Meta-Analysis of Mitochondrial DNA Reveals Several Population Bottlenecks during Worldwide Migrations of Cattle
Several studies have investigated the differentiation of mitochondrial DNA in Eurasian, African and American cattle as well as archaeological bovine material. A global survey of these studies shows that haplogroup distributions are more stable in time than in space. All major migrations of cattle have shifted the haplogroup distributions considerably with a reduction of the number of haplogroups and/or an expansion of haplotypes that are rare or absent in the ancestral populations. The most extreme case is the almost exclusive colonization of Africa by the T1 haplogroup, which is rare in Southwest Asian cattle. In contrast, ancient samples invariably show continuity with present-day cattle …
Detecting the T1 cattle haplogroup in the Iberian Peninsula from Neolithic to medieval times: new clues to continuous cattle migration through time
Abstract The spread of domestic animals through time is one of the topics studied by archaeologists to assess human trade and migration. Here we present mitochondrial analysis of 42 archaeological cattle ( Bos taurus ) bone samples, from 16 different sites in the Iberian Peninsula and covering a broad timeframe (from the early Neolithic to the Middle Ages), to provide evidence about the origin and dispersion of the T1 cattle haplogroup in relation to human contacts and movements. The presence of the T1 haplotype in one sample from an early Neolithic site close to the Mediterranean coast of Iberia, and its continuing presence in the Peninsula during Roman and Medieval times, clearly demonstr…