The role of local domestication on the island of Cyprus during the Neolithic transition (10,000-7000 BCE)

Due to the insular location, farming emerged in Cyprus mostly through the introduction of plants and animals from nearby continent, throughout the 9th and 8th millennia BCE. These included wild cultivated einkorn and emmer during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) and ungulates during the PPNB. However, large osteoarchaeological samples from Klimonas and Shillourokambos sites, revealed an interesting diversity in the processes. Cattle and sheep were introduced as early domesticates, c. 8500 and 7900 BCE respectively, and raised throughout the late 9th and the 8th millennia. However, shortly after their introduction, the domestic goats went feral and became game, before being domesticated again 8-10 centuries later. Even more intriguing is the history of suids. The wild boar was introduced long before the PPN and rapidly evolved into an endemic insular sub-species ( Sus scrofa circeus ). From 10,200 to 8500 BCE, it was the only large game on the Cyprus island. Then, from 8500 to 7500 BCE, Sus s. circeus was domesticated, giving rise to all subsequent Neolithic pigs, without any visible introduction of continental domestic pigs. This diversity of processes highlights the complexity of dispersal of domesticates at the beginning of the Neolithic period, involving transfer and acclimatisation components as well as possible local domestications. It suggests that local domestication played a more significant role than expected in the Neolithic dispersal on the continents. • There were no ancestors of domestic mammals on Cyprus before human settlement. • The Neolithic transition was mainly based on the introduction of domesticates to the island. • Recent studies of large collections of Cypriot animal bones reveal a more complex process. • Some species were released to the wild, then re-domesticated several centuries later. • Local domestication played a more significant role than expected in the Neolithic dispersal.