The 10,000-year biocultural history of fallow deer and its implications for conservation policy
(2024) In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121(8).- Abstract
- Over the last 10,000 y, humans have manipulated fallow deer populations with varying outcomes. Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) are now endangered. European fallow deer (Dama dama) are globally widespread and are simultaneously considered wild, domestic, endangered, invasive and are even the national animal of Barbuda and Antigua. Despite their close association with people, there is no consensus regarding their natural ranges or the timing and circumstances of their human-mediated translocations and extirpations. Our mitochondrial analyses of modern and archaeological specimens revealed two distinct clades of European fallow deer present in Anatolia and the Balkans. Zooarchaeological evidence suggests these regions were their sole... (More)
- Over the last 10,000 y, humans have manipulated fallow deer populations with varying outcomes. Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) are now endangered. European fallow deer (Dama dama) are globally widespread and are simultaneously considered wild, domestic, endangered, invasive and are even the national animal of Barbuda and Antigua. Despite their close association with people, there is no consensus regarding their natural ranges or the timing and circumstances of their human-mediated translocations and extirpations. Our mitochondrial analyses of modern and archaeological specimens revealed two distinct clades of European fallow deer present in Anatolia and the Balkans. Zooarchaeological evidence suggests these regions were their sole glacial refugia. By combining biomolecular analyses with archaeological and textual evidence, we chart the declining distribution of Persian fallow deer and demonstrate that humans repeatedly translocated European fallow deer, sourced from the most geographically distant populations. Deer taken to Neolithic Chios and Rhodes derived not from nearby Anatolia, but from the Balkans. Though fallow deer were translocated throughout the Mediterranean as part of their association with the Greco-Roman goddesses Artemis and Diana, deer taken to Roman Mallorca were not locally available Dama dama, but Dama mesopotamica. Romans also initially introduced fallow deer to Northern Europe but the species became extinct and was reintroduced in the medieval period, this time from Anatolia. European colonial powers then transported deer populations across the globe. The biocultural histories of fallow deer challenge preconceptions about the divisions between wild and domestic species and provide information that should underpin modern management strategies. (Less)
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https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/d8ad6057-71d3-4141-b823-99b4d5295398
- author
- Baker, Karis H.
; Miller, Holly
; Doherty, Sean
; Gray, Howard W.I.
; Daujat, Julie
; Çakırlar, Canan
; Spassov, Nikolai
; Trantalidou, Katerina
; Lamb, Angela
; Magdwick, Richard
; Strid, Lena
LU
; Evans, Jane A.
; Hoelzel, A. Rus
and Sykes, Naomi
(Less) - organization
- publishing date
- 2024-02-12
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Fallow deer, Translocations, Extinctions, Zooarchaeology, Biomolecules
- in
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- volume
- 121
- issue
- 8
- article number
- e2310051121
- pages
- 8 pages
- publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:38346198
- ISSN
- 1091-6490
- DOI
- 10.1073/pnas.2310051121
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- d8ad6057-71d3-4141-b823-99b4d5295398
- date added to LUP
- 2024-02-13 13:56:55
- date last changed
- 2024-02-19 14:07:29
@article{d8ad6057-71d3-4141-b823-99b4d5295398,
abstract = {{Over the last 10,000 y, humans have manipulated fallow deer populations with varying outcomes. Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) are now endangered. European fallow deer (Dama dama) are globally widespread and are simultaneously considered wild, domestic, endangered, invasive and are even the national animal of Barbuda and Antigua. Despite their close association with people, there is no consensus regarding their natural ranges or the timing and circumstances of their human-mediated translocations and extirpations. Our mitochondrial analyses of modern and archaeological specimens revealed two distinct clades of European fallow deer present in Anatolia and the Balkans. Zooarchaeological evidence suggests these regions were their sole glacial refugia. By combining biomolecular analyses with archaeological and textual evidence, we chart the declining distribution of Persian fallow deer and demonstrate that humans repeatedly translocated European fallow deer, sourced from the most geographically distant populations. Deer taken to Neolithic Chios and Rhodes derived not from nearby Anatolia, but from the Balkans. Though fallow deer were translocated throughout the Mediterranean as part of their association with the Greco-Roman goddesses Artemis and Diana, deer taken to Roman Mallorca were not locally available Dama dama, but Dama mesopotamica. Romans also initially introduced fallow deer to Northern Europe but the species became extinct and was reintroduced in the medieval period, this time from Anatolia. European colonial powers then transported deer populations across the globe. The biocultural histories of fallow deer challenge preconceptions about the divisions between wild and domestic species and provide information that should underpin modern management strategies.}},
author = {{Baker, Karis H. and Miller, Holly and Doherty, Sean and Gray, Howard W.I. and Daujat, Julie and Çakırlar, Canan and Spassov, Nikolai and Trantalidou, Katerina and Lamb, Angela and Magdwick, Richard and Strid, Lena and Evans, Jane A. and Hoelzel, A. Rus and Sykes, Naomi}},
issn = {{1091-6490}},
keywords = {{Fallow deer; Translocations; Extinctions; Zooarchaeology; Biomolecules}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{02}},
number = {{8}},
publisher = {{National Academy of Sciences}},
series = {{Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}},
title = {{The 10,000-year biocultural history of fallow deer and its implications for conservation policy}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2310051121}},
doi = {{10.1073/pnas.2310051121}},
volume = {{121}},
year = {{2024}},
}