News | Where Did Domesticated Horses Come From?

New information has helped us understand where domestic horses came from. And by counting some tree rings, researchers were able to find evidence of Norse presence in the Americas in 1021 CE.
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Sources:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/s...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30261...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33273...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33046...
press.springernature.com/the-...
www.nature.com/articles/s4158...
journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php...
www.britannica.com/science/ca...
www.cambridge.org/core/journa...
press.springernature.com/evid...
www.nature.com/articles/s4158...
Images:
www.storyblocks.com/video/sto...
www.inaturalist.org/observati...
www.nature.com/articles/s4158...
www.istockphoto.com/vector/bl...
www.istockphoto.com/photo/wil...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.istockphoto.com/photo/hor...
www.istockphoto.com/photo/bay...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.nature.com/articles/s4158...
www.storyblocks.com/video/sto...
www.nature.com/articles/ncomm...
www.istockphoto.com/photo/bac...
www.nature.com/articles/s4158...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.istockphoto.com/photo/lit...

[@Platipus23]

Undomesticated equines could not stop me from watching this video.

[@garrett6064]

Good sg1 reference

[@emmemagnolia]

Isn’t Undomesticated Equines a Rolling Stones song?

[@Platipus23]

@@garrett6064 Indeed

[@TocsTheWanderer]

Tiny rant: So many people are acting like this new information about Lans Aux Meadows proves the Norse were there. We already knew they were there, and that it was hundreds of years before Columbus, we just didn't have an exact date.

[@reddragoon7981]

Yeah that's why the news was about them using a cool new technique to pin down the date.

[@scaper8]

@@reddragoon7981 Yeah, but so many, even science and history related sources kept going with some variation on "overturning Columbus" as if that wasn't well, _well_ know for a long time. It just seems that so many don't seem to ever bother to remember.

[@WanderTheNomad]

How long have we known about the Norse arriving first? Was it around 5, 10, or 15 years ago? Or was it known even earlier than that?

[@scaper8]

@@WanderTheNomad Strong anecdotal evidence since the '70s or '80s with some archeological evidence starting the following ten years or so later. So, about thirty or fourty years now.

[@WanderTheNomad]

@@scaper8 dang, I didn't know it was known for that long.

[@capnstewy55]

Fun fact fossilized moss used for wiping in outhouses is often the most well preserved portion of Norse settlements.

[@LimeyLassen]

I'd prefer fresh moss, myself

[@haharmageddontv6581]

eww lmao

[@369Sigma]

@@LimeyLassen just gotta watch out for little critters

[@torianholt2752]

Wool was more commonly used when available...I don't believe it preserves as well in northern acidic stratum though.

[@julianshepherd2038]

I'm trying to eat here !

[@SupahTrunks7]

So what you're saying is those Vikings built those houses EXACTLY 1000 years ago? Happy millennial anniversary Viking settlement!

[@procatist8624]

Yeah colonialism is very inspiring and cool ..

[@NotThatUser]

@@procatist8624 It is. Colonialism is amazing when ancient people who started with almost nothing populate an unpopulated area. Stop being so sensitive about history from centuries past.

[@hamstsorkxxor]

@@procatist8624 It's probably a bit ahistoric to talk about colonialism concerning the late iron age Scandinavins ("vikings"). The vikings did not have a centralized state or a national identity (even though they have kings, Jarls and chieftains) so imperialism is not really a thing they can be associated with. They also did not try to impose political control over the natives. They were subsistence living settlers mostly without ideological motivations. I'm not sure if it makes sense to talk about colonialism in the modern sense at all, outside of the colonial and postcolonial era.

[@lemmingscanfly5]

@@procatist8624 Boohoo brainlet, history is history and it's why we're where we are now.

[@ANTSEMUT1]

@@procatist8624 they were barely there for 2 years and rarely interacted with the indigenous population, colonialism is about systematic oppression there was no opportunity or structure to do so.

[@brianedwards7142]

Video: "... completely replacing any other domesticated equine species..." Donkeys "What, am I invisible here?"

[@julianshepherd2038]

@@moscuadelendaest zebras live in 1 continent. Where aren't there donkeys apart from snow places. They never mastered skis.

[@sherry356]

Hold my camel.

