Intensification in the Pacific

Criteria for Intensification in the Pacific:

* Shortening of fallow length in swidden plots

* The conversion of swidden into permanent fields with structural boundaries

* Drainage systems

* Pit fermentation of surplus fruit and root crops

* Food preservation pits

* Increasingly complex pondfield systems for taro cultivation in well-watered valleys

Critique of the Evidence for the Primacy of Swiddening:

* The argument for the primacy of swiddening requires a chronological comparison. It is necessary to demonstrate that swiddening, long-fallow shifting cultivation, was practised before any more intensive system developed.

* It is not sufficient to equate evidence of fire and slope and gully erosion in a catchment above a site or swamp deposit with swiddening. Such fires could have had a natural origin or could have resulted from human clearance of inland tracks. Even sites of intensive cultivation are known to have been cleared by fire.

* Evidence from East Otago (South Island, New Zealand) shows the burning frequency rose but did not commence with the onset of human occupation. Pre-human fires were a regular occurrence producing a mosaic of forest, scrub and grassland. Human-lit fires were clearly for some purpose other than shifting cultivation, as this is not viable at this latitude with tropical cultigens. They may have been set to keep tracks open.

* The dating evidence for Mangaia’s Tangatatau rock shelter site has been disputed, however it is undeniable that vegetation disturbance from fire accelerated as a result of human activity. What has not been proven is that the activity primarily responsible was ‘slash-and-burn horticulture’.

* In contrast to neighbouring Polynesian outlier Anuta, Tikopia’s intensive zone did not utilise structural features such as terracing or permanent boundary markers. Kirch (1994) proposed that, on Tikopia, arboriculture was the chosen route to intensification.

* Adopting the view that shifting cultivation was just one of several Lapita production techniques has important implications as it seriously undermines the unidirectional trend from long-fallow swiddening to intensified production by raising the possibility that the Lapita peoples may already have had some intensive practices.

Critique of the Evidence for Intensification:

* It is apparent that Brookfield’s requirement that land be held as a constant when examining intensification in wetland agriculture can seldom be met. If a community that failed to satisfy its growing needs by shifting cultivation opted for a pondfield irrigation system, it is likely that it would have selected a different location from that where it had made its swiddens.

* Initially then it would have expanded into low-lying coastal zones which did not have an established forest cover and was therefore unsuitable for swiddening.

* Alternatively, if it had already been using swamps for aroid cultivation, investment in ditches and bunds would amount to intensification, but this would mean that the earlier production system was not exclusively slash-and-burn.

* Kirch (1994) in ‘The Wet and the Dry’, showed that, once the initial labour investment in irrigation was completed, pondfield systems on Futuna required no more labour than swiddens, but produced four times as much food.

* To date there had been insufficient excavations in Pacific pondfield sites to explore the prior existence of other types of wetland horticulture before the pondfields were created. Where sections have been dug through extant pondfields, as on Futuna and Hawaii, earlier oxidation-reduction layers, sometimes buried under alluvium, have been interpreted as earlier pondfields.

* In dryland agriculture, the ultimate criterion of intensification was the reduction of fallow length, but this ephemeral in archaeological terms.

* In the Pacific permanent boundary markers are treated as an indicator of this process, on the assumption that long-fallow shifting cultivators do not need to mark their plot boundaries in stone.

* Populations under pressure to increase by shortening fallow periods are considered to have required long-lasting markers of ownership rights. This may be valid in some cases, but the argument has become confused.

* Long-fallow shifting cultivators in the Pacific sometimes make considerable efforts to mark both internal and external plot boundaries. For example, the Nagovisi of Bougainville attempted to fell trees in such a way that they helped to delineate sections of the garden, serving as boundaries between adjacent areas controlled by different households. On Malaita, the Baegu, whose shifting cultivations were fallowed for 10 to 25 years, also used logs to mark internal divisions. They also constructed elaborate external fences that would not have effectively excluded predators, but instead marked a symbolic divide between wild and domestic, natural and cultural domains.

