Goats were initially domesticated (c. 8,000 BCE) for their use as work animals.

What is it about?

Zooarchaeologists commonly assume that the impetus for the domestication of goats and sheep, which first occurred in the Middle East about 8,000 BCE, was to have a resource for meat and milk. However, archaeological data show at the time caprines were first domesticated, wild caprines were not in short supply and continued to be hunted by people with domesticated caprines. In this article I point out that sheep and especially goats, serve well as pack animals. I hypothesize that goats were initially domesticated for carrying loads to help nomadic transhumant communities relocate seasonally and for the movement of goods in cross-regional trade networks. Furthermore, the popular idea that the earliest domesticated caprines served more as a milk resource than as a meat resource aligns well with the hypothesis that caprines were initially domesticated for working.

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Photo by Ibrahim Rifath on Unsplash

Photo by Ibrahim Rifath on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This article is important because it explains how goods were moved throughout the trade networks. The mainstream assumption has been that caprines do not make good working animals, and that until the domestication of cattle, which occurred about 2,000 years after caprines' domestication, traders carried goods long-distances without animals' help. This article suggests that cross-regional trade was livelier than hitherto imagined because the people were using pack goats.

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