[@kourii]

@@sherry356 Camels aren't equines

[@sherry356]

@@kourii No, they are not.

[@jacklovejoy5290]

Donkeys were domesticated later iirc

[@tippib2222]

I feel like it had to be rough going at first because how many horses kicked how many people in the ribs before one got found who was a bit less kicky

[@myparceltape1169]

It was the one which still had 4 feet. They just kept checking till they found a suitable horse.

[@anyascelticcreations]

This really was a cool one. From domestication of horses to carbon dating tree rings from archeological sites. Cool!

[@BertGrink]

The most awesome thing about the dating of that settlement was that the scientists were able to pinpoint the age using astronomical events.

[@gardenhead92]

Just don’t accidentally date the horses by mistake

[@jimjimsauce]

@@gardenhead92 underated. lol

[@TheZenytram]

props to the guy who thought about using carbon dating on tree rings with solar flares, that was a big brain move.

[@ConradSpoke]

It was a Japanese woman, Fusa Miyake. Such a spike is now called Miyake Event.

[@torianholt2752]

Carbodendroastronomy?

[@AdityaMehendale]

Would expect viewers of SciShow at least (if not everyone) to stop assuming that "it was a guy". Nevertheless, I agree that it was a smart observation indeed!

[@xpehkto]

@@torianholt2752 More like astrodendrocarbochronology I think

[@TheZenytram]

@@AdityaMehendale would expect other ppl to stop assuming that others are assuming every one is a guy, cus not every one is native Inglesh speaker and other languages uses the addressing toward men as neutral, so we tend to bring that over.

[@badbiker666]

Interesting. The subject of this video started with the domestication of horses in the Caucasus Mountains and ended with the Carbon-14 dating of artifacts from a Norse settlement in Newfoundland in 1021 CE. Fascinating.

[@culwin]

Imagine if the video started with carbon dating and ended with horses. That would be a crazy twist.

[@alex0589]

Like a trojan horse for science subjects.

[@berserk9085]

there is no such thing as caucus mountains fool. and the domestication of the horse happened in the Volga Don area.

[@badbiker666]

@@berserk9085 Typo from typing too fast and not checking my spelling. I of course meant the Caucasus Mountains. An error I will correct. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

[@berserk9085]

@@badbiker666 no. I know for a fact that many Americans think caucus is correct. that's why I don't think it was an typo. that's why I needed to correct you.

[@mbuhtz]

Four of my favorite subjects in one video! Prehistory, horses, astronomy, and pre-renaissance people (specifically Norse maybe-vikings)

[@bhami]

2:15 "Volga-Dom", I think that's a typo for "Volga-Don".

[@BenTajer89]

Agree, and it's a region that's still super culturally defined by horse riding.

[@mexicanboots0206]

As a horse person, this is so fascinating ! Happy these studies have been done. It's so interesting!

[@xxAlchemistressxx]

With this being about horses AND the norse, it'd be fun if a video could be done about ambling horses, like the Icelandic horse, and the DMRT3 gene! It's fascinating that the modern horse has the gene associated with fear in aggression in mice, because the DMRT3 gene/mutation, that allows horses to amble, can also be found in mice!

[@wierdalien1]

Ambling?

[@bellboots]

@@wierdalien1 a gait found in the Icelandic horse. Also look for tolting. Compare to walking, jogging/trotting, or loping/cantering/galloping. Check out photographic studies on the different gaits of horses.

[@bazza945]

If the Norses had horses, did they have courses?

[@xxAlchemistressxx]

@@wierdalien1 ​ Ambling is the overall term for gaits that a few breeds of horses do. Any regular horse has 4 gaits: walk, trot, canter and gallop. Horses that can amble have one or two extra gaits. The Icelandic horse has one to two extra gaits: the tölt and flying pace. The Paso Fino can do the Paso. The Tennessee Walking horse and the American Saddlebred can rack. The DMRT3 mutation is responsible for the horses being able to move so differently, and can also be found in mice and cats if I remember correctly.

[@xxAlchemistressxx]

@@bellboots Ambling is more the overall term for special gaits. For Icelandic horses it's called the tölt, for Paso Finos it's the Paso, etc. (I should add, not all ambling gaits are exactly the same, which I why I used "ambling" in the first place :) )

[@imaginextramusic5530]

Just wondering now about how horses feet look from the old and new....