* Should stone markers be interpreted as deliberately selected for their permanence or coincidentally permanent?

* Demarcation for short-term purposes is the interpretation of the stone rows and single-boulder alignments of Palliser Bay (Wairarapa, New Zealand).

* There is no dispute that the leeward Hawaiian system employed intensive practices and a grassland fallow, both of which led to continuous downhill transportation of sediments containing charcoal. What has not been proven is that it started as long-fallow, slash-and-burn, non-intensive agriculture and subsequently intensified.

Intensification Relegated:

* Intensification was not inevitable in Pacific islands. Samoans practised shifting cultivation for three millennia without deforesting their islands or failing to meet their social obligations. They made only minor experiments with wetland ditching. The Maori combined shifting cultivation with certain intensive horticultural and storage practices from the Archaic period, which commenced with colonisation to the 19th century. Deforestation was probably more severe in the non-horticultural southern regions of New Zealand than in the north.

* Most Pacific islands featured a range of agronomic practices.

* Even proponents of intensification sequences acknowledge the crop-linked variation in production techniques. No Pacific gardener would have grown yams (dry) in the same way as taro (wet).

* Rather than rejecting intensification just for its unsuitability on archaeological grounds, there is a much more compelling reason to limit its use. This stems from the unilateral character of Boserup’s model, already criticised by Morrison (1994). Leach would argue that, as well as the multiple trajectories proposed both by Morrison and Kirch, there are also multiple starting points.

* In particular horticulture has been equated with the simplest stage of agriculture. However, by its very nature, horticulture is intensive when compared with cereal agriculture, especially when vegetatively reproduced root and tree crops are involved, as in the Pacific. No Pacific long-fallow system matches Boserup’s picture of low labour input, minimal weeding, dispersed and transient settlement and lack of markets.

* Denying horticulture a simple, non-intensive, primary stage does not imply that additional labour or techniques could not be directed to increase production of particular cultigens.

* It is necessary to disengage agricultural from horticultural developmental sequences.

* To achieve a globally useful model, Boserup forced horticultural and agricultural systems together into a developmental sequence that has not been demonstrated archaeologically even in Europe. In places where the stages appear sequential, replacement through diffusion may be a more accurate explanation than development or evolution.

* Intensification may take many forms

* Alternatively, it could be considered that there are many processed involved in agrarian change, only one of which is intensification.

Reference:

Leach, H.M. 1999. Intensification in the Pacific: A Critique of the Archaeological Criteria and Their Application. Current Anthropology 40 (3): 311-339.

Blog Carnival – Four Stone Hearth and Tangled Bank

This weeks Four Stone Hearth Blog Carnival is hosted by Hominin Dental Anthropology. It features an interesting mix of submissions, from blogs on the Golden Fleece of Jason and the Argonauts through to palaeolithic archaeology and primatology. They’re all very interesting and well worth a look.

Meanwhile, at Balancing Life, you can find edition #87 of the Tangled Bank. This blog carnival dedicated to the natural sciences features everything from intriguing critters and their genetics through to cognitive training and the debate between science and religion. Also well worth a look.

From Lucy to the Iceman

Some of the more famous individuals of the archaeological world are taking centre stage once again as various news stories break this week.

Lucy, the 3.2-million-year-old member of the Australopithecus afarensis species discovered in 1974 by Don Johanson and his student Tom Gray, is proving to be an enduring ambassador for human evolutionary studies. Whilst she no longer holds the title of the oldest known hominid, she is still of great interest to many. As the Houston & Texas News observes:

Before Lucy, many paleoanthropologists — the scientists who sort out the many-branched tree of human origins — believed the first real humanlike attribute to emerge among apes was a larger brain size. Lucy — who stood 3 feet, 8 inches tall, clearly walked upright and had a small cranium — quashed that argument.

At 3.2 million years old, Lucy and her species now represent something of a midpoint in the evolutionary timeline of humans, which began 5 million to 7 million years ago when chimpanzees — humanity’s closest living relative — and Homo sapiens last shared an ancestor in Africa.

