Goats were domesticated from the wild bezoar ibex in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran approximately 10,000 years ago, one of the founding livestock species of Near Eastern agriculture alongside sheep. Hardy and able to browse terrain too steep or marginal for cattle or sheep, goats spread quickly through the mountainous and arid regions of the Near East, the Mediterranean and eventually Africa and Asia, providing meat, milk and hide to pastoral and mixed farming communities in environments where other livestock struggled, and remaining one of the most widely kept domestic animals in the world today.
Facts
Partially Attested
Milestone YearConverted from the source's 10,000 years Before Present to an approximate calendar year. LocationZagros Mountains, Iran (Ganj Dareh) 1 Classification
Type/ClassificationAgricultural Revolution or Transformation 1 Connections
Associated With
Goat, Livestock This milestone records the domestication event of the goat it is directly named for.
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Iran, found in there.
Sources
1. Wikipedia, Goat
Domestication section, Ganj Dareh passage
The earliest remnants of domesticated goats dating 10,000 years Before Present are found in Ganj Dareh in Iran.
Domestication section, DNA passage
DNA evidence suggests that goats were domesticated around 10,000 years ago.
lead description (milestone-kind)
Goats were domesticated from the wild bezoar ibex in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran approximately 10,000 years ago, one of the founding livestock species of Near Eastern agriculture alongside sheep.
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