An endemic pathway to sheep and goat domestication at Aşıklı Höyük (Central Anatolia, Turkey)

Abstract

Significance Sheep and goats (caprines) were domesticated in Southwest Asia, but how and in how many places remain open questions. Our analysis of caprine age and sex structures and related data reveal a local (endemic) domestication process at Aşıklı Höyük in Central Anatolia. Beginning ca. 10,400 y ago, caprine management segued through a series of viable systems over the next 1,000 y. The earliest stage simply involved capturing wild lambs and kids and growing them on site to supplement a broad-spectrum forager diet. Soon, low-level breeding began within the settlement along with catching and raising wild infants. By the end of the archaeological sequence, large numbers of animals were produced from captive herds, which gave rise to early domesticated forms.