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Eastern Mediterranean Mobility in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages : Inferences from Ancient DNA of Pigs and Cattle

Meiri, Meirav ; Stockhammer, Philipp W. ; Marom, Nimrod ; Bar-Oz, Guy ; Sapir-Hen, Lidar ; Morgenstern, Peggy ; Macheridis, Stella LU orcid ; Rosen, Baruch ; Huchon, Dorothée and Maran, Joseph , et al. (2017) In Scientific Reports 7(1).
Abstract

The Late Bronze of the Eastern Mediterranean (1550-1150 BCE) was a period of strong commercial relations and great prosperity, which ended in collapse and migration of groups to the Levant. Here we aim at studying the translocation of cattle and pigs during this period. We sequenced the first ancient mitochondrial and Y chromosome DNA of cattle from Greece and Israel and compared the results with morphometric analysis of the metacarpal in cattle. We also increased previous ancient pig DNA datasets from Israel and extracted the first mitochondrial DNA for samples from Greece. We found that pigs underwent a complex translocation history, with links between Anatolia with southeastern Europe in the Bronze Age, and movement from southeastern... (More)

The Late Bronze of the Eastern Mediterranean (1550-1150 BCE) was a period of strong commercial relations and great prosperity, which ended in collapse and migration of groups to the Levant. Here we aim at studying the translocation of cattle and pigs during this period. We sequenced the first ancient mitochondrial and Y chromosome DNA of cattle from Greece and Israel and compared the results with morphometric analysis of the metacarpal in cattle. We also increased previous ancient pig DNA datasets from Israel and extracted the first mitochondrial DNA for samples from Greece. We found that pigs underwent a complex translocation history, with links between Anatolia with southeastern Europe in the Bronze Age, and movement from southeastern Europe to the Levant in the Iron I (ca. 1150-950 BCE). Our genetic data did not indicate movement of cattle between the Aegean region and the southern Levant. We detected the earliest evidence for crossbreeding between taurine and zebu cattle in the Iron IIA (ca. 900 BCE). In light of archaeological and historical evidence on Egyptian imperial domination in the region in the Late Bronze Age, we suggest that Egypt attempted to expand dry farming in the region in a period of severe droughts.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Scientific Reports
volume
7
issue
1
article number
00701
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85018794807
  • pmid:28386123
  • wos:000398545900020
ISSN
2045-2322
DOI
10.1038/s41598-017-00701-y
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bee5d3d3-4d3e-48ce-855b-5b306e9399ad
date added to LUP
2017-05-23 10:26:43
date last changed
2025-01-20 15:25:46
@article{bee5d3d3-4d3e-48ce-855b-5b306e9399ad,
  abstract     = {{<p>The Late Bronze of the Eastern Mediterranean (1550-1150 BCE) was a period of strong commercial relations and great prosperity, which ended in collapse and migration of groups to the Levant. Here we aim at studying the translocation of cattle and pigs during this period. We sequenced the first ancient mitochondrial and Y chromosome DNA of cattle from Greece and Israel and compared the results with morphometric analysis of the metacarpal in cattle. We also increased previous ancient pig DNA datasets from Israel and extracted the first mitochondrial DNA for samples from Greece. We found that pigs underwent a complex translocation history, with links between Anatolia with southeastern Europe in the Bronze Age, and movement from southeastern Europe to the Levant in the Iron I (ca. 1150-950 BCE). Our genetic data did not indicate movement of cattle between the Aegean region and the southern Levant. We detected the earliest evidence for crossbreeding between taurine and zebu cattle in the Iron IIA (ca. 900 BCE). In light of archaeological and historical evidence on Egyptian imperial domination in the region in the Late Bronze Age, we suggest that Egypt attempted to expand dry farming in the region in a period of severe droughts.</p>}},
  author       = {{Meiri, Meirav and Stockhammer, Philipp W. and Marom, Nimrod and Bar-Oz, Guy and Sapir-Hen, Lidar and Morgenstern, Peggy and Macheridis, Stella and Rosen, Baruch and Huchon, Dorothée and Maran, Joseph and Finkelstein, Israel}},
  issn         = {{2045-2322}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Scientific Reports}},
  title        = {{Eastern Mediterranean Mobility in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages : Inferences from Ancient DNA of Pigs and Cattle}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00701-y}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41598-017-00701-y}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}