The initial domestication of goats (Capra hircus) in the Zagros mountains 10,000 years ago

Initial goat domestication is documented in the highlands of western Iran a t 10,000 calibrated calendar years ago. Metrical analyses of patterns of se xual dimorphism in modern wild goat skeletons (Capra hircus aegagrus) allow sex-specific age curves to be computed for archaeofaunal assemblages, A di stinct shift to selective harvesting of subadult males marks initial human management and the transition from hunting to herding of the species. Direc t accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates on skeletal elements prov ide a tight temporal context for the transition.