BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

The Middle Eastern Origins of Sheep

Researchers trace domestication to Neolithic Turkey

Herd of sheep at Maresha in the lower Shephelah. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

Mentioned more than any other animal in the Bible, sheep were an ever-present reality in the ancient Levant. For nomads like Abraham and pastoralists like David, they were an invaluable resource, while recording sheep was even a key factor in the invention of writing. But where do sheep actually come from, and when did they become such an important part of ancient life?

FREE eBook: Life in the Ancient World.
Craft centers in Jerusalem, family structure across Israel and ancient practices—from dining to makeup—through the Mediterranean world.

Email(Required)

REQUEST FREE BOOK

Counting Sheep

Although it has been known for centuries that domesticated sheep are descendants of the Asiatic mouflon, a wild sheep whose range stretches from Turkey to Iran, where and when they were first domesticated has remained a mystery. Now, an international team of researchers believes they have finally cracked the case. Publishing in the journal Science, the team traced the origins of domesticated sheep back to the ninth millennium BCE in the Cappadocian region of central Turkey.

Studying more than 100 ancient genomes of sheep from across Eurasia, the team identified sheep from the site of Asikli Hoyuk as genetically closest to the ancestral genus of the modern domesticated sheep. While the Asikli Hoyuk sheep were likely not the ancestors of modern sheep, they either formed a portion of the ancestral population or existed very close in time and geography to that population.

Occupation of Asikli Hoyuk dates to the late ninth millennium BCE. Located in central Turkey, the site is located less than 100 miles from the famous site of Catalhoyuk. It is possible, however, that the process of domestication began farther south, as the closest ancient mouflon genus to the domesticated sheep is one discovered in a cave in Lebanon.

An Asiatic mouflon. Jdennett77, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Although it is not surprising that sheep were first domesticated in the Middle East, it did come as a surprise that they originated in the region’s western reaches. In contrast, goats—another important herd animal that was domesticated around the same time—are thought to have been first domesticated from the Bezoar ibex in western Iran.

The newly discovered Turkish origin of domesticated sheep does not tell the whole story, however. Although sheep were likely domesticated only once, later sheep genomes do not owe all their genetic diversity to this Turkish ancestor. Digging into the data, the researchers believe domesticated sheep possibly continued to mate with wild sheep, giving rise to three main branches of the sheep family tree: one that originated in Turkey, one in the Levant, and a third in the Zagros mountains of Iran. From these areas, domesticated sheep were disbursed throughout the world, being taken by nomadic herdsmen as they migrated from the Fertile Crescent into Asia, Europe, and Africa.

By the biblical period, sheep were intimately connected with both daily and religious life across the Middle East, being used for food, textiles, sacrifices, and more. Indeed, sheep were so central to daily life that both gods and kings were often referred to as shepherds. Moreover, much of the sheep’s cultural and symbolic significance in the Bible is also reflected in other ancient Near Eastern cultures. For example, the earliest attestation of the metaphor of a god leading his people beside still waters and in green fields (cf. Psalm 23:2) is found in a series of vase inscriptions from the court of Lugal-zagesi, King of Uruk (r. 2358–2334 BCE).

Related reading in Bible History Daily:

Bible Animals: From Hyenas to Hippos

Camel Domestication History Challenges Biblical Narrative

The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library

Biblical Bestiary: Camel

Biblical Bestiary: Hedgehog

Biblical Bestiary: Ibex

FREE eBook: Life in the Ancient World.
Craft centers in Jerusalem, family structure across Israel and ancient practices—from dining to makeup—through the Mediterranean world.

Email(Required)

REQUEST FREE BOOK