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Domestication and early agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin: Origins, diffusion, and impact

  1. Melinda A. Zeder*
  1. Archaeobiology Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013

  1. Edited by Jeremy A. Sabloff, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA, and approved May 27, 2008

  1. Fig. 1.
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    Fig. 1.

    The origin and dispersal of domestic livestock species in the Fertile Crescent. Shaded areas show the general region and the approximate dates in calibrated years B.P. in which initial domestication is thought to take place. Dates outside of the shaded areas show the approximate date when the domesticate first appears in a region. Orange, goats (Capra hircus); blue, sheep (Ovis aries); green, cattle (Bos taurus); fuscia, pigs (Sus scrofa).

  2. Fig. 2.
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    Fig. 2.

    An integrated model of the Neolithic expansion in the Mediterranean Basin. The location of colonist farming enclaves is shown in the red ellipses. Approximate dates of these enclaves are given inside the ellipses in calibrated years B.P. Red dots represent areas that are proposed to have been settled by colonist farmers; green dots indicate areas where indigenous foragers adopted elements of the Neolithic package; and blue dots indicate areas of proposed integration of colonist farmers with indigenous foraging groups. Data were complied from refs. 52, 54, 56, 57, and 65 and figure 7.1 of ref. 74.

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