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Nearly four decades have passed since an independent North African centre for cattle domestication was first proposed in 1980, based on the Combined Prehistoric Expedition’s work in the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba region of southern Egypt, and the initial rigorous debates between Andrew B. Smith and Fred Wendorf, Romuald Schild and Achilles Gautier. Mo...
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The Phoenicians emerged in the Northern Levant around 1800 BCE and by the 9th century BCE had spread their culture across the Mediterranean Basin, establishing trading posts, and settlements in various European Mediterranean and North African locations. Despite their widespread influence, what is known of the Phoenicians comes from what was written...
Despite growing efforts to halt biodiversity loss, knowledge of species diversity and distribution is highly geographically biased, leaving some areas unexplored. Taxa distributed in remote, desert areas, such as hedgehogs (Mammalia; Eulipotyphla) in North Africa, are good examples of current knowledge gaps in systematics and biogeography. Here we...
Citations
... Emerging genetic and archaeological evidence a suggest domestication event within Africa for African taurine cattle breeds [6]. However, the origins of African cattle remain partially understood and insufficient evidence is available to support a domestication event involving North African wild aurochs, Bos primigenius africanus [7][8][9]. ...
Ankole Longhorn (ALH), Nganda (NGA) and Small East African Shorthorn Zebu (SEAZ) are indigenous Ugandan cattle and poorly characterized. The ancestry of ALH is traced to lateral horned Zebu and indigenous African long horned taurine. The ALH and SEAZ are parent breeds of NGA. Therefore, the current study aimed at phenotypic characterization of Nganda (NGA) and Teso Zebu (TSZ) in Uganda. Data were collected on 41 variables including geographic location, breed and morphometric measurements. A sample of 129 NGA from central and 63 TSZ
from eastern Uganda were studied. Descriptive and inferential statistics were generated. Generally, the NGA was a chest-humped breed akin to its parent breeds. The breed had a solid brown coat and extremities (e.g., hooves) compared to the wide color variation tending to solid black in the TSZ. The NGA had significantly (p < 0.05) higher mean values for all linear body measurements except height at withers. However, all linear measurements except ear length were significantly (p < 0.05) affected by the interaction between breed and sex. The rump
profile showed distinct breed differences. Our results demonstrate superiority of NGA over the TSZ in terms of linear traits. These results are pertinent in planning the sustainable utilization of these breeds.
... Significant cultural and behavioral changes occurred in response to this dramatic climate modification: the progressive regional transition to food production between the early sixth millennium bce and advent of the fifth millennium BCE, with the earliest dates in Southern Egypt/Northern Sudan and later ones in Central Sudan (Brass, 2013(Brass, , 2018Gautier, 2002;Honegger & Williams, 2015;Salvatori & Usai, 2019a, 2019b. This period witnessed the transition from hunting, fishing, and gathering to herding and cultivation. ...
Objectives
This study presents biological affinities between the last hunter‐fisher‐gatherers and first food‐producing societies from the Nile Valley. We investigate odontometric and dental tissue proportion changes between these populations from the Middle Nile Valley and acknowledge the biological processes behind them.
Materials and Methods
Dental remains of 329 individuals from Nubia and Central Sudan that date from the Late Pleistocene to the mid‐Holocene are studied. Using 3D imaging techniques, we investigated outer and inner metric aspects of upper central incisors, and first and second upper molars.
Results
Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic foragers display homogeneous crown dimensions, dental tissue proportions, and enamel thickness distribution. This contrasts with Neolithic trends for significant differences from earlier samples on inner and outer aspects. Finally, within the Neolithic sample differences are found between Nubian and Central Sudanese sites.
Discussion
Substantial dental variation appears to have occurred around 6000 bce in the Nile Valley, coinciding with the emergence of food‐producing societies in the region. Archeological and biological records suggest little differences in dietary habits and dental health during this transition. Furthermore, the substantial variations identified here would have happened in an extremely short time, a few centuries at most. This does not support in situ diet‐related adaptation. Rather, we suggest these data are consistent with some level of population discontinuity between the Mesolithic and Neolithic samples considered here. Complex settlement processes could also explain the differences between Nubia and Central Sudan, and with previous results based on nonmetric traits.
