, we believe that Norse settlers selected for this comfortable mode of horse riding soon after arrival. The absence of the allele in samples from continental Europe (including Scandinavia) at this time implies that ambling horses may have spread from Iceland and maybe also the British Isles across the continent at a later date.
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.001
SN  - 0960-9822
SN  - 1879-0445
VL  - 26
SP  - R697
EP  - R699
PB  - Cell Press
CY  - Cambridge
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ludwig, Arne
A1  - Reissmann, Monika
A1  - Benecke, Norbert
A1  - Bellone, Rebecca
A1  - Sandoval-Castellanos, Edson
A1  - Cieslak, Michael
A1  - González-Fortes, Gloria M.
A1  - Morales-Muniz, Arturo
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
A1  - Pruvost, Melanie
T1  - Twenty-five thousand years of fluctuating selection on leopard complex spotting and congenital night blindness in horses
JF  - Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences
N2  - Leopard complex spotting is inherited by the incompletely dominant locus, LP, which also causes congenital stationary night blindness in homozygous horses. We investigated an associated single nucleotide polymorphism in the TRPM1 gene in 96 archaeological bones from 31 localities from Late Pleistocene (approx. 17 000 YBP) to medieval times. The first genetic evidence of LP spotting in Europe dates back to the Pleistocene. We tested for temporal changes in the LP associated allele frequency and estimated coefficients of selection by means of approximate Bayesian computation analyses. Our results show that at least some of the observed frequency changes are congruent with shifts in artificial selection pressure for the leopard complex spotting phenotype. In early domestic horses from Kirklareli-Kanligecit (Turkey) dating to 2700-2200 BC, a remarkably high number of leopard spotted horses (six of 10 individuals) was detected including one adult homozygote. However, LP seems to have largely disappeared during the late Bronze Age, suggesting selection against this phenotype in early domestic horses. During the Iron Age, LP reappeared, probably by reintroduction into the domestic gene pool from wild animals. This picture of alternating selective regimes might explain how genetic diversity was maintained in domestic animals despite selection for specific traits at different times.
KW  - ancient DNA
KW  - coat colour
KW  - domestication
KW  - Equus
KW  - palaeogenetics
KW  - population
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0386
SN  - 0962-8436
SN  - 1471-2970
VL  - 370
IS  - 1660
PB  - Royal Society
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Oncken, Onno
A1  - Luschen, Ewald
A1  - Mechie, James
A1  - Sobolev, Stephan Vladimir
A1  - Schulze, Albrecht
A1  - Gaedicke, Christoph
A1  - Grunewald, Steffen
A1  - Bribach, Jens
A1  - Asch, Günter
A1  - Giese, Peter
A1  - Wigger, Peter
A1  - Schmitz, Michael
A1  - Lueth, Stefan
A1  - Scheuber, Ekkehard
A1  - Haberland, Christian
A1  - Rietbrock, Andreas
A1  - Götze, Hans-Jürgen
A1  - Brasse, Heinrich
A1  - Patzwahl, Regina
A1  - Chong, Guillermo
A1  - Wilke, Hans-Gerhard
A1  - Gonzalez, Gabriel
A1  - Jensen, Arturo
A1  - Araneda, Manuel
A1  - Vieytes, Hugo
A1  - Behn, Gerardo
A1  - Martinez, Eloy
T1  - Seismic reflection image revealing offset of Andean subduction-zone earthquake locations into oceanic mantle
Y1  - 1999
ER  -