However, the decision to allow Lucy to travel from her home in Ethiopia to the United States has not been without controversy. Curator Dirk Van Tuerenhout of the Houston Museum of Natural Science has been criticised for taking Lucy out of Ethiopia saying the fragile skeleton may be damaged irreparably during the journey to what is expected to be a very profitable show for the museum. The Washington Post quotes Richard Leakey as suggesting that “the museum was prostituting Lucy”, and Van Tuerenhout’s credentials have apparently been called in to question.

Regardless of which side you fall in the debate about the rights and wrongs of the journey Lucy is making, I believe none will doubt the pull that Lucy provides. As of Tuesday, 3,500 advance tickets are understood to have been sold for an exhibition that is at the very least getting people talking.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, researchers have been debating the cause of death of the 5,000 year old Iceman. Previously an arrow has been believed to be the reason for his demise. However, that has now been called in to question. According to the International Herald Tribune:

Just two months ago, researchers in Switzerland published an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science saying the mummy — also known as Oetzi — had died after the arrow tore a hole in an artery beneath his left collarbone, leading to massive loss of blood, shock and heart attack.

But radiologists, pathologists and other researchers, using new forensic information and CAT scans, said Tuesday they believed that the blood loss from the arrow wound only made Oetzi lose consciousness. They believe he died either by hitting his head on a rock when he passed out or because his aggressor attacked him again with a blow to the head.

The researchers believe the Iceman fell over backward, but was then turned over onto his stomach by his aggressor who then pulled out the arrow shaft while leaving the arrowhead embedded in Oetzi’s shoulder.

Sources:

Berger, E. 2007. Lucy’s fame endures beyond scientific value. Houston & Texas News.

Rhor, M. 2007. Lucy makes curator target of criticism. Washington Post.

2007. Researchers say Italy’s 5,000-year-old Iceman died from head trauma, not arrow. International Herald Tribune.

Review: ‘Life: An Unauthorised Biography’ by Richard Fortey

Salterella dodged between the icebergs. While the small boat bucked and tossed, I hung over its side, peering down into the clear Arctic waters…

What do any of us know about the history of our planet before the arrival of man? Most of us have a dim impression of a swirling mass of dust solidifying to form a volcanic globe, briefly populated by dinosaurs, then the woolly mammoths and finally our own hairy ancestors. This book, aimed at the curious and intelligent but perhaps mildly uninformed reader, dispels any such lingering notions.

Illuminating scientific facts with tales from his own career, palaeontologist Richard Fortey guides the reader from the creation of the world, through the very earliest signs of life, the appearance of cells, the creation of an atmosphere, and the myriad forms of animals and plants the world then sustained, right up to the appearance of Homo sapiens.

Entertaining as well as informative, Fortey has mastered the art of story-telling. He has a confident grasp of fine details and is able to present them in a way that does not swamp the reader. This book is an ideal introduction to the history of our planet for someone who is curious to find out more, but who does not possess any specialist knowledge.

A Passion for Pork

The Site:

Durrington Walls, Wiltshire is a Late Neolithic henge enclosure consisting of a nearly circular enclosure, c. 470-480m across, surrounded by a ditch and external bank. This is breached by entrances in the east and west. The site is mentioned in literature from the 19th century. Early excavations were carried out in 1951-52, with the main excavation occurring in 1966-67.

Research Questions:

In this reinterpretation of the animal bone assemblage the authors set out to examine:

* Patterns of meat preparation and consumption, bone deposition and disposal

* Spatial distribution of the bones

The Bone Assemblage:

* Cattle (Bos taurus/primigenius) and Pig (Sus domesticus/scrofa) are the most common species, with pig the most abundant

* The age at death for pig was between 1-3 years. Cattle were mostly mature animals.

* Biometric analysis suggests pig were almost all domesticated, with one possible wild boar. There were a few possible wild aurochs amongst the cattle bones.

* Chop marks and cut marks common on both species, especially cattle.

* Evidence of burning on some elements

* Apparent under-representation of cranial and metapodial elements in pig.

