An interdisciplinary team has mapped the 11,000-year genomic history of sheep, unveiling their long-standing impact on human civilization — from early domestication to their role in significant migratory movements.
Sheep have silently shaped human civilization for over 11,000 years, providing meat, milk and wool that enriched ancient and modern societies. An international team of researchers, led by geneticists from Trinity College Dublin and zooarchaeologists from LMU Munich and the Bavarian State Collections of Natural History, has now unlocked the intertwined history of humans and sheep through the analysis of 118 ancient genomes.
These genomes, extracted from archaeological bones spanning 12,000 years and ranging from Mongolia to Ireland, illuminate the enduring legacy of sheep domestication. The findings were recently published in the journal Science.
“One of our most striking discoveries was a major prehistoric sheep migration from the Eurasian steppes into Europe during the Bronze Age. This parallels what we know about human migrations during the same period, suggesting that when people moved, they brought their flocks with them,” first author Kevin Daly, an Ad Astra Assistant Professor at UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science and an adjunct assistant professor in Trinity’s School of Genetics and Microbiology, said in a news release.
This discovery underscores how the movement of sheep mirrored human migratory patterns, suggesting that as people traveled, they brought their flocks along.
The study pinpoints the earliest sheep-herding village at Aşıklı Höyük in central Türkiye. Genomes from this site suggest that sheep domestication began around 11,000 years ago in the northern Fertile Crescent, where wild mouflon were first captured and bred.
By 8,000 years ago, early European farmers were already selecting sheep for specific traits, such as coat color, driven by genes like the “KIT” gene known to influence white coat color in livestock. This early selection highlights the deep-rooted human desire for aesthetically pleasing and unusual animals, a trait that persists in modern agriculture.
The genomic analyses revealed that early sheep populations in Europe and those in Iran and Central Asia had already diverged 8,000 years ago. However, this separation did not last long. Sheep from eastern populations began moving westward, paralleling human cultural influences from Mesopotamian cities around 7,000 years ago and later with the pastoralist movements across the Eurasian steppes 5,000 years ago.
“This research demonstrates how the relationship between humans and sheep has evolved over millennia,” added Dan Bradley, leader of the research and a professor of population genetics at Trinity. “From the early days of domestication through to the development of wool as a crucial textile resource, sheep have played a vital role in human cultural and economic development.”
The tremendous migratory shifts during the Bronze Age not only shaped human ancestry — transforming the genetic makeup of populations such as the British by about 90% — but also redefined sheep genomes. Herds from this era had almost half their ancestry traced back to the Eurasian steppes. Sheep herding during this period likely included the exploitation of lifetime products like milk and cheese, which further supported these widespread migrations.
The research not only reconstructs the historical connections between humans and sheep but also paves the way for further inquiry.
“Our study … clearly illustrates that further transdisciplinary research is needed to clarify the patterns of dispersal and selection of the many landraces occurring today in Eurasia and Africa,” added co-corresponding author Joris Peters, a professor of paleoanatomy at LMU Munich.
As geneticists and archaeologists continue to unravel the past, it becomes apparent that the humble sheep, long a companion of humanity, has profoundly influenced not only our genetic makeup but also our cultural and economic landscapes.