Dorcas R Brown

Followers

349

Following

Co-authors

Public Views

Dorcas Brown is an archaeologist who is currently involved in Eurasian archaeology. She has co-directed field work in Russia and Ukraine. She also co-directed an experimental archaeology project that examined bit wear on horse teeth. Recently she has written about Bronze age initiation rituals for adolescent boys and their Indo-European parallels.

less

Nerissa Russell

Cornell University

Eric H Cline

The George Washington University

Dorian Q Fuller

University College London

Don Ross

University College Cork

Miljana Radivojević

University College London

Enrico Cirelli

Università di Bologna

Kristian Kristiansen

University of Gothenburg

Marie Louise Stig Sørensen

University of Cambridge

Viktória Kiss

Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Selena Vitezović

Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade, Serbia

InterestsView All (15)

Uploads

Papers by Dorcas R Brown

Origins and genetic legacy of prehistoric dogs

Science, 2020

Dog domestication was multifaceted Dogs were the first domesticated animal, likely originating fr... more Dog domestication was multifaceted Dogs were the first domesticated animal, likely originating from human-associated wolves, but their origin remains unclear. Bergstrom et al. sequenced 27 ancient dog genomes from multiple locations near to and corresponding in time to comparable human ancient DNA sites (see the Perspective by Pavlidis and Somel). By analyzing these genomes, along with other ancient and modern dog genomes, the authors found that dogs likely arose once from a now-extinct wolf population. They also found that at least five different dog populations ∼10,000 years before the present show replacement in Europe at later dates. Furthermore, some dog population genetics are similar to those of humans, whereas others differ, inferring a complex ancestral history for humanity's best friend. Science , this issue p. 557 ; see also p. 522

Download

Phase Three Archaeological Investigations of the Countryside Planned Community, Loudoun County, Virginia

Phase Two Archaeological Investigations of the Countryside Planned Community, Loudoun County, Virginia, Part 2: Historic

Early horseback riding and warfare: the importance of the magpie around the neck

BAR INTERNATIONAL …, 2006

This 2006 paper is our most detailed defense of our use of bit wear as a method that identifies a... more This 2006 paper is our most detailed defense of our use of bit wear as a method that identifies a clearly identifiable culturally-caused pathology on the lower premolars of bitted equids used for riding and/or driving. We advocated a broader cultural definition of domestication, in addition to a narrowly zoological definition. We described an experiment that proved that organic bits of rope and leather can and did cause bit wear on horse teeth (dirt under the bit was the agent of wear). We argued that horses were ridden in steppe herding and tribal raiding as early as 4000 BC, but the Iron Age evolution of cavalry--organized troops of mounted archers--depended on technological innovations in recurved bows and cast socketed arrow-heads that first appeared in the Final Bronze Age, explaining why cavalry appeared so late.

Bronze Age Economy and Rituals at Krasnosamarskoe in the Russian Steppes

Bronze Age Herding Camps

A Bronze Age Landscape in the Russian Steppes, 2016

Horseback riding and the unintended consequences of innovation

From Bit Wear to Ancient DNA: Steppe-ing Out

Archaeological Field Operations in the Lower Samara Valley, 1995–2001, with Observations on Srubnaya Pastoralism

Excavations at the LBA Settlement at Krasnosamarskoe

Chapter 10 from A Bronze Age Landscape in the Russian Steppes: The Samara Valley Project. Anthony... more

The Samara Valley Project: Late Bronze Age economy and ritual in the Russian steppes

Preliminary summary of the findings of the Samara Valley Project 1995-2002.

Late Bronze Age midwinter dog sacrifices and warrior initiations at Krasnosamarskoe, Russia

Tracing the Indo-Europeans, 2019

Dairying enabled Early Bronze Age Yamnaya steppe expansions

Nature, 2021

During the Early Bronze Age, populations of the western Eurasian steppe expanded across an immens... more During the Early Bronze Age, populations of the western Eurasian steppe expanded across an immense area of northern Eurasia. Combined archaeological and genetic evidence supports widespread Early Bronze Age population movements out of the Pontic–Caspian steppe that resulted in gene flow across vast distances, linking populations of Yamnaya pastoralists in Scandinavia with pastoral populations (known as the Afanasievo) far to the east in the Altai Mountains1,2 and Mongolia3. Although some models hold that this expansion was the outcome of a newly mobile pastoral economy characterized by horse traction, bulk wagon transport4–6 and regular dietary dependence on meat and milk5, hard evidence for these economic features has not been found. Here we draw on proteomic analysis of dental calculus from individuals from the western Eurasian steppe to demonstrate a major transition in dairying at the start of the Bronze Age. The rapid onset of ubiquitous dairying at a point in time when steppe ...

