title: Size Reduction in Early European Domestic Cattle Relates to Intensification of Neolithic Herding Strategies.
abstract: Our analysis of over 28,000 osteometric measurements from fossil remains dating between c. 5600 and 1500 BCE reveals a substantial reduction in body mass of 33% in Neolithic central European domestic cattle. We investigate various plausible explanations for this phenotypic adaptation, dismissing climatic change as a causal factor, and further rejecting the hypothesis that it was caused by an increase in the proportion of smaller adult females in the population. Instead we find some support for the hypothesis that the size decrease was driven by a demographic shift towards smaller newborns from sub-adult breeding as a result of intensifying meat production strategies during the Neolithic.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Manning
authors.affiliation: Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Timpson
authors.affiliation: Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shennan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.|CaSEs-Complexity and Socio-Ecological Dynamics Research Group, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Department of Humanities, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Crema
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001106:Archaeology; D001947:Breeding; D002417:Cattle; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype