ANTIQUITY, XLV, I971 PLATES XXXI-XXXIII

Neolithic postscript

PAUL F. WILKINSON

In view of the interest generated by Mr Case’s article (1969,176-86) and subsequent discussion (I970,105-I4),Mr Wilkinson felt that this might be the proper time to introduce the Musk Ox to prehistorians in its new role as a domesticated animal, andmake brief reference to some of the other experiments of a large body of useful data which remain largely untapped by archaeologists. Mr Wilkinson, a research student in the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology in the Univer- sity of Cambridge, also holds the post in the University of Alaska of Associate Director of Research for the Institute of Northern Agricultural Research, which is responsible for the domestication of the musk ox. He wishes to point out that the principal aim of this project is to develop a textile industry based on ‘qiviut,’ the wool of the musk ox, and thus to better the economic situation of the people of the arctic.

Two of the experiments which are worth State Reservation followed a similar pattern to bringing to the attention of prehistorians are that of the musk ox and was equally successful. first ‘Oomingmak’ or the domestication of the The moose has been domesticated principally as musk ox, and secondly the domestication of the a draught animal, but will be used additionally moose. for milk and meat. The musk ox has been domesticated by the Other domestication experiments are in Institute of Northern Agricultural Research, progress (Huxley, 1965 ; Treus and Kravchenko, which maintains herds of tamed and domesti- 1968) but are inadequately documented with cated animals in Alaska, Vermont, Quebec, and respect to their archaeological significance. All Norway (Teal, 1958; 1970a, b.) The nucleus of such experiments share one feature: when each herd was wild calves, caught when they undertaken properly, they have proved easier were 4-6 months old. At this age they can be and more successful than anticipated. In the manhandled with little difficulty, yet are not too light of the above work, four points raised by susceptible to injury or to death from shock; Case merit further discussion: most important, they can be tamed easily and (I) ‘. . . herding cannot have been a simple permanently. Once mature, these calves were matter of leaving stock to forage unattended . . .’ selectively bred to produce offspring with an (Case, 1969,177). In fact, there is no reason why improved yield of better-quality underwool than such might not sometimes have been the their wild counterparts (PLS. XXXI-XXXIII). The practice. The nature of the relationship between underwool, known by the Eskimo term ‘qiviut’, pastoralists and their flocks is determined in is collected annually when it is shed and is being part by the seasonal mobility of the species used to develop a uniquely arctic textile in- involved and the resource(s) for which it is dustry, which, it is hoped, will contribute exploited. The musk ox, for example, does not towards improving the depressed economies of migrate seasonally, so that close herding is the peoples of the arctic. unnecessary. Musk oxen and their herders need With the experiment in the domestication of come into contact only in spring, when the the moose I am acquainted only through the underwool must be collected and the newly-born literature (Knorre, 1961). The domestication of calves tamed. Experiments in Vermont demon- the moose in the USSR on the Pechora-Ilych strated that tamed musk oxen can be left alone ANTIQUITY for several years without reverting to ‘wild’ (b) the resulting calves might have proved too behavioural patterns. A study of the socialization large for safe delivery, process in wolves (Woolpy and Ginsburg, 1967) (c) the offspring of such matings would have suggested that the age at which animals are been intractable. tamed might be critical in determining whether Although each point has considerable validity, or not they remain permanently tame. The the situation was probably very flexible. Spring Russian herders found that moose could be calving may have characterized the wild ‘attached’ to chosen localities if they learned to herbivores of western Europe since it is as associate them with the presence of food and that desirable for the survival of wild calves as for this bond overrode their urge to migrate. In domesticated-if not indeed more so. The both instances herders are freed for other desirability of domesticated-wild crossbreeding subsistence activities for most of the year and depends largely on the breeding strategy of the the ratio of herders to animals is low. In terms herdsmen. It was noted above that domesticated of the model of colonization proposed by Case, musk oxen are being selectively bred to improve advance parties might have been able to leave the quality and quantity of their underwool. groups of domesticated animals in Britain until Since this underwool represents their chief the arrival of the main parties with little danger non-behavioural adaptation to the arctic winter, that these animals would stray or become feral. it seems safe to assume that it has been selected Animals raised for meat may also be ranged by nature for the many millennia during which rather than herded and need not even be tame; the animal has occupied an arctic habitat. In for example, many 19th-century range cattle in this case, human and natural selective pressures the United States. On the other hand, animals coincide and the servicing of domesticated cows bred for milk or draught must be on hand more by wild bulls is not undesirable from this point or less constantly and must be tame, requiring of view. Tibetan yak herders are also said stricter control and closer herding. The belief (Eckvall, pers. comm.) to favour such crosses, that unattended domesticated animals tend to which possess better staying power as beasts run with their wild counterparts is well docu- of burden, and the same is true of the Chukchi mented for reindeer (Leeds, 1965), but is not reindeer herders (Leeds, 1965). universally true. In the Pechora-Ilych