Ancient horses reveal a hidden chapter of Equine evolution
Two ancient horses from northern Europe have yielded 300,000-year-old DNA, uncovering a previously unknown lineage in horse evolution and proving that valuable genetic material can survive even outside caves and permafrost.
A new study has pushed the limits of ancient horse DNA research and uncovered a previously unknown branch in the horse family tree, and it all started with two fossilised horses found in an open field in northern Europe.
Researchers working at the famous Middle Pleistocene site of Schöningen, in what is now Germany, managed to extract and sequence mitochondrial DNA from two horses that lived around 300,000 years ago.
Until now, scientists believed that DNA this old could only survive in frozen environments like Siberia or the Yukon. Schöningen is nothing like that, it was an open lakeshore where early humans once hunted horses with wooden spears.
Because of the challenging environment, researchers have long assumed DNA wouldn’t survive. But using highly sensitive sampling methods and modern lab techniques, the team managed to recover almost complete mitochondrial genomes from the bones of Equus Mosbachensis, an extinct early horse species.
What they found
and why it matters
When scientists compared this ancient DNA to modern horses and other extinct species, they discovered two things.
The Schöningen horses belong to two very old and very different maternal lineages, both older than any previously known ancient Eurasian horse DNA.
The lineages sit below all modern horses on the family tree, meaning they represent a far earlier split in horse evolution than anything seen before.
In simple terms, these horses reveal a hidden branch in the horse family’s past, one that eventually gave rise to modern horses, but had never been genetically documented until now.
Until this discovery, the oldest horse DNA from a non-frozen, open-air site was far younger. This study pushes the DNA survival record in temperate (non-frozen) environments back to ~300,000 years.
It also closes a major gap between fossil evidence and genetic evidence, and helps scientists better understand how early horse species diversified long before domestication.
Last but not least it also confirms that the species found at Schöningen, identified through bone shape and size, matches its genetic identity, strengthening our understanding of horse evolution in the Middle Pleistocene.
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Order NowSchöningen is famous for preserving the world’s oldest wooden hunting weapons, spears used by early humans to hunt horses near a lakeshore.
Finding DNA in bones from this site connects the dots between archaeology, human prehistory, and horse evolution in a way researchers have never been able to do before.
This discovery doesn’t just push the boundaries of ancient DNA science — it also gives us a clearer picture of where the modern horse ultimately came from.
