The Domestication of Sheep

Podcast Transcript

Sometime around 9,000 to 11,000 years ago, somewhere in the Middle East or Central Asia, someone figured out how they could keep wild sheep and breed them.

This simple act had enormous consequences for humanity. It improved food production, revolutionized the production of clothing, and even influenced the development of writing.

Fast forward over 10,000 years, and sheep are still a significant part of the economies of several nations.

Learn more about the domestication of sheep and how it changed human civilization on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Sometime about 11,000 years ago, there was a revolution that forever changed humanity.

That date of 11,000 years ago should sound familiar to anyone who has listened to this podcast for a while. That was the period at the end of the last ice age when agriculture, animal domestication, and civilization as we know it began to arise.

It is far enough in the past that we don’t know many details about where these innovations were developed, but we have a rough idea based on archeological evidence.

It is believed that the first animals that were domesticated as livestock were goats. The first goats were probably domesticated around 10,000 to 11,000 years ago in the Zagros Mountains of Iran.

Goats are fundamentally different than sheep in that they are browsers rather than grazers, meaning they can eat shrubs, leaves, and rough vegetation. This made them more adaptable to hilly or arid terrain. They were hardy, could survive on poor forage, and were excellent milk animals, providing a steady protein source.

The domestication of sheep probably came several centuries after the domestication of goats and before the domestication of cattle.

Sheep were first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent, the arc of land stretching from modern-day Iraq and Syria into southeastern Turkey and western Iran, somewhere around 9,000 to 11,000 years ago.

The primary ancestor of our modern domestic sheep was the mouflon, scientific name Ovis orientalis, a hardy, agile animal with impressive curved horns and a coarse, brownish coat. These wild sheep were well-adapted to rocky terrain and had keen survival instincts that made them wary of predators, including early humans.

As with other animal domestications I’ve covered in previous episodes, this wasn’t a sudden event but rather a gradual process that unfolded over many generations.

From a behavioral perspective, early humans likely didn’t set out with a grand plan to “domesticate” sheep. Instead, the process probably began with opportunistic hunting and gradual behavioral changes by both sheep and humans.

Early pastoral peoples may have followed wild sheep herds, learning their patterns, and perhaps began to protect them from other predators or guided them toward better grazing areas.

Over time, the sheep that were less fearful of humans, those with slightly more docile temperaments, would have been more likely to benefit from this relationship. Meanwhile, the humans who were better at managing and predicting sheep behavior would have been more successful. This created what scientists call “co-evolution,” with both species gradually changing in response to their relationship with each other.

As this partnership deepened over centuries, remarkable physical and behavioral changes began to appear in the sheep populations. This is where we can see the clear biological markers of domestication, and understanding these changes helps us appreciate just how profound this transformation was.

The most obvious changes were physical. Domestic sheep developed smaller bodies compared to their wild ancestors, a phenomenon called “neoteny,” in other words, the retention of juvenile characteristics into adulthood.

Their skulls became smaller, their faces shortened, and their brain size decreased. The impressive curved horns of wild sheep either became smaller or disappeared entirely in many breeds.

At first, domesticated sheep were valued primarily for their meat, hides, and bones. Their milk may have been exploited as well, but this required technological and cultural adaptation. Early sheep likely retained the coarse hair of their wild ancestors, so their hides were used more for leather than wool.

Perhaps the most economically important change was in their coats. Wild sheep had coarse outer hair with only a small undercoat of soft fibers. Through selective breeding, whether intentional or not, early shepherds gradually developed sheep with much thicker, softer fleeces.

This transformation was revolutionary because it gave humans access to a renewable source of warm, workable fiber: wool.

Wool was in many ways superior to other materials for clothing because its crimped fibers trapped air, providing excellent insulation against cold while still remaining breathable, and it could absorb large amounts of moisture without feeling wet, making it comfortable in varied climates.

Unlike hides or furs, which required killing the animal, wool was renewable and could be harvested year after year. Unlike linen or hemp, which produced stiffer, less elastic fabrics, wool was naturally springy, resilient, and easy to spin and weave.

It also took dyes well, allowing for colorful, durable garments, which made it more versatile and practical than most other textiles available in the ancient world.

From the Fertile Crescent, domestic sheep spread with remarkable speed across the ancient world. By 7,000 years ago, they had reached Europe. By 5,000 years ago, they were established across much of Asia and North Africa. This spread wasn’t just about the animals themselves; it represented the movement of entire pastoral communities.

Pastoral nomadism became possible, where entire communities could follow their flocks across vast landscapes, utilizing grazing lands that were unsuitable for crop agriculture.

These pastoral societies became the bridges between settled agricultural communities, facilitating trade, cultural exchange, and the spread of technologies across continents.

The integration of sheep into human society went far beyond simple resource extraction. Sheep became central to religious practices, social structures, and economic systems. In many ancient cultures, wealth was measured in livestock, and sheep were often used as currency or valuable trade goods.

??As sheep domestication matured, it drove innovations in multiple areas. The development of wool processing created entirely new categories of technology and craftsmanship, such as cleaning, combing, spinning, and weaving.

Sheepskin was also highly prized.