State If, as Case suggests, the domesticated cattle Reservation the reverse occurred, and wild of Neolithic Britain were consistently smaller moose were attracted by domesticated (Knorre, than the wild, the danger of overlarge calves 1961). The ranges of wild and domesticated may have been real. Domesticated musk oxen, musk oxen do not overlap and the situation is on the other hand, tend to be larger than wild, unknown. It is worth remembering that the partly because they are kept in areas rich in distribution of wild animals through space is fodder, and partly as a result of the programme not continuous and that their movements are of selective breeding. Maintaining animals in often predictable, so that wild and domesticated such areas is a profitable strategy, for it mini- representatives of a single species can be present mizes the risk that they will stray, improves the in the same area without often meeting. quality and quantity of the products they yield, It is of course, difficult to decide which, if any, and obviates the need for collecting winter feed. of these considerations were applicable to the It would be surprising if these advantages were domesticated animals of Neolithic Britain. not apparent to prehistoric pastoralists. Since They must, however, be kept in mind when crossbreeding is favoured by some yak and constructing models of likely human behaviour. reindeer herders (see above), the danger of (2) Case considers the servicing of domesti- large calves cannot be too great in these species. cated cows by wild bulls undesirable for three Case assumes, with apparent justification, that reasons : inter-breeding between wild and domesticated (a) it might have interfered with the desired cattle was prevented in early Neolithic Britain. aim of spring calving, In view of the preceding comments on the NEOLITHIC POSTSCRIPT discontinuous nature of the distribution of (1134 kg.) of feed per bull, 1,700 Ib. (770 kg.) animals, there may be no need to assume that per cow, and proportionately lower amounts for man actively prevented crossbreeding. calves and yearlings. Such an undertaking would The evidence for the tractability of crossbred have demanded either a large, surplus labour calves is conflicting. Selectively bred musk ox force or an advanced technology, for neither of calves must be tamed in identical fashion to which there is convincing evidence in the early wild calves, although one of the 1970 calves in British Neolithic. Alaska appears to be genetically tame. (It (4) The most formidable problems are should, however, be emphasized that selective likely to have been associated with transporting breeding has been practised on a large scale animals as large as cattle by sea. Roping and only since 1966.) Taming wild and domesticated tying adult cattle is a difficult task in many calves is simple, provided that they are less than cases and keeping them tied for prolonged 6 months old. It is achieved by constant periods poses hazards such as death from shock contact between herders and animals for several or exhaustion. On the positive side, however, days after weaning, supplemented by hand- halter-broken animals often show surprising feeding for a longer period. At birth, wild musk tolerance and blindfolds are very effective in oxen are as tractable as domesticated and in calming frightened animals. some respects are easier to tame. In contrast to Transporting animals between August and this, Eckvall reports (pers. comm.) that September might have been impracticable, Tibetan yak herders consider crossbred calves since calves might have been weaned about that less tractable than pure domesticated calves. time and the bulls were probably rutting from The decisive factor is probably whether or not late August until early October. If the collection the domesticated calves are genetically tame, of winter forage were unnecessary, mid-October but to date there is no means of establishing this to mid-November might have been a good time, from the archaeological record. and advance parties could have made prepara- (3) Reliance on stored winter fodder may tions for the winter. Considering the ease of have been less widespread than Case assumes, domesticating animals serious consideration especially when population densities were low must be given to the possibilitythat onlya few, if and food resources not overexploited, as would any, large domesticated animals were moved and be the situation in newly colonized areas. The that these were supplemented by capturing in- labour necessary to collect adequate feed for even digenous wild stock. a few animals would have been so great that It is hoped that the preceding comments have prehistoric man must have made every effort to illustrated the potential value to prehistorians locate his herds in areas where this was of data derived from current experiments in unnecessary. The hay-intake of modern cattle animal domestication. They are not intended as averages at least 2 lb. per IOO Ib. (0.9 per 45 kg.) a critique of Case's thesis and he has performed body weight per day. Assuming (very con- a valuable and necessary service by emphasizing servatively) that a prehistoric bull weighed the need for prehistorians to remember that it is 1,000 lb. (453 kg.) and a cow 700 lb. (317 kg.), with human beings that they are dealing, not and taking the length of winter as 121 days, it with ciphers. would have been necessary to collect 2,500 Ib.

BIBLIOGRAPHY H. LEEDS, A. In A. Leeds and A. P. Vayda (eds.), CASE, 1969. Neolithic explanations, Antiquity, 1965. Man, culture and animals, XLIII,176-86. 87-128. HUXLEY, E. RENFREW, Models in prehistory, Antiquity, 1965. Getting a bead on the 'roos, c. 1968. New York Times Magazine, 24 October. XLII, 132-4. E. P. TEAL, Golden fleece of the arctic, The mom, 1961. Results and perspectives of J. J., JR. 1958. Atlantic, moose domestication, Papers of the Pechora- 201,76-81. Domesticating the wild and woolly musk ox, Ilych State Reservation, IX, 5-177. Translation 1970a. National Geographic, 37, in Canadian Wildlife Service Library. I 862-79. ANTIQUITY

TRIGGER, More on models, Antiquity, 1970b. Operation musk ox 1969, American Scan- B. G. 1969. XLIII, dinavian Review, LVIII, 10-23. 59-62. WOOLPY, H. and GINSBURG. Wolf TREUS, v. and D. KRAVCHENKO. 1968. Methods of J. B. E. 1967. rearing and economic utilization of eland in the socialization: a study of temperament in a wild Askaniya-Nova Zoological park, Symp. zool. social species, Amer. Zool., VII, 357-63. SOC. London, 21,395-411. Book Chronicle We include here books which have been received for review, or books of importance (not received for review) of which 7ne have recently been informed. Wewelcome information about books, particularly in languages other than English or American, of interest to readers of ANTIQUITY. The listing of a book in this chronicle does not preclude its review in ANTIQUITY. Zehn Jahre Archaologische Forschung Indian painters and white patrons by J. J. Brody. Albuquerque : The University of New (1958-1968).Budapest :Archaologisches Institut der Ungarischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mexico Press, 1971. 255 pp., 8 pls. (colour), 1970. 181 pp., 43 pls., I map. 92 jigs., 2 maps. $15.00. Detection abrienne de vestiges proto- The Summer Island site. A study of pre- historiques gallo-romains et medibvaux historic cultural ecology and social dans le bassin de la Somme et ses abords. organization in the Northern Lake Michi- Bulletin No. 7 by Roger Agache. Amiens: gan area. Number I, by David S. Brose. MusLe de Picardie, I970. 231 pp., numerous pls. Cleveland : Case Western Reserve, 1970. 80 pp., and jigs. Frs. 35, 5 pls., Ir jigs., 12 tables. EI.30. Metallurgical reports on British and Irish The world of late antiquity from Marcus Bronze Age implements and weapons in Aurelius to Muhammad by Peter Brown. the Pitt-Rivers Museum by I. M. Allen, London: Thames and Hudson, I97I. 216 pp., D. Britton and H. H. Coghlan. Oxford: numerous pls. (some in colour). E2.00 cloth ; University of Oxford, 1970. 283 pp., 28 pls., E1.05 paper. I34 jigs. E2.50. Ancient culture and society: social conflicts Camelot and the vison of Albion by Geoffrey in the Roman Republic by P. A. Brunt. Ashe. London: Heinemann, rwr. 233 pp. London: Chatto €9 Windus, I971. 172 pp., E3.15. 3 maps, I table. E1.50. Animal traps and trapping by James A. Search for Sybaris by Orville H. Bullitt. Bateman. Newton Abbot: David €9 Charles, London: Dent, I97I. 252 pp., 16 pls., 5 Jigs. I97I. 286 pp., 39 pk., 80 figs. E3.50. E2.75. Foreword by Froelich G. Rainey. History on the ground by Maurice Beresford. The Zimbabwe culture: ruins and reactions London: Methuen, Ig71. 256 pp., 17 pls., by G. Caton Thompson. London: Frank 28 $gs. E3.25. Cass, 1971. African prehistory No. I. Second Germanen und Kelten bis zum Ausgang der edition, first published 1931. 324pp., 73 pls., Romerzeit by Helmut Birkhan. Vienna : 26 figs. E8.40. Hermann Bohlaus, Ig70. 636 pp. Austrian English place names and their origins by schillings 580. G. J. Copley. Newton Abbot: David €9 The fle-de-France: the country around Paris Charles, I97I. First published 1968. 188 pp. by Marc Bloch, translated by J. E. Anderson. EI.75. London: Routledge &3 Kegan Paul, 1971. Ancient monuments of Tayside by Herbert 190 pp., 9 pls., I map. E2.25. Coutts. Dundee: Dundee Museum and Art Gallery, Ig70. 83 pp., 17 pls., 10 maps. E0.32+. Athenian building policy from 561/0-405/4 BC by Joh. S. Boersma. Groningen: Wolters- Fishbourne: a Roman palace and its garden Noordhoff, 1970. 302 pp., numerous diagrams, by Barry Cunliffe. London: Thames and 6 separate plans and 5 maps (in folder). Hudson, I971. 228 pp., 93 pls. (7 colour), Fl. 66,85. $18.60. 40 figs. E4.50 cloth ;E2.10 paper. PLATE XXXI: NEOLITHIC POSTSCRIPT Cows and two-month-old,selectiuely bredcalzes : MuskOx Project, Liniversityof AlaskaCollege See pp. 193-6 Photo : E. R. Lilley a

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PLATE XXXII : NEOLITHIC POSTSCRIPT (a) Sire, dam and calf (6) Bull musk oxen playing ball. Musk Ox Project See pp. 193-6 Phutos: J. Bedford, Unioersity of Alaska PLATE XXXIII: NEOLITHIC POSTSCRIPT Herdsman in pasture with mature bulls See pb. IY3-6 Photo: J. R>Iclietnit, Anchouage, Alaska