Sheep were domesticated from the wild mouflon in the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia and eastern Anatolia between roughly 11,000 and 13,000 years ago, among the very earliest livestock species brought under human management, alongside goats. Early domestication was likely for meat and skins, with selective breeding for wool-bearing fleece developing somewhat later; sheep husbandry spread from the Near East across Europe, Central Asia and beyond alongside the broader Neolithic package of crops and livestock, becoming a foundation of pastoral economies from the Mediterranean to the Eurasian steppe.
Facts
WhenBetween 11,000 and 9000 BC 1 Classification
Type/ClassificationAgricultural Revolution or Transformation 1 Connections
Associated With
Sheep, Livestock This milestone records the domestication event of the sheep it is directly named for.
Sources
1. Wikipedia, Sheep
Domestication section, date passage
the date of domestication is estimated to fall between 11,000 and 9000 BC in Mesopotamia
lead description (milestone-kind)
Sheep were domesticated from the wild mouflon in the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia and eastern Anatolia between roughly 11,000 and 13,000 years ago, among the very earliest livestock species brought under human management, alongside goats.
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