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The Gothic people enter European history during the Roman Iron Age. Several groups of Goths come under the power of the Huns while other Gothic groups seek refuge within the borders of the Roman Empire. Groups fleeing across the Danube River defeated Roman troops at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. These Goths will later migrate further and eventually form the Visigothic Kingdom in present-day Spain and France under King Alaric I. In the 5th century, the Goths gained their freedom from the power of the Huns and formed the Ostrogothic Kingdom under King Theodoric the Great in present-day Italy. Finally, the Ostrogothic Kingdom was defeated by the Eastern Roman Empire in the 6th century and the Visigothic Kingdom was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate in the 8th century. What remains are the Gothic historical texts that claim a Scandinavian origin. Ever since these times, this origin has been debated by historians, archaeologists, and linguists. This essay investigates the support of this Scandinavian origin in four source materials. The ancient textual sources, linguistics, material culture and DNA-studies and then analyze and compare the results. The DNA-studies show that parts of the gothic people had a connection with Scandinavia and parts of them had a genetic diversity. This together with the results of the ancient texts, linguistics and material culture indicate a strong connection between Scandinavia and the gothic people and a probable Scandinavian origin at least amongst the gothic elite.

The question of horse domestication have long been debated and discussed amongst scholars. There have been serval theories about when and where horse domestication first took place and when horses became our loyal companions that we build a lot of our society around. The Eurasian steppes have long been subject of these discussions. Within recent years a lot of DNA- studies have been done on the subject to try to answer these questions. In 2018 a DNA-study showed that the prewalski horse, who have been thought to be the last wild horse on earth, is ancestors to the horses found at Botai. The Botai culture has long been thought to be the origin of domesticated horses. In 2021 even more shocking discoveries came to light. It was revealed that all modern day horses comes from the same genetic line called DOM2. The DOM2 linage originates from the lower Volga-Don region and started to spread across Eurasia around 2000 BC. These revelations made people reevaluate previous assumptions concerning early use of horses, like the Yamnaya culture expansion to Europe which was previously believed to have taken place on horseback. This study aims to address the impact of new DNA studies on our understanding of horse domestication and its spread, analysing various theories, DNA research, and archaeological findings. / Frågan om hästdomesticering har länge debatterats och diskuterats bland forskare. Det har funnits flera teorier om när och var hästdomesticering först ägde rum, och när hästarna blev våra trogna följeslagare som vi byggde mycket av vår samhällsstruktur kring. Den eurasiska stäppen har länge varit föremål för dessa diskussioner. Inom de senaste åren har många DNA- studier gjorts om ämnet för att försöka besvara dessa frågor. År 2018 visade en DNA-studie att przewalski hästen, som man tidigare trott var den sista vilda hästen i världen, är en ättling till hästarna som hittats vid Botai. Botaikulturen har länge förmodats vara ursprunget till domesticerade hästar. År 2021 fördes ännu mer chockerande upptäckter fram i ljuset. Det avslöjades att alla moderna hästar kommer från samma genetiska linje som kallas DOM2. DOM2-linjen har sitt ursprung i nedre Volga-Don-regionen och började sprida sig över Eurasien cirka 2000 f.Kr.. Denna upptäckt fick människor att omvärdera tidigare antaganden kring tidig användning av hästar, som yamnayakulturens expansion till Europa som tidigare trotts ha skett till häst. Denna studie syftar till att adressera de nya DNA-studiernas påverkan på vår förståelse av hästdomesticering och dess spridning, analysera olika teorier, DNA- forskning och arkeologiska fynd.