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.

Tyr – A historical and comparative study of configurations and formations connected to the Old Norse god Tyr. Klas af Edholm   This thesis has two aims. One is a discussion of the history of the study of Old Norse religion and related aspects, centered on how general tendencies within the area of research have affected the interpretations of the god *Tīwaz/Tyr. Thereby, it treats a selection of influential trends of interpretation, and a selection of prominent scholars of the field. The second aim is an empirical and comparative analysis of the Old Norse source material and, to some degree, the continental Germanic, the Baltic, and the other Indo-European material. Tyr has been interpreted according to trends of research in the field; the mythological character has been used as a projection screen of the theories. Already from the beginning, Tyr was interpreted as a sky god; connected to this was the conception of an original high god. The interpretations of Tyr as a sun god, sky god, and/or law god are close related to this high god conception. These interpretations of the god Tyr has built their arguments upon the etymological connection to Indo-European words for ‘heaven, celestial’ and ‘god’, but they have not taken enough consideration of the Old Norse sources. Georges Dumézil interpreted Tyr, according to his système tripartite, as a law god. This understanding of the god has been widely adopted, but cannot be confirmed; the Old Norse material only speaks of Tyr as a war god. The comparative Indo-European etymological material indicates that his function as sky god is archaic, while the martial traits shared with the continental Germanic and Celtic counterparts prove that this characteristic must have evolved early. Tyr (or rather his predecessor *Tīwaz) lost his celestial traits and became an unmitigated war god, and as such we perceive him in the Old Norse religion.