[@michaeljackson8390]

💚I help expose our evil government (the Illuminati) i have 2,145,212+Total views💜 [The about section will blow your mind]🤯! !

[@rubybeau4774]

@@michaeljackson8390 that video is plagiarised from another movie sooo

[@thedarktigerexenadral1069]

horses from the past had four toes on each foot. then it decreased to three then one.

[@imaginextramusic5530]

@@michaeljackson8390 lust line it said that Shintoism was existing, and they had powers upfront.

[@imaginextramusic5530]

@@thedarktigerexenadral1069 horse foot carving tools though....

[@umi3017]

Modern Horses: Imaging have a bunch of siblings and all of sudden you are the only one survived. Homo sapiens: related.

[@robertgermainii7813]

I would have never known. That's why I love this Channel 4 random stuff like this.

[@michaeljackson8390]

💚I help expose our evil government (the Illuminati) i have 2,145,212+Total views💜 [The about section will blow your mind]🤯! !

[@lildemon666.2]

@@michaeljackson8390 you have 2m+ views only because you spam videos that get less than 1k views on average. Such a sad day seeing someone as stupid as you in others comment sections

[@Twilord_]

Channel 4? Channel 4 doesn't fund Sci Show does it???

[@lildemon666.2]

@@Twilord_ *channel for They're supported by their patreons and KZbin revenue, not by a non-specific news channel

[@useodyseeorbitchute9450]

Channel 4? Do you mean that chick famous for trying to make an aggressive interview with Jordan Peterson?

[@AlexiGVS]

Imagine reaction of people, who firstly saw man riding horse.

[@danielbickford3458]

Centaur?

[@nunyabiznes33]

The Incas actually thought the Spanish were monsters that can split their bodies in two.

[@johnbeamon]

"I'm so curious, I could read a horse." (some astro-botanist in Sweden)

[@carsonwieker]

Love it, great progress and info

[@McHaven07]

this was a great episode. thank you.

[@lpenz57]

So great to see that hank is still doing this.

[@cwallcw]

Great video. Just want to point out that when trees are felled and when they were used as wood often isn’t the same year, though it wouldn’t affect this I don’t think.

[@aaronmarks9366]

Pretty cool that the final definitive dating for the L'Anse aux Meadows site was made exactly 1,000 years after the site's founding.

[@zztimelapsezz]

I like most of the narrators for sci show but a part of me always begs for hank green’s voice to come on after the intro. Dudes becoming an actual legend, youtube bill nye.

[@scaper8]

I really curious as to what was causing the wide ambiguity in the other dating methods? Was there something unusual about the site; like later, non-Norse usage, or excavation that rendered dating inaccurate?

[@gamarus0kragh]

The big spike in C14 in 993 CE lingers and means that you would get carbon dates that could be around 1000CE or much younger by the way the initial determination is made. The C14 dating uncorrected is just a measurement of how much C14 is in the sample. You then calculate how much that has decreased from 100%, knowing the rate of decay of C14 you get an age before precent. But what is 100%? That is the issue you have to correct for. And it has been done in bulk for many years, excactly like they did for these small samples: Take a volume of wood from a known date (by dendrocronology) and measure the C14 content. That will give you the C14 count for that year globally and you now have a curve that you can match the C14 date from your artifact against. But when there is great spikes like the 993 CE, you will get more than one intersect with the correction curve. Also, C14 comes with an uncertainty, so usually you have to report say 1010 +/- 45years and that broadens the timespan enormously. What this did was decouple the age determination from the absolute measurement of the C14 content and just look at the sudden drop in C14 in 992 compared to 993 and then rely on the dedrocronology to yield the excact date.

[@natehayes82]

I learned as an anthropology major in college that horses originated in North America, crossed into Asia, and went extinct in the Americas until the Spanish brought them back

[@thatotherguy9]

Are you sure you're not thinking about Camels?

[@OakenTome]

@@thatotherguy9 Nope, he’s got it right.

[@ryanalmighty2630]

No offense, but in an anthropology course taught these days, is there anything important that *didn't* originate in the indigenous Americas?

