Scientists recover 200,000-year-old horse DNA from Schöningen site in Germany

Key facts

• Researchers extracted approximately 200,000-year-old DNA from the fossilised remains of horses at the Schöningen archaeological site in Lower Saxony, Germany.
• The genetic material belongs to an extinct horse species known as Equus mosbachensis, which existed during the Middle Pleistocene epoch.
• Genomic comparisons indicate that Equus mosbachensis diverged from other equine lineages approximately 800,000 to 900,000 years ago.
• The study was published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution by a research team from the University of Tübingen and collaborating institutions.
• The DNA survived in a temperate, non-permafrost environment due to anaerobic and carbonate-rich sediments that slowed microbial decay.
• The Schöningen site is also famous for the Schöningen spears, which are wooden hunting weapons dating back roughly 300,000 years.
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