... Three main hypotheses have been proposed to explain the origins of African taurine cattle: (i) the African taurine cattle are descents from a domesticated Eurasian taurine population in the Near East and underwent significant genetic drift and natural selection over time (Mwai et al. 2015), (ii) it was independently domesticated from an aurochs population in North Africa (Bradley et al. 1996;Wendorf and Schild 1998;Troy et al. 2001), and (iii) it descended from an admixture between the Near Eastern taurine cattle and local African aurochs (B. p. africanus) (Decker et al. 2014;Brass 2018;Pitt et al. 2019). Previous genetic studies overall supported a single domestication event within the taurine cattle, rejecting the independent domestication of the African taurine cattle. ...
Present-day African cattle retain a unique genetic profile composed of a mixture of the Bos taurus and B. indicus populations introduced into the continent at different time periods. However, details of the admixture history and the exact origins of the source populations remain obscure. Here, we infer the source of admixture in the earliest domestic cattle in Africa, African taurine. We detect a significant contribution (up to ∼20%) from a basal taurine lineage, which might represent the now-extinct African aurochs. In addition, we show that the indicine ancestry of African cattle, although most closely related to so-far sampled North Indian indicine breeds, has a small amount of additional genetic affinity to Southeast Asian indicine breeds. Our findings support the hypothesis of aurochs introgression into African taurine and generate a novel hypothesis that the origin of indicine ancestry in Africa might be different indicine populations than the ones found in North India today.
... In parallel with these climatic fluctuations, the beginning of the Holocene witnessed the appearance of new subsistence strategies with the emergence of herding activities. The origin and spread of pastoralism in North Africa is the subject of intense debate about whether it results from one or several independent African domestication centers or is linked to the diffusion and adoption of the practice from other continents (Wendorf and Schild, 1998;Kuper and Riemer, 2013;Stock and Gifford-Gonzales, 2013;Brass, 2018). Circumstantial evidence of early cattle domestication is reported from Nabta Playa and Bir Kiseiba about ~ 10-8 ka, which corresponds to the period of stabilization of more humid climatic conditions (Wendorf and Schild, 1980;Gautier, 2001;Jórdeczka et al., 2013). ...
Although subjected to growing interest, the debates related to Homo sapiens' evolution in Africa during the Late Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene are currently mainly tied to the success of palaeogenetic studies of Holocene skeletons from sub-Sa-haran Africa. These genetic results have opened new perspectives pertaining the origin of present-day African diversity and the nature of such diversity in the past, confirming previous assumptions based on the study of African fossils suggesting deep sub-structuration of human populations. In Northeast Africa, the end of the Late Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene were marked by major climatic changes whose effects on human settlements are still poorly understood. Geological evidence support generally dry conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum followed by the so-called African Humid Period which ends abruptly with the second half of the Holocene and the onset of more arid conditions. In parallel with these climatic fluctuations, this transitional period witnessed the emergence of new subsistence strategies with the introduction of pastoralism. However, the scarcity of human remains in northeast Africa has limited our understanding of modern human diversity and population processes during this transitional period. Through a review of the key human fossils and assemblages associated to the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene period in Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and the Republic of Djibouti, this contribution aims at discussing phenotypic and cultural diversity, addressing hypotheses of population isolation, replacement and/or continuity.
... La autora quisiera agradecer el apoyo del Instituto Bíblico y Oriental de León (IBO) por facilitar el acceso a las listas léxicas de fauna sumeria recogidas en su especializado fondo bibliográfico. Y al profesor Alfonso Vives Cuesta por su revisión del texto final. 2 Éste y otros estudios(Brass, M., 2018) descartan la posibilidad de un tercer foco de domesticación en Egipto apoyando, por el contrario, una dispersión del ganado bovino domesticado desde Oriente Próximo, a partir de finales del VII milenio o principios del VI milenio a.C.3 como el cebú y el búfalo de agua 3 . Estas nuevas especies disponían de una serie de adaptaciones anatómicas y fisiológicas que les permitieron adaptarse a diferentes ambientes agroecológicos. ...
The domestication of cattle was one of the great milestones in the process of neolithization. In ancient Mesopotamia, the possession of these costly animals was an indication of high status. Although some aspects of their origin are still debated, it is now accepted that there were at least two foci of domestication among the extinct aurochs (Bos primigenius): the first in the Fertile Crescent (ca. 10000 B.C.), the second in the Indus Valley (ca. 9000 B.C.). The privileged location of Mesopotamia at the confluence of trade routes between Europe and Asia favored the exchange of bovine species that were able to adapt to different environments, not only the zebu but also the water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), another species domesticated in Asia.
Due to the scarcity of zooarchaeological studies, artistic representations and texts are the main sources for learning about ancient livestock. This paper will first analyze the domestic bovine species present in ancient Mesopotamia, their origin, characteristics and classification. Next, different aspects of their management and their importance in the Sumerian and Akkadian economies will be discussed. Finally, a section will be devoted to the study of their significance and relevance in the religious dimension. Although the cattle were originally used exclusively for meat, later they were also exploited for their milk and strength. In relation to the latter, it is worth noting the great impact on the Mesopotamian economy of the use of oxen specially trained to pull the plow (gud-apin), which would be reflected in the religious dimension by linking this species with the lunar god Nanna/Sin, one of the most important deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon. The present study aims to shed light on the livestock diversity of these foundational cultures and the important socioeconomic changes that this brought about and that would mark the subsequent development of the Mesopotamian culture.
... Current genetic evidence shows that modern cattle lineages largely derive from two aurochs domestication episodes: one in the Near East by 10,000 years ago that gave rise to taurine cattle (Bos taurus), and one in South Asia by 8000 years ago that gave rise to indicine/zebu cattle (Bos indicus) (1-5). Both genetic and archaeological evidence suggest the possibility of additional domestication events, most notably in North Africa (6)(7)(8)(9), but the ability to conclusively recognize introgression over indigenous domestication remains largely unresolved. Regardless, wild introgression is acknowledged as critical to the development of modern lineages (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). ...
Unlabelled:
Societies in East Asia have utilized domesticated cattle for over 5000 years, but the genetic history of cattle in East Asia remains understudied. Genome-wide analyses of 23 ancient Mongolian cattle reveal that East Asian aurochs and ancient East Asian taurine cattle are closely related, but neither are closely related to any modern East Asian breeds. We observe binary variation in aurochs diet throughout the early Neolithic, and genomic evidence shows millennia of sustained male-dominated introgression. We identify a unique connection between ancient Mongolian aurochs and the European Hereford breed. These results point to the likelihood of human management of aurochs in Northeast Asia prior to and during the initial adoption of taurine cattle pastoralism.
One-sentence summary:
Ancient interbreeding of East Asian aurochs and cattle suggests management, but leaves no signature in modern eastern breeds.
... Cabe destacar que los primeros grupos de transición entre el Epipaleolítico y el Neolítico (Fig. 33) cercanos al Valle del Nilo sólo se han podido encontrar en el Desierto Occidental, específicamente en Bir Kiseiba (el-Adam), donde entre el 9500 y 9000 BP encontramos las primeras evidencias de cerámica y de domesticación de bóvidos (Wendorf et al., 1984;Brass, 2018), lo cual nos sitúa en cronologías similares a las de la neolitización del Sáhara Central. No obstante, cabe destacar que otros yacimientos como los oasis de Kharga, Siwah, Garra, Shitaya y Nabta Playa nos indican la llegada de poblaciones con nuevas industrias líticas desde el 9000 BP, aunque en el caso de Nabta Playa tendríamos evidencias de domesticación de plantas y uso de la cerámica a partir del 8900-8300 BP (ca.). ...
... The advent and spread of animal domestication in Northeast Africa has been much debated (see Brass (2018) for an overview). In the Sudan, domesticated livestock first appear c. 5800 BCE, while dedicated (nomadic) animal husbandry is said to have arisen during the 1st millennium BCE (Linseele 2010;Sadr 1991). ...