[@J_Rees]

​@@ryanalmighty2630 Humans. Unless you count primates originating in North America.

[@ANTSEMUT1]

American horses went extinct around 14,000-12,000 years ago for whatever reason.

[@mybackhurts7020]

Wow a lot of stuff we use came out of Kazakhstan I think apples are from the same area

[@ZetaFuzzMachine]

Wow, what an episode! Horse and astronomic history together at last!

[@HienNguyenHMN]

Genes in human: associated with back pain Same genes in horses: improves endurance and weight bearing Mother Nature, explain!!

[@HienNguyenHMN]

@@GrrAargh1 Thanks, Mother Nature

[@sunte91]

I think they mean the gene in which different alleles give rise to variability in the level of pain/fragility in the back in different individuals. Everyone has the gene but not the same versions (alleles)

[@juliaspoonie3627]

I‘d say it has a lot to do with being on 4 or 2 feet. There was no need for another genetic mutation because we are „functioning“ well enough despite the back pain. Otherwise our back might have gotten more genetic changes over the time. (And believe me, I‘d give much to find a cure for back issues, thanks to a genetic disorder my back is in a horrible condition and caused a paraplegia.)

[@EcceJack]

Fascinating stuff!

[@RAMBO14001]

That's one densely insightful episode

[@sherry356]

Camels: interesting… please, tell us more.

[@tropicaldino]

Hey where do horses come from? Me: when a mommy horse and a daddy horse love each other very much

[@saularme]

I am delighted to see "News" at the beginning of the title. Sometimes I just want to watch SciShow News and I can't tell at a glance which videos are news.

[@nsdawson10]

I was thinking about this earlier today.

[@nitzeart]

Hey I'd been wondering about this recently 😃

[@wherethebirdsgo]

important questions!!!!!! THANKS

[@wherethebirdsgo]

I AM BEING GENUINE

[@rikib3652]

This is something I have been interested in recently..............but I don't know why

[@amandadaley4182]

I actually read about the carbon dating of the solar storm giving us the date when Vikings first settled in Newfoundland a few days ago and found it quite interesting. Vikings are awesome and them being the first settlers of North America is pretty cool too.

[@ps.2]

Ahem. They weren't the first, the east Asians beat them by some 20000 years. (I know you know that, but, let's give credit where credit is due.)

[@useodyseeorbitchute9450]

@@ps.2 Fun fact - genetic data show that in southern America the first settlers were some ethnic group akin to Polynesians.

[@ps.2]

@@useodyseeorbitchute9450 Don't know if that's true, but since Polynesians originated on Formosa (Taiwan), technically one could call that an east Asian ancestry as well. (:

[@chloepeifly]

i think stefan milo would love to hear about that second story

[@stefanfranke5651]

Atun-Shei as well.

[@injunsun]

Does this explain the type A blood group in the Blackfeet, who emigrated west from the Great Lakes several hundred years ago? Was there some Norse descended person among them, whose blood type was either favoured by selection, or who created a Founder Effect? Or is this blood type an example of an independent mutation?

[@aaronmarks9366]

Could be either, but def worth looking into

[@LimeyLassen]

Apples came from Kazakhstan too! It's destiny.

[@meisteremm]

Granny Smith or Road Apples?

[@evawilldrive]

Thank You.

[@themadridstand]

I love this channel

[@toomanyspreedsheets9802]

I love horses so much~ I cry a little in joy whenever I see em

[@sapelesteve]

Interesting video Hank! Next you should do a video about where Thoroughbred horses originated. 🐴🐴🐴🐴👍👍👍👍

[@cratorcic9362]

…yes please. They have a lot of genetic analysis done on them, as well as which stallions, like Nearctic, have shaped the breed with which alleles

[@massimookissed1023]

Aren't all modern racehorses descended from just three Arabian stallions ?

[@d00mf00d]

Super novae also create carbon 14. This is why going back around 40k years there is unreliable carbon dating.

[@gamarus0kragh]

That, and you are getting into so many halfings of the initial C14 amount that the uncertainties take over.

[@regulate.artificer_g23.mdctlsk]

that's why other radiometric dating methods exist; not just carbon.

