The 10,000-year biocultural history of fallow deer and its implications for conservation policy

Authors

Karis H. Baker, Durham University
Holly Miller, University of Nottingham
Sean Doherty, University of Exeter
Howard W. I. Gray, Durham University
Julie Daujat, University of Nottingham
Çakırlard Çakırlar, University of Groningen
Nikolai Spassov, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Katerina Trantalidou, Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Richard Madgwick, Cardiff University
Angela L. Lamb, British Geological Survey
Carly Ameen, University of Exeter
Levent Atici, University of Nevada
Polydora Baker, Historic England
Fiona Beglane, Atlantic Technological University
Helene Benkert, University of Exeter
Robin Bendrey, University of Edinburgh
Annelise Binois-Roman, University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Ruth F. Carden, University College Dublin
Antonio Curci, University of Bologna
Bea De Cupere, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Cleia Detry, Alameda da Universidade
Erika Gál, HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities
Chloé Genies, Bureau d’études
Günther K. Kunst, University of Vienna
Robert Liddiard, University of East Anglia
Rebecca Nicholson, Oxford Archaeology Ltd.
Rossana Villa-Rojas, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Joris Peters, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, State Collection of Palaeoanatomy Munich
Fabienne Pigière, University of London
Aleksander G. Pluskowski, University of Reading
Peta Sadler, Independent Researcher, Buckinghamshire
Sandra Sicard, Angouleme Cedex 9 1616917
Lena Strid, Lund University
Jack Sudds, University of Exeter
Robert Symmons, Fishbourne Roman Palace
Katie Tardio, Bucknell University
Alejandro Valenzuela, Miquel Marquès Street
Monique van Veen, Municipality of The Hague
Sonja Vuković, University of Belgrade
Jaco Weinstock, University of Southampton
Barbara Wilkens, Independent Researcher, Alghero
Roger J. A. Wilson, Department of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies
Jane A. Evans, British Geological Survey
A. Rus Hoelzel, Durham University
Naomi Sykes, University of Exeter

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2-12-2024

Citation

PNAS 2024 Vol. 121 No. 8 e2310051121 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2310051121

Comments

Open access.

Abstract

Over the last 10,000 y, humans have manipulated fallow deer populations with varying outcomes. Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) are now endangered. European fallow deer (Dama dama) are globally widespread and are simultaneously considered wild, domestic, endangered, invasive and are even the national animal of Barbuda and Antigua. Despite their close association with people, there is no consensus regarding their natural ranges or the timing and circumstances of their human-mediated translocations and extirpations. Our mitochondrial analyses of modern and archaeological specimens revealed two distinct clades of European fallow deer present in Anatolia and the Balkans. Zooarchaeological evidence suggests these regions were their sole glacial refugia. By combining biomolecular analyses with archaeological and textual evidence, we chart the declining distribution of Persian fallow deer and demonstrate that humans repeatedly translocated European fallow deer, sourced from the most geographically distant populations. Deer taken to Neolithic Chios and Rhodes derived not from nearby Anatolia, but from the Balkans. Though fallow deer were translocated throughout the Mediterranean as part of their association with the Greco-Roman goddesses Artemis and Diana, deer taken to Roman Mallorca were not locally available Dama dama, but Dama mesopotamica. Romans also initially introduced fallow deer to Northern Europe but the species became extinct and was reintroduced in the medieval period, this time from Anatolia. European colonial powers then transported deer populations across the globe. The biocultural histories of fallow deer challenge preconceptions about the divisions between wild and domestic species and provide information that should underpin modern management strategies.