The Horse: Before and After Our Shared History

Session 2: Living with Animals
Moderator: Thomas Lecuit (Collège de France)

Abstract

In Western countries today, the horse is primarily viewed as a recreational animal. Yet, not so long ago, it played a central role in our societies. Swift as lightning, the horse carried us to the four corners of the globe, accelerating the spread of cultures, languages, and microbes, while revolutionizing the art of war. From the moment wild horses were domesticated, their history became intertwined with our own, evolving in step with human societies until the advent of internal combustion engines. Until very recently, however, the full history of horses—from their domestication to the breeding of race champions—remained largely unknown. But in recent years, the analysis of horse genome time series has shed light on the key stages that shaped what Buffon once called “the noblest” of human conquests, finally lifting the veil on the mysteries of this exceptional partnership. This lecture will describe how research on ancient DNA has answered essential questions: What was the diversity of horses like before we domesticated them? What remains of it today? And also: where, when, why, and how were horses first domesticated? By answering these questions, this lecture will illustrate the extent to which human activities have transformed the biology of horses—and, more broadly, that of the species with which we interact—and how these changes have, in turn, influenced our own history.

Ludovic Orlando

Ludovic Orlando is a molecular archaeologist who explores past societies by analyzing DNA traces preserved in archaeological remains and the environment. A biologist by training, he combines quantitative sciences, the humanities, and Indigenous knowledge to reshape our understanding of history and evolution. His work has helped push the boundaries of genomics back more than a million years, providing an unprecedented temporal depth to the study of molecular evolutionary mechanisms. It has paved the way for deciphering ancient epigenomes and has made it possible to measure the impact of major climate changes on populations of large mammals. Finally, his work has demonstrated how the domestication of the horse shaped the history of human societies. Notably, he received the Pégase Prize and the CNRS Silver Medal in 2023, as well as the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize and the Charles-Léopold Meyer Prize in 2024. His research, at the intersection of technological innovation and interdisciplinarity, redefines the connections between genetics, archaeology, and history, and explores the place of humans within the living world.