* Fragments of flint embedded in four pig bones

* Unusually low amounts of canid gnawing

Conclusions:

* Butchery and burning evidence suggests large pieces of meat, even complete carcasses, were roasted on the bone.

* Whole carcasses of younger pigs were cooked and eaten in the area, whilst skulls and feet of older animals were removed elsewhere.

* Cattle and pigs butchered, consumed and disposed of in variety of ways showing diverse activity.

* Large amounts of meat probably produced in short time, suggesting feasting.

* Flints may indicate capture and slaughter of pigs in a ritual fashion

* Rapid disposal of remains

Reference:

Albarella, U, and Serjeantson, D. 2002. A Passion for Pork: Meat Consumption at the British Late Neolithic Site of Durrington Walls. In Miracle and Milner (eds). Consuming Passions and Patterns of Consumption. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research: Cambridge. Pp 33-49.

Mammoth Remains Found In The Everglades

Archaeologists are studying the remains of an Ice Age mammal recently found in the Everglades. Workers cleaning a canal discovered the teeth of one mammoth last month on the Seminole Tribe’s Big Cypress Reservation, First Coast News reports. Archaeologists soon found 100 other bones that may come from different species of mammoths. One of the teeth found is still intact and weighs almost eight pounds. The bones are believed to be more than 10,000 years old.

The remains of other ancient animals have also been found at the same site, including the bones of an extinct giant armadillo. The site may have been one of the few watering holes where giant animals, meat eaters, plant eaters, and humans converged.

Source: Mammoth Remains Found In The Everglades. First Coast News.

El Mirón Cave – An Upper Palaeolithic ‘Hotel’

Reports from the El Mirón Cave in northern Spain have sparked interest in several quarters. The site has been described as “residential hotel for travelling groups of Stone Age hunters” by lead author Ana Belén Marín Arroyo, who worked with Lawrence Straus and other scientists.

“El Mirón Cave is located in a strategic point next to the access routes to the high zone of the River Asón and has a wide visibility,” Arroyo told Discovery News. “It’s a mountain settlement next to the coastal plain that would allow a seasonal residential mobility from the coast towards the interior at summer time, coinciding with the migrations of red deer herds to the high altitude grass.”

Engraved red deer shoulder blades, along with images of red deer hinds found at the site were probably “stylistic markers of a regional band.” The cave is well known for rock art and decorative objects, such as shell and tooth ornaments. In addition, an intriguing pile of black bones were determined as belonging to butchered red deer, ibex, roe deer, chamois and small carnivores. The staining was demonstrated not to be due to burning, but was instead due to the presence of manganese oxides and hydroxides.

Based on the timing of the natural decomposition that produced this staining, along with clues provided by deer dental remains, the researchers believe the hunters killed mostly red deer in the spring and summer, during which time they stayed in the cave. They likely occupied the cave’s large, well-lit outer vestibule, and used the interior room with the bones as a makeshift place for garbage.

As Tim Jones at Remote Central observes, “there is a vast amount of archaeological material that has been recovered from all over the world, precisely because much of it was regarded as refuse by the original owners, makers and consumers, little dreaming that people thousands of years into their future would be able to reconstruct details of their lives and environments from discarded remains and artifacts.”

Sources:

Jones, T. 2007.  El Mirón Cave – Upper Palaeolithic ‘Hotel’ Of Cantabria. Remote Central.

Vlegas, J. 2007. Cave Clue Reveals Ancient Bohemian Life. Discovery News.

Cannibalism in the Early Pleistocene of Europe

Cannibalism:

Although the term cannibalism derives from Caribbean peoples, references to cannibal practices have been mentioned all over the world in both prehistoric and historic periods. It is a controversial topic in anthropology and palaeontology that provokes contradictory reactions. The first report of cannibalism was made soon after the discovery of hominid remains at Krapina (Croatia 1895-1905, c. 130 ka). Claims were also gradually linked with ‘cults of skulls’ in the 1930s with discoveries in Steinheim (Germany, c. 250 ka), Monte Circeo (Italy, c. 50 ka) and Zhoukoudian (China, c. 400-500 ka). In many instances it has been later proven that the cause of damage was taphonomic rather than cannibalistic.

