The First of Their Kind:The Significance of Sheep and Goat in the Neolithization Process of Northern Central Europe

Coastal-oriented communities of the Ertebølle culture co-existed in southern Scandinavia 6000–7000 years ago in relative proximity to farming communities. Despite many years of research, it is still unclear what role individual domestic animals played in this context, mainly due to a lack of dating and identification issues. This paper presents new details of the transformation processes throughout the neolithization of southern Scandinavia and northernmost Central Europe at a taxonomic level by a refined evaluation and dating of the introduction of domesticated sheep and goats. Unlike cattle and pigs, no wild relatives of ovicaprids live in the region studied, so any verified finding must come from an animal with domesticated ancestors, if not from a domesticated specimen itself. Our study shows that the oldest remains of goat and sheep in the area are up to 300 years older than the actual transformation phase, which leads after the immigration of farmers around 4000 cal. bc to a change in the economic system until 3700 cal. bc. The rarity of ovicaprid remains at Ertebølle sites shows that the animals were of no economic importance. We discuss their possible role in neighborly relations as exotic gifts, but also point out that they may, at least partially, be the remains of feral domestic animals captured during hunting.