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

Baker, Karis H; Dohert, Sean; Gray, Howard W.I.; Daujat, Julie; Miller, Holly; Çakırlar, Canan; Spassov, Nikolai; Trantalidou, Katerina; Madgwick, Richard; Lamb, Angela; Ameen, Carly; Atici, Levent; Baker, Polydora; Beglane, Fiona; Benkert, Helene; Bendrey, Robin; Binois-Roman, Annelise; Carden, Ruth F; Curci, Antonio; De Cupere, Bea; Detry, Cleia; Gál, Erika; Genies, Chloé; Kunst, Günther; Liddiard, Robert; Nicholson, Rebecca; Perdikaris, Sophia; Peters, Joris; Pigière, Fabienne; Pluskowski, Aleksander G; Saddler, Peta; Sicard, Sandra; Strid, Lena; Sudds, Jack; Symmons, Robert; Tardio, Katie; Valenzuela, Alejandro; van Veen, Monique; Vuković, Sonja; Weinstock, Jaco; Wilkens, Barbara; JA Wilson, Roger; Evans, Jane; Rus Hoelzel, A.; Sykes, Naomi

Abstract

Over the last 10,000 years, 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 Chios and Rhodes in the Neolithic 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. We argue that these biocultural histories of fallow deer should underpin modern management strategies

Citation

Baker, K. H., Dohert, S., Gray, H. W., Daujat, J., Miller, H., Çakırlar, C., …Sykes, N. (2024). The 10,000-year biocultural history of fallow deer and its implications for conservation policy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(8), Article e2310051121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.231005112

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 14, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Feb 12, 2024
• Publication Date: Feb 12, 2024
• Deposit Date: Dec 18, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 19, 2023
• Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Print ISSN: 0027-8424
• Electronic ISSN: 1091-6490
• Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 121
• Issue: 8
• Article Number: e2310051121
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.231005112
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/28704727
• Publisher URL: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2310051121