Evidence:

Cutmarks are not sufficient to establish cannibalism. Remains from sites such as Bodo (Ethiopia, c. 600 ka) and Gough’s Cave (England, c. 12 ka) have undeniable cutmarks, indicating the skeletons were intentionally defleshed, although not necessarily eaten. Some of the functional types of potential human cannibalism are:

1. Nutritional
   1. incidental: survival (periods of food scarcity or due to catastrophes
   2. long duration: gastronomic or dietary (humans as part of diet of other humans)
2. Ritual, magic, funerary (in relation to beliefs or religion)
3. Pathological (mental disease: parapathic; for political reasons)

These functional types have also been sub-divided into social divisions that include aggressive (consuming enemies) vs. affectionate (consuming friends or relatives), or endocannibalism (consumption of individuals within the group) vs. exocannibalism (consumption of outsiders).

The identification of nutritional, as opposed to ritual, cannibalism, is based on a combination of indicators, the main criterion being the comparison of human and animal remains from the same context. According to Villa et al (1986), these indicators are:

1. similar butchery techniques in human and animal remains
2. similar patterns of long bone breakage that might facilitate marrow extraction
3. identical patterns of post-processing discarding of human and animal remains
4. when applicable, evidence of cooking.

However, when human and animal remains are found in separate contexts, with different patterns of exploitation and distribution, ritual or some other explanation should be considered.

The Site:

The site of Gran Dolina belongs to the southern part of the karstic site complex of the Sierra de Atapuerca in northern central Spain. It is an 18m thick cave infilling, of which eleven sedimentary layers have been distinguished. Human remains have been recovered from a distinctive stratum of unit TD6 named ‘Aurora’.

The Human Remains:

Six individuals were found mixed with stone tools and non-human faunal remains. Their age is more than 780 ka and they have been assigned to Homo antecessor.

Methodology:

Each human fossil was identified as follows:

1. body part
2. segment and portion (diaphysis, proximal end, distal end, complete, lateral, body, process, arch)
3. age (juvenile/adult/infantile) determined from dental eruption and wear, as well as epiphyseal fusion and bone texture.

The relative abundances of skeletal elements were calculated in comparison with the expected numbers of each element multiplied by the minimum number of individuals.

The following features were also recorded:

1. Fracture
   1. Length/width/thickness
   2. Peeling
   3. Percussion pits
   4. Adhering flakes
   5. Conchoidal percussion scars
2. Tool-induced surface modification
3. Cutmarks
4. Chopmarks
5. Scraping marks

Results:

The ages based on dental traits are as follows: two infants of 3-4 years old, two adolescents, one of about 14 years and one of about 11 years, and two young adults about 16-18 years old.

Human anatomical elements are representative of all major skeleton areas, although they are not representative of the entire skeleton, element-by element. Some elements are scarce or absent. This may be due to the small area of excavation rather than by selective butchery.

Elements that have a small diameter with little marrow content appear almost unbroken. The most damaged are the skulls, mandibles, maxillae, the femur fragment, and vertebrae. This patterning is also observed on the non-human animal remains from the Aurora stratum and is consistent with those bones that held the most nutritional value.

Cutmarks have been observed on radii, phalanges and metapodials, suggesting dismembering. They are also frequent at strong muscle attachment points on the crania (face muscles, temporalis and sternocleidomastoid). This suggests detachment of the cheeks. Cutmarks on the temporal bones indicate separation of the head from the trunk. Vertebral damage is frequent and is considered to be mainly due to dismembering, defleshing and crushing the spongy bone portions.

Comparison with Other Sites:

Cutmarks are more abundant in the Aurora Stratum than at many other sites, probably because most anatomical elements recovered are bones with little meat and strong muscle attachments. Conchoidal scars, adhering flakes and peeling also appear more abundant, in contrast to the greater abundance of percussion scars seen on bones from Mancos and Yellow Jacket in Colorado. This is likely to be due to the lack of fire among early Pleistocene hominids in comparison to the Anasazi culture.

Type of Cannibalism:

The Aurora stratum is characterised by:

1. analogous butchering techniques in human and non-human animals
2. similar breakage patterns to extract the marrow
3. identical pattern of post-processing discard of humans and animals

In summary, the techniques observed were aimed at meat and marrow extraction. No ritual treatment can be suggested in this assemblage. It is, therefore, presumed that nutritional purposes were the cause of this case of cannibalism.

If it is assumed that the stratum represents a single incidental and short event, then the temperate environment indicated by pollen evidence and the high diversity of faunal remains do not justify a starvation period survival strategy. It is therefore suggested this represents gastronomic cannibalism.

Equally, if the event represents a biologically long period of time, then the distribution indicates cannibalism was taking place throughout this period of time. This also can be modelled as gastronomic cannibalism, indicating humans were part of the diet of other humans.

Reference:

Fernández-Jalvo, Y, Díez, J.C, Cáceres, I and Rosell, J. 1999. Human cannibalism in the Early Pleistocene of Europe (Gran Dolina, Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). Journal of Human Evolution 37: 591-622.

Diet and Romano-British Society

Pre-Roman Diet:

* The indigenous dietary pattern in the late Iron Age was largely one dominated by sheep.

* Already some imports such as olive oil and garum in some southern areas.

* Horses and dogs eaten

‘Romanised’ Diet:

* High cattle/pig pattern with gradient towards higher average cattle and pig percentages that climbs in following sequence: rural settlements, villas, secondary urban centres, urban sites, military sites, legionary sites.

* Increasing rarity of butchery marks on horse and dog bones suggest tastes had changed or new food avoidances had been developed/learned.

Military Diet:

* The Gallic/German pattern, probably already established as the military dietary pattern, becomes the standard for dietary change in the new province of Britannia. It might then be preferable to refer to ‘Gallicisation’ or ‘Germanisation’ of the diet.

* Higher proportions of beef and significant amounts of pork.

* Wild animals such as red and roe deer, boar and hare hunted for sport or to provide different meat, but not extensively exploited.

* Other wild resources such as oysters, cockles, whelks and other marine/estuarine creatures found on most early military sites.

* Moderate representation of domestic fowl (6%).

Urban Diet:

* Diet at Silchester dominated by cattle.

* Development of centralised processing and distribution of beef demonstrated by deposits of cattle remains dominated by skulls and limb extremities at Chichester, Winchester, Silchester, Leicester and Lincoln.

* Increased investment in cattle essential to cereal production. Plus become more viable when large numbers of people live together and meat can be shared.

* Wide mortality range of sheep shows some bred specifically for consumption whilst others kept until older for wool and milk.

* Pigs also important.

* Fish and shellfish found even at inland settlements.

* Chickens first appear in Late Iron Age but increase in importance in Roman period, together with geese and ducks (6-16%).

Villa Diet:

* Fishbourne is one of the few British sites to display the high pig ‘Roman’ pattern (up to 50%). This seems to indicate the occupants of this imported-villa type also imported their dietary style.

* Moderate representation of domestic fowl (3-10%).

Rural Diet:

* Many rural settlements (not villas) retain a residual pre-Roman pattern.

* Herd maintenance must have been major preoccupation, with rural farmers locked into system of supply based on demand elsewhere, as well as providing their own food.

* Importance of wool shown by mature sheep at urban and smaller sites.

* Pigs bred for home consumption at some sites, at others as ‘cash crop’.

* Low percentage of domestic fowl (often less than 1%)

Post-Roman Diet:

* General reversion to high sheep/goat percentages.

* By 4th/5th centuries, there is a trend towards increased beef consumption in Germany, Gaul and Britain.

* Sites with high pig percentages become uncommon in Germany and Britain.

References:

Grant, A. 2004. Animals and the economy and ideology of Roman Britain. In Todd, M (ed). A Companion to Roman Britain. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Pp 371-392.

