An independent event of Neolithic cattle domestication on the South-eastern Balkans: evidence from prehistoric aurochs and cattle populations

Abstract

Neolithic/Chalcolithic livestock domestication is an important issue for understanding the mode of life and economics of ancient human communities. The Balkans appears to be a crucial point for clarifying the socio-economical interrelations between the Oldest Middle Eastern/Anatolian and newly formed cultures in Europe. Two main hypotheses regarding the early history of cattle domestication, from their ancestor – the aurochs, have been discussed: multipoint domestication centers or single point origin and subsequent worldwide dissemination. In this study, we provide molecular data about the Balkan aurochs for the first time as well as additional information for the Neolithic/Chalcolithic cattle populations in this geographic location. A total of seventeen samples from different ancient settlements were analyzed according to D-loop control region. The results did not show different genetic profile of wild and domestic populations. All haplotypes were found to belong to the basic macro-haplogroup T. The majority of specimens (n = 14) were defined to form a new Balkan-specific T6 haplogroup. Only two of the ancient samples analyzed were assigned to the T3 haplotype predominating in Europe. We attempt to throw new light on the earliest cattle domestication events in Europe, thus, the results presented are discussed in two directions: (a) The possibility of local independent domestication processes in Neolithic South-Eastern Europe; (b) The single point domestication in the Middle East and subsequent cattle dissemination in Europe. Our data does not exclude the possibility for independent domestication events followed by a second wave of parallel dissemination of cattle herds via the Mediterranean route.

Keywords:

• Ancient mtDNA
• Balkan Neolithic
• cattle domestication
• domestication centers
• Neolithic/Chalcolithic societies

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. Martin Hristov (National Museum of History, Sofia) for the consultations related to the archeological chronology of the settlements discussed. We also appreciate the linguistic support of Ilina Amer (Sofia University, Faculty of Classical and Modern languages).

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflict of any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could influence their work interest.