For thousands of years, sheepskin coats, cloaks, and boots were valued in cold climates. The fleece side provided insulation, while the leather side offered durability. Nomadic steppe cultures, such as the Scythians and later nomads in Central Asia, made extensive use of sheepskin for clothing and bedding.

In Europe, sheepskin-lined cloaks were common among peasants and shepherds. The softness of sheepskin also made it a preferred material for infant swaddling.

When processed by tanning, sheepskin produces a supple, lightweight leather that is easier to work with than cowhide. It became widely used for gloves, shoes, pouches, bookbindings, and later fine goods like wallets or cases. Although not as durable as cowhide, it had the advantage of softness and pliability, making it ideal for garments.

One of sheepskin’s most influential historical uses was as a medium for writing. From at least the 2nd millennium BC, and especially in Greco-Roman antiquity and the Middle Ages, sheepskin was processed into parchment.

Thin sheepskin parchment was abundant and cheaper than calf vellum, making it the most common writing surface for manuscripts in Europe.

Many medieval charters, legal documents, and religious texts were written on sheepskin.

Its fibrous structure made it more resistant to erasure and alteration than paper, which is one reason important legal deeds in Britain continued to be recorded on sheepskin vellum well into the modern era.

Sheepskins also held symbolic value. In ancient Greece, the mythological Golden Fleece symbolized authority and kingship, reflecting the animal’s central role in agrarian economies.

As an interesting aside, a golden fleece was actually a thing. Some rivers in the Caucasus had flecks of gold that would travel downstream. By placing a sheepskin with wool in the river, the fiber in the wool would catch flecks of gold. This technique is one that goes back thousands of years.

During the Middle Ages in Europe, sheep became increasingly associated with wealth and economic power. In particular, wool production in England and the Low Countries fueled trade and the rise of entire towns.

The Spanish developed highly prized fine-wool breeds, such as the Merino, which remained tightly controlled until the 18th century, when smuggling and trade spread Merino genetics worldwide.

With European exploration and colonization, sheep were brought to the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand. In these new lands, vast sheep ranching industries developed, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, where sheep farming became a dominant economic sector. Sheep also adapted to environments as varied as the Patagonian steppe and the American Southwest.

Oddly enough, while Australia and New Zealand developed large sheep ranching industries, it never really took off in the United States and Canada, despite having land that lent itself to sheep grazing.

Much of the American West, particularly the Great Plains, offered enormous expanses of grasslands that were well-suited to grazing cattle. Sheep could and did thrive in many regions, especially in the arid Southwest and Rocky Mountain foothills, but cattle were better suited to the tallgrass prairies and open ranges where forage was abundant.

The scale of land available allowed ranchers to raise large herds of cattle in ways that mirrored the open-range traditions of Spain and Mexico.

The growing American population in the 19th century demanded beef more than mutton or lamb. Beef became a dietary staple, while mutton never caught on culturally with most Americans, who considered it tough and strongly flavored compared to pork or beef.

In the 19th-century American West, “range wars” often broke out between cattle ranchers and sheep herders. Cattlemen argued that sheep cropped grass too close to the ground, leaving pastures barren, while cattle grazing left grass that could regrow.

These conflicts sometimes turned violent, and in many places, sheep ranchers were pushed out of prime grazing lands. Local and state politics, dominated by cattle interests, often sided with ranchers, tilting the balance against sheep.

Wool was undoubtedly important, especially during the Civil War and World War I, when the military required uniforms. Still, it never commanded the same consistent demand in everyday civilian life as beef and hides.

The sheep and wool industry today is a global but unevenly distributed enterprise, shaped by thousands of years of breeding, shifting textile markets, and regional traditions.

There are about 1.2 billion sheep worldwide, with the largest populations in China, Australia, India, Sudan, and Iran. China is now the single largest producer of both sheep meat and wool, reflecting its massive scale of livestock farming.

Australia and New Zealand, though much smaller in absolute flock size, dominate the fine wool market, particularly the Merino breed, which produces the highest-quality fibers for luxury textiles.

The Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia continue to maintain large sheep populations, but often for meat and milk rather than wool. In Europe, sheep are still widely raised in Spain, the UK, and Eastern Europe, though herds are far smaller than in past centuries.

Wool accounts for less than 2 percent of global fiber production today, dwarfed by cotton and synthetics like polyester. Nevertheless, it remains an important niche material because of its unique properties: it is warm, breathable, naturally flame-resistant, odor-resistant, and biodegradable.

In many regions, sheep are now valued less for wool and more for meat and dairy products. Sheep’s milk is used to produce high-value cheeses such as Roquefort from France, Manchego from Spain, Pecorino Romano from Italy, and feta from Greece, which often provide greater profit than wool.

As a result, many modern sheep breeds are dual-purpose, producing both milk and some wool, rather than specializing solely in fiber.

Today, there are over 1,000 recognized breeds of domestic sheep worldwide, making them one of the most diverse domesticated animal species.

All of the wool, mutton, lamb, and sheep cheese produced in the world today, and the 1000 domesticated breeds, are all the direct legacy of the original sheepards who cozied up to wild sheep somewhere in the Fertile Crescent almost 10,000 years ago.