Goat domestication
Domesticación de la cabra
- Date
- c. 8000 BCE · confidence high
- Place
- Ganj Dareh, Kermanshah, Zagros, Iran
- Credited to
- Neolithic communities of the Zagros
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
Management of bezoar goat herds, with young males culled and females kept, attested by age profiles and ancient DNA. A frugal animal capable of living in arid, mountainous terrain.
A probable second centre in south-east Anatolia.
What it led to
- Herding in mountains and deserts beyond the reach of farming
- Milk and meat accessible to poor families: the poor person's livestock
- Overgrazing and erosion of Mediterranean hillsides
Built on
- Hunting of the bezoar goat
- Livestock pens