title: Eastern Mediterranean Mobility in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages: Inferences from Ancient DNA of Pigs and Cattle.
abstract: The Late Bronze of the Eastern Mediterranean (1550-1150 BCE) was a period of strong commercial relations and great prosperity, which ended in collapse and migration of groups to the Levant. Here we aim at studying the translocation of cattle and pigs during this period. We sequenced the first ancient mitochondrial and Y chromosome DNA of cattle from Greece and Israel and compared the results with morphometric analysis of the metacarpal in cattle. We also increased previous ancient pig DNA datasets from Israel and extracted the first mitochondrial DNA for samples from Greece. We found that pigs underwent a complex translocation history, with links between Anatolia with southeastern Europe in the Bronze Age, and movement from southeastern Europe to the Levant in the Iron I (ca. 1150-950 BCE). Our genetic data did not indicate movement of cattle between the Aegean region and the southern Levant. We detected the earliest evidence for crossbreeding between taurine and zebu cattle in the Iron IIA (ca. 900 BCE). In light of archaeological and historical evidence on Egyptian imperial domination in the region in the Late Bronze Age, we suggest that Egypt attempted to expand dry farming in the region in a period of severe droughts.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel. meirav.meiri@gmail.com.|The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel. meirav.meiri@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Meirav
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meiri
authors.affiliation: Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology and Archaeology of the Roman Provinces, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Schellingstraße 12, 80799, München, Germany.
authors.forename: Philipp W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Stockhammer
authors.affiliation: Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 31905, Israel.
authors.forename: Nimrod
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Marom
authors.affiliation: Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 31905, Israel.
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bar-Oz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel.|The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: Lidar
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sapir-Hen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Prehistory, Protohistory and Near Eastern Archaeology, University of Heidelberg, Marstallhof 4, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Peggy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Morgenstern
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University, Helgonvägen 3, 223 63, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Stella
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7315-5623
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Macheridis
authors.affiliation: Israel Antiquities Authority, POB 180, Atlit, 30300, Israel.
authors.forename: Baruch
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: Dorothée
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5047-244X
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huchon
authors.affiliation: Institute for Prehistory, Protohistory and Near Eastern Archaeology, University of Heidelberg, Marstallhof 4, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maran
authors.affiliation: Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: Israel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Finkelstein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D002417:Cattle; D000072441:DNA, Ancient; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049691:History, Medieval; D063426:Human Migration / Q000266:history; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D000072441:DNA, Ancient; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial