New finds ofbones ofthe Egyptian Mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon), one from Portugal and one from Spain, were directly 14C dated to the first century AD. While the Portuguese specimen was found without connection to the Chalcolith ic occupation ofthe Pedra Furada cave where it was recovered, the Spanish fmd, collected in the city of Mérida, comes from a ritual pit that also contained three human and 40 dog burials. The finds rep0l1ed here show that the Egyptian mongoose, contrary to the traditional and predominant view, did not first atTive in the lbetian Peninsula during the Muslim occupation of lberia. lnstead, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the species was first introduced by the Romans, or at least sometime during the Roman occupation of H ispania. Therefore, rad iocarbon dating of new archaeological finds of bones of the Egyptian Mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) in the lberian Peninsula pusb back the confimled presence ofthe species in tlle region by approximately eight centuries, as the previously oldest dated record is from the ninth century. With these new dates, there are now a total offour 14C dated specimens of Egyptian mongooses from the lberian Peninsula, and ali ofthese dates fali within the last 2000 years. Tms offers support for the hypothesis that the presence ofthe species in lberia is due to hi storical introductions and is at odds with a scenario of natural sweepstake dispersai across the Straits of Gibraltar in the Late Pleistocene (126,000-11 ,700 years ago), recently proposed based on genetic data.
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