Ancient Sheep Genomes reveal four Millennia of North European Short-Tailed Sheep in the Baltic Sea region

Abstract

Sheep are among the earliest domesticated livestock species, with a wide variety of breeds present today. However, it remains unclear how far back this breed diversity goes, with formal documentation only dating back a few centuries. North European short tail breeds are often assumed to be among the oldest domestic sheep populations, even thought to represent relicts of the earliest sheep expansions during the Neolithic period reaching Scandinavia less than 6000 years ago. This study sequenced the genomes (up to 11.6X) of five sheep remains from the Baltic islands of Gotland and Åland, dating from Late Neolithic (~4100 calBP) to historical times (~1600 CE). Our findings indicate that these ancient sheep already possessed the genetic characteristics of modern North European short tail breeds, suggesting a long-term continuity of this breed type in the Baltic Sea region. Despite the wide temporal spread, population genetic analyses show high levels of affinity between the ancient genomes and they exhibit higher genetic diversity compared to modern breeds, implying a loss of diversity in recent centuries associated with breed formation. Finally, we see a potential signature of an even earlier, genetically different form of sheep in Scandinavia as these samples do not represent the first sheep in Northern Europe. Our results shed light on the development of breeds in Northern Europe specifically and the development of genetic diversity in sheep breeds and their expansion from the domestication center in general.

Steppe Ancestry in western Eurasia and the spread of the Germanic Languages

“…However, the timing coincides with the introduction of a new, Late Neolithic sheep breed to Scandinavia 70 . It also coincides with the spread of a new burial rite of gallery graves in south Sweden, the Danish islands 71 and Norway 72 , a new house type 70,73,74 , the first durative bronze networks 75 , as well as with the end of an eastwest divide in Scandinavia between 4050 and 3650 BP 73 . Archaeologically, the Nordic Bronze Age is a period of strong cultural homogenisation in south Scandinavia, starting around 3500 BP, creating the so-called Nordic Cultural Zone that lasted until 2500 BP.…”

“…No such migration has to our knowledge been identified in the archaeological record. However, the timing coincides with the introduction of a new, Late Neolithic sheep breed to Scandinavia 70 . It also coincides with the spread of a new burial rite of gallery graves in south Sweden, the Danish islands 71 and Norway 72 , a new house type 70,73,74 , the first durative bronze networks 75 , as well as with the end of an east-west divide in Scandinavia between 4050 and 3650 BP 73 .…”

Phylogenetic Analysis of Russian Native Sheep Breeds Based on mtDNA Sequences

“…Later the settlement of Northern Italy and Southern France took place. Then, along the Danube route, sheep spread to Central and Northern Europe [ 10 ]. Analyzing mtDNA of Copper Age European sheep, Olivieri et al [ 7 ] concluded that sheep ended up in the Alps a little more than 5000 years ago.…”