Neolithic farmers brought deer to Ireland

The origins of the iconic Irish red deer was a controversial topic. Was this species native to Ireland, or introduced?

In a new study that was published 30 March 2012 in the scientific journal Quaternary Science Reviews, a multinational team of researchers from Ireland, Austria, UK and USA have finally answered this question.

Comparing DNA

By comparing DNA from ancient bone specimens to DNA obtained from modern animals, the researchers discovered that the Kerry red deer are the direct descendants of deer present in Ireland 5000 years ago. Further analysis using DNA from European deer proves that Neolithic people from Britain first brought the species to Ireland.
Although proving the red deer is not native to Ireland, researchers believe that the Kerry population is unique as it is directly related to the original herd and are worthy of special conservation status.

A link to the past

Fossil bone samples from the National Museum of Ireland, some up to 30,000 years old, were used in the study. Results also revealed several 19^th and 20^th century introductions of red deer to Ireland, which are in agreement with written records from the same time. At present there is no evidence of red deer in Ireland during the Mesolithic period, 9000 years ago, when humans first settled there.

Neolithic house, Irish National Heritage Park. Image: David Hawgood (Geograph, used under a CC BY-SA 3.0)

The investigation’s findings are in agreement with archaeological evidence, which also suggests a special relationship between humans and red deer during later prehistoric times. Antler fragments and tools are frequently found in Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age excavations.
Dr Ruth Carden, working as a researcher in the National Museum of Ireland, who led the study, said “The Kerry red deer represent a unique population within an Irish context and therefore should be given special conservation and management status within Ireland.”
The genetic analysis also showed that some of these herds were descended from animals imported from Britain in the 1800s and 1900s, matching the historical records.
The DNA showed that the reds away from Kerry have started to “hybridise” or cross-breed with Sitka deer, a species introduced here in 1860. There is however no such interbreeding for the Kerry red population, Dr Carden added. Sitkas also live in the forests of Killarney but the DNA analysis showed no interbreeding had yet taken place.
Dr Allan McDevitt, from the School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, one of the lead geneticists said “We have very few native mammals in Ireland but certainly those that arrived with early humans, such as the red deer, are every bit as Irish as we are.”
Source: School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin

---

More information:

R F Carden, A D McDevitt, F E Zachos, P C Woodman, P O’Toole, H Rose, N T Monaghan, M G Campana, D G Bradley, C J Edwards (2012). Phylogeographic, ancient DNA, fossil and morphometric analyses reveal ancient and modern introductions of a large mammal: the complex case of red deer (Cervus elaphus) in Ireland. Quaternary Science Reviews. doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.02.012
School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin
The Heritage Council, Ireland
Woodman P.; McCarthy M.; Monaghan N., (1997) The Irish quaternary fauna project: Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 16, Number 2, 1997 , pp. 129-159 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0277-3791(96)00037-6

Spread of Impressed ware - Adriatic

Here I present map, on the base of the Radiocarbon dates, possible route of neolithisation of the East Adriatic coast. My area of interest is Dalmatia (Croatia) and it's neolithisation around 6 000 BC.

On all of the sites presented on this map Impressed ware was found as a clear indicator of early Neolithic on the East Adriatic coast

This dates clearly indicate that neolithic package reached East Adriatic coast by marine route (arrow  #1). Impressed ware as a clear indicator of early Neolithic, here I don't argue about it's origin, shows that it started to spread from somewhere around south Adriatic/Ionian sea coast into the Adriatic basin within just a few hundred years or less.

A dramatic climatic transition at ~4000 cal. yr BP and its cultural responses in Chinese cultural domains

A dramatic climatic transition at ~4000 cal. yr BP and its cultural responses in Chinese cultural domains

From the text:

Our review of published archaeological literature shows that six of the seven well-documented Chinese Neolithic cultures collapsed at ~4000 cal. yr BP with the exception of the Henan Longshan Culture that evolved to the more advanced Erlitou Culture.

Full TEXT

Transitions in the Mediterranean or how hunters became farmers (Epipaleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) [International Symposium on 14-15 April 2011]

On the occasion of last years "Prehistory", the Natural History Museum of Toulouse, in collaboration with Centre for Prehistory and Early History of the Mediterranean organized an international symposium on the theme of transition Epipaleolithic - Mesolithic - Neolithic in the Mediterranean. 

The Mediterranean is a privileged space to study the mutation that made the old switch from hunter-gatherers in the sphere of food producers.

Here I present J.-F. Berger; G. Matallinou and J. Guilaine "The Mesolithic and Early Neolithic site of Sidari (Corfu)" paper from the conference.

From the text: 

"This costal neolithic site, established in a small valley cut into detrital marine formations of Pliocene age, is an important milestone to explain the modalities of neolithisation in the Adriatic area...."

There are no dates in this paper but you can find dates that authors gave (hand written - last page) at the conference since they were not available when the paper was in the print.

It is very interesting paper because it's results shine a new light upon neolithisation process of this area.

Paper LINK 

Neolithic Farming in Central Europe: An Archaeobotanical Study of Crop Husbandry Practices

Neolithic Farming in Central Europe examines the nature of the earliest crop cultivation, a subject that illuminates the lives of Neolithic farming families and the day-to-day reality of the transition from hunting and gathering to farming.

Debate surrounding the nature of crop husbandry in Neolithic central Europe has focussed on the permanence of cultivation, its intensity and its seasonality: variables that carry different implications for Neolithic society.

Amy Bogaard reviews the archaeological evidence for four major competing models of Neolithic crop husbandry - shifting cultivation, extensive plough cultivation, floodplain cultivation and intensive garden cultivation - and evaluates charred crop and weed assemblages.

Her conclusions identify the most appropriate model of cultivation, and highlight the consequences of these agricultural practices for our understanding of Neolithic societies in central Europe.

Download LINK

 From 1st April to 15th May 2012 free access to all content in the Journal of Field Archaeology from the last 3 years !


LINK

Cranial variation and the transition to agriculture in Europe

Abstract

Debates surrounding the nature of the Neolithic demographic transition in Europe have historically centred on two opposing models; a 'demic' diffusion model whereby incoming farmers from the Near East and Anatolia effectively replaced or completely assimilated indigenous Mesolithic foraging communities and an 'indigenist' model resting on the assumption that ideas relating to agriculture and animal domestication diffused from the Near East, but with little or no gene flow. The extreme versions of these dichotomous models have been heavily contested primarily on the basis of archaeological and modern genetic data. However, in recent years there has been a growing acceptance of the likelihood that both processes were ongoing throughout the Neolithic transition and that a more complex, regional approach is required to fully understand the change from a foraging to a primarily agricultural mode of subsistence in Europe. Craniometric data have been particularly useful for testing these more complex scenarios, as they can reliably be employed as a proxy for the genetic relationships amongst Mesolithic and Neolithic populations. In contrast, modern genetic data assume that modern European populations accurately reflect the genetic structure of Europe at the time of the Neolithic transition, while ancient DNA data are still not geographically or temporally detailed enough to test continent-wide processes. Here, with particular emphasis on the role of craniometric analyses, we review the current state of knowledge regarding the cultural and biological nature of the Neolithic transition in Europe.

LINK