[@jdd8826]

What paper in the research journal nature? @scishow, cites are very important!

[@lyndsaybrown8471]

News straight from the horse's mouth.

[@RubenWhitter]

Happy anniversary 🥳

[@mistyannmcmillan1739]

It’s like you knew I needed a horse video! 😽💦😂

[@michaeljackson8390]

💚I help expose our evil government (the Illuminati) i have 2,145,212+Total views💜 [The about section will blow your mind]🤯! !

[@princesspaulabelle]

This is awesome love horses

[@tubingview3251]

Check the size of the tuna at the lower left in the illustration of L'Anse aux Meadows model at 2:53. You don't see them that big any more.

[@bigpapadrew]

everyone who speaks french just died a little inside with the pronunciation of l'anse aux meadows model :D

[@stevef3685]

And also a lot of Newfoundlanders

[@aaronmarks9366]

This means that when Hernán Cortés besieged and captured Tenochtitlán in Mexico, the L'Anse aux Meadows site was exactly 500 years old.

[@smac919]

Here for the wil’ poni in the thumbnail lol

[@fredk.2001]

When a mommy horse and a daddy horse love eachother very much...

[@alien9279]

So what's up with the brught blue dot on the normal blue background? Catches my eye every time haha

[@dinojay8410]

I think Hank ought to clarify the difference between the place where domestication occurred and where horses 🐎 originated from as the two are completely different. See the other episode of EONS below for the story on the origins of horses and how they spread throughout the world. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYvShamOq7tjaKM

[@soniashapiro4827]

Carbon dating unreliability has been so frustrating. This is thrilling.

[@Yosetime]

I'm failing to get the connection between when horses were domesticated to the American settlement in 1021. They certainly didn't bring horses with them at that time. Ugh!!!! Now I have to backtrack to see what I missed.

[@Shaden0040]

The settlement has now been carbon dated and dendro dated. REently found preserved wood with european axe marks of metal allowed for dating between 1020-1022 AD. about one thousand years ago. AD

[@zddxddyddw]

They... said all of that in the video.

[@taylordiamond]

Couple of dudes drunk in a field. "I betcha another round I can ride that thing." Boom, domesticated horse.

[@meteoman7958]

I did enjoy.

[@phismp731]

Man I love science!

[@Kenxclout]

My barber interrupted my horse story... …even though I told him *not* to cut off my pony tale

[@joanhoffman3702]

The beauty of a pun is in the oy of the beholder. Well played,sir, well played.

[@marksusskind1260]

I read the part about 1021 on 10/21, and I was expecting some kind of "SYKE".

[@MikefromTexas1]

Always thought it was kinda funny that Horses weren't native to the US, but are synonymous with it, while Camels aren't native to the Middle East but are synonymous with it. They're actually opposite!

[@patrickmccurry1563]

Horses did originally evolve in the Americas. But they went extinct during the continent's megafauna die off. Funnily enough, camels also originated in the Americas dying off in the same event(s).

[@DonnaBarrHerself]

@@patrickmccurry1563 Did they go extinct - or simply go to Asia to get away from glaciers, and never come back? Like cheetah - those poor things belong in the Americas chasing cheetahs.

[@eliashash7644]

I thought I read somewhere Plato said that there was a continent opposite of Europe

[@EdoMahendra]

It's Thorfinn's settlement!!

[@selenajarv8763]

Imagine ancient horse girls Its glorious

[@ghostoftanelorn9928]

Before this video I'd did suspect horses originate from somewhere around the Eurasian steppes; if you want to get around wide flat land you need to run fast and horses seem to have evolved for that purpose.

[@nicholaskakalec8734]

Has anyone checked Przewalski's Horses for these genes? I have heard speculation that they may be descendants of ancient feral horses.

[@glebovchinnikov2940]

There was investigation of their genes. As I remember it shows that they aren't descendants.

[@brandondavidson4085]

No one's gonna talk about the Latin name "equus caballus", which is literally "horsey horse".

[@akumaking1]

What about critters such as pigs/boars, goats, oxen, etc?

[@densek510]

Volga and Don rivers region

[@FalbertForester]

This also provides opportunities for dating Coronal Mass Ejections by carbon-14 methods - a win for astronomy!

