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Sequence polymorphism of the mitochondrial DNA D-loop was used to determine the genetic diversity of horses recovered from a Scythian princely tomb dating from the beginning of the 3rd century BC. Eight haplotypes were found among the 13 ancient horse samples tested. Phylogenetical analysis showed that these ancient horse's sequences, along with two Yakut ones, were distributed throughout the tree defined by modern horses' sequences and are closely related to them. No clear geographical affiliation of the specimens studied was thus determined. Our work, among others, supports the very ancient origin of the matrilines in horses.

The discovery of a big barrow of the Saka period in eastern Kazakhstan between the Russian and the Chinese borders provided the opportunity to excavate a frozen burial site. In the burial chamber, there was a wooden sarcophagus with two human bodies. The skeletons of these two individuals, a man and a woman, were well preserved. A genetic study based on STRs and mitochondrial DNA analyses was undertaken in order to determine whether these human remains belonged to close relatives. Results were obtained for all the markers. Nevertheless, nuclear STRs did not allow a clear conclusion concerning the relationship, but analysis of mitochondrial DNA showed that these skeletons were not close relatives.