This paper presents the results of excavations carried out in Chalcolithic contexts from walled enclosure Ota (Alenquer, Portugal). Six new absolute dates allow discussion stratigraphical evidence and chronologically frame zooarchaeological taphonomical analysis faunal assemblage. Domesticated swine, caprine bovine are prevalent, while wild species, most notably leporids, but also red deer, aur...

Cave paintings in Europe and North Africa depict wild cattle, the aurochs (Bos primigenius), among the prized prey of Stone Age hunters. These majestic animals stood nearly 2 M at the withers and had horns up to 1 M long. Bulls are usually shown as dark brown or black with cows and calves reddish brown, although white and speckled animals also appear in the paintings (Felius 1985). The aurochs ...

Extinct aurochs (Bos primigenius), accepted as the ancestor of domestic cattle, was one of the largest wild animals inhabiting Europe, Asia and North Africa. The gradual process of aurochs extinction finished in Poland in 1627, were the last recorded aurochs, a female, died. Some aspects of cattle domestication history and the distribution of aurochs genetic material among modern cattle breeds ...

The domestication and development of cattle has considerably impacted human societies, but the histories of cattle breeds and populations have been poorly understood especially for African, Asian, and American breeds. Using genotypes from 43,043 autosomal single nucleotide polymorphism markers scored in 1,543 animals, we evaluate the population structure of 134 domesticated bovid breeds. Regard...

The relative female and male contributions to demography are of great importance to better understand the history and dynamics of populations. While earlier studies relied on uniparental markers to investigate sex-specific questions, the increasing amount of sequence data now enables us to take advantage of tens to hundreds of thousands of independent loci from autosomes and the X chromosome. H...

The lion-bull iconography during the Achaemenian period of ancient Persia has generated different theories of astronomicaland seasonal events besides the suggestions that it could be the symbol of the time cycle of the day, with lion representingthe sun and bull the night. However, the present paper draws the reader’s attention to the hitherto unexplored angle ofzoology to understand physiognom...

Obtaining nutritious food is becoming increasingly difficult due to the growing urban population and degradation of soil, water, air from mechanized industrialized agricultural techniques. More than half global resides in areas, with not enough surrounding land meet requirements. Food traveling long distances, an average 1020 miles, has resulted increased miles for item United States America, r...