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Coat colour in horses from Iron Age Sweden

jilmavi January 24, 2012 January 24, 2012

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I stumbled across this today. A team of researchers tested DNA extracted from equine remains from various archaeological sites in Sweden. They found common colours such as chestnut, black and bay, but also silver and a couple of tobianos. No cream, though. They did not test for grey, however they did for some reason test for champagne. (Yes, I bet champagne was a rare dilution indeed in iron age Sweden...) Here's the paper: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0940960211002214

Third Peppermint Wed, 01/25/2012 - 08:45

Nice find! I'm not sure why they tested for champagne (as opposed to others) since I think we've established that champagne is from the New World? It would have been cool to find a champagne Iron Age horse, though. I would have liked to see grey tested as well as appaloosa (not sure if that's available without knowing the right people yet.)

Threnody Thu, 01/26/2012 - 20:49

I really wish they tested for LP and G! I too am confused about the need to test for a new world mutation that didn't mutate until the past few hundred years in ancient Sweden. :?

AppyLady Fri, 01/27/2012 - 09:30

Interesting that they didn't test for LP. When the Stone Age and Copper Age horses were DNA tested, 6 out of 31 horses had LP. The remaining horses were bay (18) and black (7).