Download

Tracking Five Millennia of Horse Management with Extensive Ancient Genome Time Series

Cell, 2019

Horse domestication revolutionized warfare and accelerated travel, trade, and the geographic expa... more Horse domestication revolutionized warfare and accelerated travel, trade, and the geographic expansion of languages. Here, we present the largest DNA time series for a non-human organism to date, including genome-scale data from 149 ancient animals and 129 ancient genomes (R1-fold coverage), 87 of which are new. This extensive dataset allows us to assess the modern legacy of past equestrian civilizations. We find that two extinct horse lineages existed during early domestication, one at the far western (Iberia) and the other at the far eastern range (Siberia) of Eurasia. None of these contributed significantly to modern diversity. We show that the influence of Persian-related horse lineages increased following the Islamic conquests in Europe and Asia. Multiple alleles associated with elite-racing, including at the MSTN ''speed gene,'' only rose in popularity within the last millennium. Finally, the development of modern breeding impacted genetic diversity more dramatically than the previous millennia of human management.

Download

Ancient genomes revisit the ancestry of domestic and Przewalski's horses

Science (New York, N.Y.), Apr 22, 2018

The Eneolithic Botai culture of the Central Asian steppes provides the earliest archaeological ev... more The Eneolithic Botai culture of the Central Asian steppes provides the earliest archaeological evidence for horse husbandry, ~5,500 ya, but the exact nature of early horse domestication remains controversial. We generated 42 ancient horse genomes, including 20 from Botai. Compared to 46 published ancient and modern horse genomes, our data indicate that Przewalski's horses are the feral descendants of horses herded at Botai and not truly wild horses. All domestic horses dated from ~4,000 ya to present only show ~2.7% of Botai-related ancestry. This indicates that a massive genomic turnover underpins the expansion of the horse stock that gave rise to modern domesticates, which coincides with large-scale human population expansions during the Early Bronze Age.

Download

The dogs of war: A Bronze Age initiation ritual in the Russian steppes

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2017

At the Srubnaya-culture settlement of Krasnosamarskoe in the Russian steppes, dated 1900-1700 BCE... more At the Srubnaya-culture settlement of Krasnosamarskoe in the Russian steppes, dated 1900-1700 BCE, a ritual occurred in which the participants consumed sacrificed dogs, primarily, and a few wolves, violating normal food practices found at other sites, during the winter. At least 64 winter-killed canids, 19% MNI/37% NISP, were roasted, fileted, and apparently were eaten. More than 99% were dogs. Their heads were chopped into small standardized segments with practiced blows of an axe on multiple occasions throughout the occupation. Two adult men and two adult women from the nearby cemetery, possibly two generations of resident ritual specialists, showed unusual skeletal pathologies and post-mortem treatments. The repeated violation of the canideating taboo, unique to this site, combined with the metaphor of human transformation into male canids, suggests that the participants entered a liminal state typical of a rite of passage. Parallels from comparative Indo-European (IE) mythology provide the indigenous narrative that gave meaning to this ritual: we argue that it was an initiation into the widely attested IE institution of the youthful male war-band, symbolized by transformation into a dog or wolf.

Download

Eneolithic horse exploitation in the Eurasian steppes: diet, ritual and riding

Antiquity, 2000

The symbolism of the horse in Eneolithic society is explored in this paper. Recent excavations in... more

The origins of horseback riding

Antiquity, 1991

The horse is ridden by means of the bit, and the bit leaves its trace on the horse's teeth. T... more The horse is ridden by means of the bit, and the bit leaves its trace on the horse's teeth. The beginnings of horse-riding are here identified by defining and detecting microscopic bit wear on equid teeth, using comparative samples from 4 countries and 25,000 years of prehistory. Scanning electron microscope analysis demonstrates that bit wear is clearly distinguishable from other tooth damage. It first occurs in the Ukraine, USSR, at about 4000 BC. Soon thereafter, mobility became a cultural advantage that transformed Eurasian societies. Riding now appears to be the first major innovation in land transport, pre-dating the wheel.

