Kusliy M.A. Tishkin A.A. Fages A. Librado P. Khan N. Bokovenko N. Iderkhangai T. Chugunov K.V. Grafodatsky A. Orlando L.
Features of horse breeding in arzhan-mayemir time in Altai, Tuva and Mongolia
Reporter: Kusliy M.A.
ABSTRACT: This article provides preliminary results of the phenotypic composition study of populations of ancient horses osteological remains of which were obtained during excavations of archaeological sites of the arzhan-mayemir time Kuyum in the Altai Republic (Russia), Chinge-Tey-I and Arzhan-1 in the Tyva Republic (Russia), Monostoy-Nuga in the Bulgan aimag (Mongolia). Ancient DNA analysis of horse bone samples was carried out, which resulted in the obtaining of horse complete genomes with an average depth of coverage ranging between 2X and 11X (times). Targeted enrichment of the genome regions associated with various horse phenotypic traits helped us identify the key traits by which horses from the investigated funeral-memorial complexes were selected in the studied archaeological cultures. Wither height alleles in the homozygous state were found in the ancient horse populations of all studied archaeological sites. Alleles of short distance racing performance and body height in the homozygous state were distributed in populations of the sites Kuyum, Arzhan-1 and Monostoy-Nuga. Homozygous carriers of larger body size allele were present in horse populations of the sites Arzhan-1 and Monostoy-Nuga. One individual from the Monostoy-Nuga site had racing performance allele in the homozygous state, the horse of the Arzhan-1 site turned out to be a homozygous carrier of the polycystic kidney disease. Dwarfism allele was present in the populations of the sites Arzhan-1 and Kuyum in the heterozygous state. It is concluded that the main features by which the artificial selection of horses was carried out in the studied archaeological cultures were short and long distance racing performance, wither height, larger body size and body height. It seems strange that in the studied populations there is no diversity in horse coat colors, since other studies show that domesticated horse populations of this time are characterized by a variety of coat colors. Further ancient DNA analysis of bone samples of more horses from these and other archaeological sites is needed to confirm the preliminary conclusions.
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