[@MrTerrymiff]

When a Daddy Domesticated Horse really loves a Mummy Domesticated Horse...

[@the_hamrat]

Horses aren't known for handling stress well. Strong flight reaction, anyone?

[@Amitdas-gk2it]

Good

[@BritishBeachcomber]

So the Norse people colonized North America just 45 years before they, and their descendants from Normandy, France, simultaneously invaded Britain, on two fronts, in 1066, defeat Harold, and change everything. And they even found time to settle in Iceland, and invent geothermal heating. Serious colonists, those Vikings.

[@dalektorgo2973]

So "In the Forest of the Night" was right? Doctor Who creeps us out yet again.

[@maximilianosalvador9559]

Day 82 of asking for the return of Scishow Quizshow

[@zddxddyddw]

YES

[@dfektdysfunkshun6215]

I love this dude, he's my favorite 👍

[@odapunkt]

But who is the horse in the photo? I want to know this horse in particular

[@rainydaylady6596]

I wonder if Jimmy from the Welsh Viking knows about this?

[@rhondahuggins9542]

Science is AWESOME 🤯❤

[@stanleywilliams4429]

Years ago I expressed the opinion that horses were present in the Americas before the Spanish showed up and that some of the native horses were exported Spain. A Native American woman standing nearby not only confirmed my theory but claimed that the Spanish horses were a bunch of plugs that ruined the superior breed of American horses. She was quite emotional about that.

[@ZestySea]

we seemed to have strayed away from horses ....

[@karfsma778]

You said that they're "the only domesticated horses we know" and that they "replaced all other domesticated equines in under a thousand years" but... what about donkeys?

[@ChillingOut247]

*horses*

[@duanesamuelson2256]

Donkeys aren't horses..different number of genes

[@karfsma778]

@@duanesamuelson2256 Yes, but they are equines. They are members of the genus Equus.

[@ivoryowl]

The Equus genus splits into different sub-genus. Donkeys are on their own branch, separated from domesticated (and wild) horses. The same goes for zebras.

[@CliffCardi]

Fun fact: Ancient Greeks explored Crimea, inhabited by Sycthians, who were experimenting and breeding with horses strong enough to carry a person on their back. Chariots were used because horse breeds weren’t strong enough otherwise. Greek explorers were confused at what they were looking at (at a distance). They saw some man-horse hybrids. Eventually, the myth of centaurs were born.

[@microtonalmilio5233]

What I think is more interesting is that cats are not what you think they are. We only started seeing domesticated cats about 7500 KYA (thousands of years ago) while dogs were seen about 15 KYA. THIS MEANS that house cats are semi domesticated and are expected to prefer human interaction and "smile" at us more in the next several hundred years like how dogs do now a days.

[@clarehidalgo]

Cats have self domesticated twice, think there was a video on this channel about it

[@dillondriskill6403]

wow

[@bazza945]

They came from that long lost kingdom, Domestica.

[@kimbratton9620]

❤🐴🐎

[@graffic13]

Which was ridden first horses or camels???

[@orientalshorthaircats]

it's Volga-Don (not Dom). but I didn't get if they were looking for the genes associated with backpain or lack thereof? are horses in pain or not?

[@meinelust]

Now we wait for Ryshadiums to emerge.

[@Wakish0069]

"Horses were the fastest way to travel on land" Hank forgot that in another SciShow clip he pointed out that humans are the longest endurance running animals on the planet, we outrun horses - that's our evolutionary gimmick right next to thumbs and tools

[@danparish1344]

We’re not faster than horses

[@mahbriggs]

That is technically true in that we can sustain a slow run far longer than most other animals. That does not mean that horses did not greatly extend the range humans could easily travel.

[@Wakish0069]

@@mahbriggs It all depends on what distance the travel is, if it's the length of a marathon or longer then we have the advantage

[@emmamemma4162]

When someone needed to travel quickly, for example if they were carrying mail or they were high status people, they would change horse(s) at predetermined stations along their route.

[@marit5397]

@@Wakish0069 I'm just gonna say, there's competitions for long-distance riding of horses that's far longer than a marathon. So no, we do not have the advantage unless it's like double the length of a marathon

[@thelastcube.]

cool