Chapter 6 Horseback Riding and Bronze Age Pastoralism in the Eurasian Steppes

New Research on East-West Exchange in Antiquity, 2014

Massive migration from the steppe is a source for Indo-European languages in Europe

We generated genome-wide data from 69 Europeans who lived between 8,000-3,000 years ago by enrich... more We generated genome-wide data from 69 Europeans who lived between 8,000-3,000 years ago by enriching ancient DNA libraries for a target set of almost four hundred thousand polymorphisms. Enrichment of these positions decreases the sequencing required for genome-wide ancient DNA analysis by a median of around 250-fold, allowing us to study an order of magnitude more individuals than previous studies and to obtain new insights about the past. We show that the populations of western and far eastern Europe followed opposite trajectories between 8,000-5,000 years ago. At the beginning of the Neolithic period in Europe, ~8,000-7,000 years ago, closely related groups of early farmers appeared in Germany, Hungary, and Spain, different from indigenous hunter-gatherers, whereas Russia was inhabited by a distinctive population of hunter-gatherers with high affinity to a ~24,000 year old Siberian6. By ~6,000-5,000 years ago, a resurgence of hunter-gatherer ancestry had occurred throughout much ...

Download

Origins and genetic legacy of prehistoric dogs

Science, 2020

Download

Phase Three Archaeological Investigations of the Countryside Planned Community, Loudoun County, Virginia

Phase Two Archaeological Investigations of the Countryside Planned Community, Loudoun County, Virginia, Part 2: Historic

Early horseback riding and warfare: the importance of the magpie around the neck

BAR INTERNATIONAL …, 2006

Bronze Age Economy and Rituals at Krasnosamarskoe in the Russian Steppes

Bronze Age Herding Camps

A Bronze Age Landscape in the Russian Steppes, 2016

Horseback riding and the unintended consequences of innovation

From Bit Wear to Ancient DNA: Steppe-ing Out

Archaeological Field Operations in the Lower Samara Valley, 1995–2001, with Observations on Srubnaya Pastoralism

Excavations at the LBA Settlement at Krasnosamarskoe

Chapter 10 from A Bronze Age Landscape in the Russian Steppes: The Samara Valley Project. Anthony... more

The Samara Valley Project: Late Bronze Age economy and ritual in the Russian steppes

Preliminary summary of the findings of the Samara Valley Project 1995-2002.

Late Bronze Age midwinter dog sacrifices and warrior initiations at Krasnosamarskoe, Russia

Tracing the Indo-Europeans, 2019

Dairying enabled Early Bronze Age Yamnaya steppe expansions

Nature, 2021

Download

Tracking Five Millennia of Horse Management with Extensive Ancient Genome Time Series

Cell, 2019

Download

Ancient genomes revisit the ancestry of domestic and Przewalski's horses

Science (New York, N.Y.), Apr 22, 2018

Download

The dogs of war: A Bronze Age initiation ritual in the Russian steppes

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2017

Download

Eneolithic horse exploitation in the Eurasian steppes: diet, ritual and riding

Antiquity, 2000

The symbolism of the horse in Eneolithic society is explored in this paper. Recent excavations in... more

The origins of horseback riding

Antiquity, 1991

Chapter 6 Horseback Riding and Bronze Age Pastoralism in the Eurasian Steppes

New Research on East-West Exchange in Antiquity, 2014

Massive migration from the steppe is a source for Indo-European languages in Europe

Download

Book cover-Anthony et al 2016 A Bronze Age Landscape Russian Steppes in the The Samara Valley Project

by David Anthony, Dorcas R Brown, and Олег Мочалов

Download

YJAAR 2016 68 Revision 2 V0 Anthony Brown Dogs of War revised2

At the Srubnaya-culture settlement of Krasnosamarskoe in the Russian steppes, dated 1900-1700 BC,... more At the Srubnaya-culture settlement of Krasnosamarskoe in the Russian steppes, dated 1900-1700 BC, a ritual occurred in which the participants consumed sacrificed dogs, primarily, and a few wolves, violating normal food practices found at other sites, during the winter. At least 64 winter-killed canids, 19% MNI/37% NISP, were roasted, fileted, and apparently were eaten. More than 99% were old male dogs. Their heads were chopped into small standardized segments with practiced blows of an axe on multiple occasions throughout the occupation. Two adult men and two adult women from the nearby cemetery, possibly two generations of resident ritual specialists, showed unusual skeletal pathologies and post-mortem treatments. The repeated violation of the canid-eating taboo, unique to this site, combined with the metaphor of human transformation into male canids, suggests that the participants entered a liminal state typical of a rite of passage. Parallels from comparative Indo-European (IE) mythology provide the indigenous narrative that gave meaning to this ritual: we argue that it was an initiation into the widely attested IE institution of the youthful male war-band, symbolized by transformation into a dog or wolf.

Download

Dorcas R Brown

Uploads

Papers by Dorcas R Brown

Log In