When did it start? The sheep have been intertwined with human life for more than 11,000 years. In addition to meat, their domestication allowed humans to feed on their protein -rich milk. They also dressed with warm and waterproof fabrics made with their wool. The millenary relationship of humans and sheep was studied by a team of geneticists. He confirmed the origin of this society and deciphered the prehistoric cultural trajectory of this species. They studied 118 genomes recovered from archaeological bones dating from 12 millennia: they extend from Mongolia to Ireland.
Selecting genes
The oldest sheepsome town in the sample, Askli Höyük is in Türkiye. They captured wild muflones more than 11,000 years ago in the western part of the north of the fertile growing. 8,000 years ago, in the first populations of European sheep, the team found evidence that the farmers deliberately selected their herds. It was to encode the color of the fur.
Together with a similar sign in goats, this is the oldest test that humans molded the biology of another animal. The first shepherds were interested in the beautiful and the unusual of their animals.
Specifically, the main gene near which the team found evidence of selection was one known as “kit”, which is associated with the color of white fur in a variety of cattle. Also at that time, the first genomes of domestic sheep in Europe and eastern Iran and Central Asia had already separated. However, this separation did not last, since people moved sheep from eastern populations to the western ones.
Traveling with herds
Human cultural influences extended from the first cities of Mesopotamia. The genomes of the sheep moved following this trend about 7,000 years ago. Mass migration was driven by sheep grazing and the exploitation of products for life, including milk and probably cheese.
There is an important prehistoric migration of sheep from the Eurasian steppes to Europe during the Bronze Age. This is parallel to what we know about human migrations during the same period. They brought their flocks.
They were investigated in a statement. »The millenary relationship of humans and sheep has a long data. It comes from the first days of domestication until the development of wool as a crucial textile resource. The sheep have a vital role in the cultural and economic development of human beings ».
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