Early Occurrence of Domestic Sheep in Sub-Saharan Africa

Schweitzer, Friedrich; Scott, Kathryn A.

doi:10.1038/241547a0

Cited by 61 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…Faunal analysis suggests that with the introduction of sheep, hunting was reduced in importance, although still contributed a significant portion of the diet. The presence of pottery is established in the oldest of the LSA layers (Layer 12), and sheep appear some 300 years later, in Layer 2 (Schweitzer, 1979;Schweitzer and Scott, 1973). The timing of the arrival of cattle and domesticated dogs has remained open to interpretation.…”

Section: Die Keldersmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Located at the junction of three coastal environmental zones e a setting that Schweitzer (1979: 208) described as ''almost optimal . for seasonal occupation'' e the site originally garnered attention for having produced the oldest archaeological evidence of domestic sheep in the southern African LSA (Schweitzer and Scott, 1973). Faunal analysis suggests that with the introduction of sheep, hunting was reduced in importance, although still contributed a significant portion of the diet.…”

Section: Die Keldersmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…It is clear, however, that sheep had arrived in the Western Cape Province by 1900 b.p. (uncorrected radiocarbon years before present), before the arrival of Bantu-speaking mixed agriculturalists in the eastern half of modern South Africa (Henshilwood, 1996;Schweitzer and Scott, 1973;Sealy and Yates, 1994;Webley, 2001). Ceramics with pointed-bases, lugs and spouts, of the kind associated with Khoekhoe historically, seem to have arrived in southern Africa with the arrival of sheep (Henshilwood, 1996;Mitchell, 2002), although a different and somewhat finer type of pottery may have been made in the Western Cape Province prior to the arrival of domesticates (Schweitzer, 1979).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Wild or domesticated? An ancient DNA approach to canid species identification in South Africa's Western Cape Province

Horsburgh

2008

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Section: Die Keldersmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Die Keldersmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Wild or domesticated? An ancient DNA approach to canid species identification in South Africa's Western Cape Province

Horsburgh

2008

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…Sheep appear in the East African archaeological record by about 4500BP (Phillipson 1977;Barthelme 1985;Marshall 1994). South Africa saw the arrival of domestic sheep by about 2000BP (Schweitzer and Scott 1973;Sealy and Yates 1994;Henshilwood 1996;Webley 2001). Rock art depictions of both fat-tailed and thin-tailed sheep have been reported from Zimbabwe (Goodall 1946), and of fat-tailed sheep in southern Natal (Vinnicombe 1976) and at the Cape (Robertshaw 1978, Manhire et al 1984, Manhire et al 1986Jerardino 1999).…”

Section: The Wild Ancestor and Origin Of Domestic Sheepmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular evidence for fat-tailed sheep domestication

Rocha

Chen

Beja‐Pereira

2011

Trop Anim Health Prod

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The sheep is one of the most successful and widely spread domestic animals. Archaeological evidence traces the first domestic sheep back to the Near East region around 9,000 years ago. It is also known that soon after, the domesticated sheep started to flow out of the centre of origin and spread all over the ancient world following the expansion of agriculture. Throughout time, herders, nature elements and eventually some hybridization with different wild relatives produced a multitude of breeds. However, until the advent of the molecular genetics field, very little was known about the origins of most of those breeds. Two decades after the first genetic studies, we have gathered considerable information on the origins, phylogenetic relationships and patterns of genetic diversity of the sheep across the world. Indeed, the genetic studies confirmed the Near East region as the main centre of origin and also revealed other contributions from other regions. Specifically about the fat-tailed sheep, molecular genetics was also able to link their maternal origin to a specific group. So far, modern sheep have originated from five different maternal origins. Nonetheless, the technological advances of the DNA sequencing techniques are bringing more data that is showing the complexity of the domestication process.

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“…Sheep, with cattle and goats, appear in the eastern African archaeological record by about 4500 years before present (b.p., Barthelme, 1985;Marshall, 1994;Phillipson, 1977), and Southern Africa saw the arrival of domesticated sheep by about 2000 b.p. (Henshilwood, 1996;Schweitzer, 1974;Schweitzer and Scott, 1973;Sealy and Yates, 1994;Webley, 2001). Rock art depictions of both fat-tailed and thin-tailed sheep have been reported from Zimbabwe (Goodall, 1946), and of fat-tailed sheep in southern Natal (Vinnicombe, 1976) and at the Cape (Robertshaw, 1978;Jerardino, 1999;Manhire et al, 1986, Manhire et al, 1984.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%