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What might an archaeology of pastoralism in the Sudan look like? This challenging question is hampered by an uneven archaeological record and a lifestyle that has a long and complex biography. While acknowledging that pastoralism continues to be a part of contemporary life, the period up to the early 1st millennium ce, contemporary with the end of the Meroitic state, was a particularly important period for pastoralism in the Sudan. Moreover, the nature of pastoralism after the 1st millennium ce is significantly different to this period.
... The middens of these people also contain the bones of hippos, crocodiles, turtles and wild fowl [75,76]. Some of the lakes dried out about 8500 years ago and refilled to a lower level shortly before 6300 years ago, when Neolithic cattle herders moved into the Sahara [77][78][79][80]. They remained there until aridity set in about 5000 years ago and forced them to move to areas where water was available all year, including the Nile valley [17]. ...
Geomorphic evidence from rivers and lakes can help explain past changes in the locations of archaeological sites as well as environmental and climatic changes in their catchment areas. Examples drawn from the Blue and White Nile valleys in northeast Africa and from the Son and Belan valleys in north-central India reveal how Quaternary climatic fluctuations in the headwaters of these rivers are reflected in changes in river channel patterns downstream as well as in the type of sediment transported. Soils and sediments that contain prehistoric and historic artefacts can be analysed to show the type of environment in which the artefacts accumulated. Beds of volcanic ash may preserve former landscapes and their fossil remains and can provide a synchronous time marker against which to assess changes in the archaeological record. The pattern and tempo of past sea level fluctuations has controlled the distribution of coastal archaeological sites and helps to explain the absence of certain Holocene Neolithic sites in southeast Asia. Disturbance of archaeological sites by plants and animals, especially termites in tropical regions, can affect the stratigraphic and chronological integrity of the site.
... Years later (Close et al., 1984), the discovery of bones of putative domestic Bos at Bir Kiseiba and Nabta Playa in Egypt's Western Desert animated one of the longest and harshest debates of African prehistory: zoological, archaeological, ecological, linguistic and genetic information have been alternatively used either to support or to reject the idea of autonomous cattle domestication in Africa (e.g., Bradley et al., 1996;Clutton-Brock, 1993;di Lernia, 2004;Smith, 1992;Wendorf et al., 1989). Today, there is a growing consensus on an Early to Middle Holocene ingression of domestic cattle from SW Asia (Brass, 2018;di Lernia, 2013;Linseele et al., 2016), although interbreeding with African male aurochsen could have further enriched the picture (Gifford-Gonzalez & Hanotte, 2011). Regrettably, the archaeological documentation of North Africa's sites with remains of domestic fauna is still fragmentary, not least because the outcome of the so-called Arab Spring in much of the Sahara has been to severely limit new fieldwork since 2011. ...
This paper focuses on a reassessment of the emergence of herding in Africa seen from the Tadrart Acacus and neighbouring regions in the Libyan central Sahara. The paper examines whether the presence of wild animals in the Early Holocene ‘green’ Sahara could have represented a ‘disease challenge’ to the spread of domestic livestock, as proposed for sub-Saharan Africa. Analysis of the zooarchaeological record and Saharan rock art highlights this potential threat also in North Africa, where it has hitherto been disregarded. Old and new data from the study area in SW Libya, with a focus on Takarkori rock shelter, highlight the presence of herding activity at a very early stage. Direct dating on bones of sheep/goat and cattle secures this chronology, providing evidence of a rapid ingression of small groups of herders who crossed Africa’s north-eastern quadrant around ~ 8300 years cal BP. This rapidity defies the ‘disease challenge’ hypothesis and suggests alternative scenarios. In the central Sahara, the cultural complexity of local Early Holocene hunter-gatherers and their delayed return system of resource exploitation could have facilitated the incorporation of new practices, including the herding of small numbers of domestic animals. The societal implications of the transition from hunting and gathering to herding are archaeologically better visible in the funerary record and in rock art. By contrast, both material culture and the subsistence basis seem to demonstrate continuity with the former foraging groups’ phase. Taken together, the Saharan evidence suggests a punctuated process of acculturation for the inception of food production in North Africa.