2008/05/06 by Knut H. Røed, Øystein Flagstad, Mauri Nieminen +4 · 11 citations
Environmental Science · Health Professions · #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation #Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology #Indigenous Studies and Ecology #Domestication #Herding #Indigenous #Pastoralism #Geography #Biology #Ecology #Livestock #Archaeology
paper · doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.0332
openalex publication_date 2008/05/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Although there is little doubt that the domestication of mammals was instrumental for the modernization of human societies, even basic features of the path towards domestication remain largely unresolved for many species. Reindeer are considered to be in the early phase of domestication with wild and domestic herds still coexisting widely across Eurasia. This provides a unique model system for understanding how the early domestication process may have taken place. We analysed mitochondrial sequences and nuclear microsatellites in domestic and wild herds throughout Eurasia to address the origin of reindeer herding and domestication history. Our data demonstrate independent origins of domestic reindeer in Russia and Fennoscandia. This implies that the Saami people of Fennoscandia domesticated their own reindeer independently of the indigenous cultures in western Russia. We also found that augmentation of local reindeer herds by crossing with wild animals has been common. However, some wild reindeer populations have not contributed to the domestic gene pool, suggesting variation in domestication potential among populations. These differences may explain why geographically isolated indigenous groups have been able to make the technological shift from mobile hunting to large-scale reindeer pastoralism independently.