Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
migrated there, presumably to provide food and fi ber
during the “Neolithic revolution.” Later, humans along
with goats traveled to distant lands and in due process
established homesteads.
EARLY MIGRATION ACROSS CONTINENTS
About 7500 BC nomadic and seminomadic pastoralists
from the Near East traveled along with their goats across
continents. From the West Asian center of civilization,
goats spread westward and eastward through the fi rst
wave(s) of expansion of agriculture. This was followed by
an extensive movement of improved types of goats during
the late Neolithic period (with wool sheep) and the expan-
sion of the Roman Empire (with large cattle). With the rise
of the Roman Empire, goats with large body size were
developed in Europe. This was when hornless goats were
fi rst reported. Later, with the demise of the Roman Empire
in the 3rd to 6th century, the body size of goats decreased
through the “Middle Ages” until the 14th century.
Concurrently, the movement of goats was widespread,
from north to south in East Africa, east to west in North
Africa, and fi nally spreading across the entire African
continent.
Goats with scimitar-shaped horns originated in Egypt
in the 5th century BC and migrated into the areas adjoining
Syria and Palestine. The Savannah type goats currently are
widespread across the African continent, providing meat,
milk, and skin to the pastoralists. In North Africa, the
Nubian-type goats raised by the sedentary agriculturists
originated in India or Iran, and subsequently migrated to
Syria and Egypt (Epstein, 1971 ). The Anglo - Nubian goats
are believed to be a cross between the prick-eared goats
indigenous to Britain and Nubian-type Zaraibi, Chitral,
and Jamunapari goats from Egypt and India.
The rise of the Aryan empire in the 2nd century BC
resulted in the movement of goats eastward through the
Khyber Pass into the Indian subcontinent. The nomadic
and seminomadic pastoralists from Iran and Afghanistan
traveled via the Silk Road to Turkistan, Mongolia, and
North China. At the same time, Tsinghai and Mongolian
goats became established in the Tibetan Plateau. Later,
goats moved eastward from western and central Asia to
South China, Hainan Island, and the eastern plain of
Taiwan. Goats indigenous to central and eastern China
may have originated as a cross between the Mongolian
goat and the meat goat of South China.
In the 6th century BC, trade between India and South-
Eastern Asia was thriving along the maritime route of
Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. During this
period, goats migrated from the Indian subcontinent into
Figure 3.2
Alpine ibex (
Capra ibex ibex
) in the
Gran Paradiso National Park, Italy. Photo by
Marco Festa-Bianchet. For color detail, see
Appendix A.
Zoo-archaeological records predating the time of domes-
tication indicate that the ancestors of the present- day
domestic goats arose from three genetically distinct mater-
nal lineages rather than one single wild population. Wild
goats of the Bezoar or Pasang (
Capra aegagrus aegagrus
),
Makhol (
C. aegagrus falconer
), and Ibex (
C. aegagrus
ibex
) types are believed to be the ancestors of domestic
goats worldwide. Bezoar, Savannah, and Nubian goats,
each with its characteristic morphology and distinctive
horns, probably were domesticated from these three types
of wild goats. Currently descendents of these goats that
represent breeds, populations, and landraces are spread in
various regions of the world. See Figure 3.2.
Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)
from 19 ancient bone remains uncovered at the earliest
Neolithic sites in southwest Europe that date back to about
4900 to 5300 BC indicates that two highly divergent goat
lineages may have coexisted (Fernández et al., 2006).
Genetic sequence analysis of the mitochondrial cyto-
chrome gene supports the concept that two distinct clades
of goats existed in the Caucasus with domestication in the
Fertile Crescent mentioned earlier. The fi rst farm animals
domesticated probably were Bezoar goats (
Capra hircus
).
The presence of a sizeable amount of mtDNA diversity
from the remains of goats in Europe confi rms that goats
