Origin and Domestication

Sheep were domesticated on the flanks of the Taurus-Zagros Mountains, which run from southern Turkey to southern Iran. Within that arc is found the urial (Ovis orientalis), a wild sheep now generally regarded as the ancestor of the domesticated sheep. Early archaeological evidence of sheep under human control comes from Shanidar Cave and nearby Zaqi Chemi in Kurdistan. Sheep bones recovered in abundance at these two sites have been dated to between

8,000 and 9,000 years ago and contrast with other Neolithic sites close to the Mediterranean, where similar evidence of domesticated sheep is rare. However, accurate species identification has posed problems, for the bones of goats and sheep are often difficult to distinguish from one another. Therefore, some archaeological reports have grouped them together as “sheep/goat” or “caprine.”

The domestication process that transformed O. orientalis into O. aries involved several key changes. The body size of the sheep was reduced from that of the urial. Diminution could have been accomplished over many generations by culling out larger, aggressive males as sires. Selection also occurred for hornlessness, but this process is not complete. Although many breeds of domesticated female (and some male) sheep typically have no horns, in other males the horns have only been reduced in size. Domesticated sheep also have a long tail as compared with the wild ancestor. The most significant physical transformation of the animal was the replacement of the hairy outercoat with wool fibers, which turned the sheep into much more than a food source. As early as 6,000 years ago, woolly sheep had differentiated from hairy sheep, and in ancient Mesopotamia, the raising of wool-bearing animals was a major activity in lowland areas. Selection for white-wooled animals explains the gradual dominance of that color.

Sheep

In spite of the many human uses of sheep, domestication may have been motivated by religion rather than economics. Urials were animals of ritual significance, and to ensure a ready supply for sacrifice, humans may well have sought to tame and then breed them in captivity. At Catal Huyuk in. Anatolia, the remains of sanctuaries from between the seventh and sixth millenniums B. C. depict ram heads.

The early use of sheep as sacrificial offerings went hand in hand with a long selection for qualities of fecklessness, timidity, and total dependency. Long after successful domestication, sheep sacrifices continued in religious ritual. The cultic use of sheep was known in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and China. The Hebrew Bible made many allusions to ovine sacrifice, and from this, Christianity developed the idea of the “Lamb of God,” a metaphor for Jesus as a sacrificial vessel for the sins of mankind. Unlike Christianity, Islam incorporated sacrifice as a literal requirement of the faith. Each year, during the festival of Id al-Adha, every male Muslim is enjoined to slaughter a domesticated animal, in most cases a sheep, as a sign of his submission to the will of God. Sheep accompanied the spread of Islam from its Arabian core, not only because of religious associations but also because the Arabs were, above all, pastoralists.