King, A. 1999. Diet in the Roman world: a regional inter-site comparison of the mammal bones. Journal of Roman Archaeology 12: 168-202

Maltby, M. 1981. Iron Age, Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon Animal Husbandry – A Review of the Faunal Evidence. In Jones, M, and Dimbleby, G (eds). The Environment of Man: the Iron Age to the Anglo-Saxon Period. BAR British Series 87. BAR: Oxford. Pp 155-203.

Maltby, M. 1997. Domestic Fowl on Romano-British Sites: Inter-site Comparisons of Abundance. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 7: 402-414.

Diversity and Origins of Cattle

Introduction:

It is thought that modern cattle were domesticated from a single wide-ranging Pleistocene species, the wild aurochs Bos Primigenius, which was distributed throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa. However, the details have been hard to discern as it is difficult to distinguish the domestic breeds (B. taurus in Africa and Europe, B. indicus in Asia) from the wild progenitor archaeologically.

Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA has indicated not only a deep split between an Asian and an African-European cluster, but also a shallow split between African and European cattle, suggesting three separate domestic events. It is still not clear, however, whether or not all European cattle are derived from stock domesticated in Western Asia, as is the case with ovicaprids and some cereals.

The origins of Bos lineages:

The European B. primigenius sequences cluster slightly more closely with extant European cattle, and certainly with taurine cattle rather than B. indicus. Extant B. taurus and B. indicus may be cross-bred to produce viable offspring. As B. primigenius and B. taurus are phylogenetically more closely related it seems likely they could have inter-bred and as such should be considered a single species (Bailey et al., 1996: 1471).

The novel sequences obtained from Pleistocene samples suggests that there was a diverse population of aurochs in the Pleistocene (Bailey et al., 1996: 1471).

Neolithic expansion of Bos:

Bailey et al (1996) estimate a minimum expansion time of 3500-4700 Ma BP, but these values are associated with a large margin of error. An expansion may have been caused by the introduction of modern farming methods, the establishment of cattle breeds, the introduction of farming in the Neolithic or as a result of post-glacial environmental change.

The lack of clustering by breed and lack of distinction between beef and dairy cattle suggests haplotypes pre-date modern farming methods and breed establishment. The presence of closely related haplotypes in the medieval period suggests the expansion took place before this, and a similar haplotype from Bronze Age Egypt may suggest it takes place even before this date. The existence of this haplotype is consistent with an origin for the European expansion in the vicinity of the Middle East and indicates that Egyptian cattle at this stage shared elements of the European gene pool. Overall, this points to a Neolithic origin for the European expansion. An alternative explanation, however, is that the expansion was not human-facilitated, but by post-glacial environmental change.

The occurrence of long-branch lineages predominantly in the European island populations suggests there may have been inclusion of local aurochsen amongst domesticates in Northern Europe. The diversity of insular cattle is twice as great as that of Continental breeds, implying a greater time-depth on the continent.

The levels and patterns of mitochondrial diversity do not point towards a single Near Eastern origin for African and European cattle within the 10,000 year time frame of domestic history. Instead it is most suggestive of two domestic origins that were either temporally or spatially separate and that involved divergent strains of taurine progenitors. This is consistent with a Near Eastern origin for European cattle and an African origin for the breeds of that continent. The dating of the putative African population expansion, although a rough estimate, seems older than that deduced in European patterns of variation. This provides tentative support for an earlier and possible Saharan domestication process that may have been independent of the later Near Eastern influences, which are detectable through the presence of ovicaprid herding (Bradley et al., 1996).

References:

Bailey, J.F, Richards, M.B, Macauley, V.A, Colson, I.B, James, I.T, Bradley, D.G, Hedges, R.E, and Sykes, B.C. 1996. Ancient DNA suggests a recent expansion of European cattle from a diverse wild progenitor species. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 263: 1467-1473.

Bradley, D.G, MacHugh, D.E, Cunningham, P and Loftus, R.T. 1996. Mitochondrial diversity and the origins of African and European cattle. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA 93: 5131-5135.