From Mouflon to Merino and Beyond
A Glimpse into the Domestication of Sheep
Lately I have become more fascinated by the origins of various species, including our own. This began with reading about the common house cat, of whose history I knew almost nothing, in spite of keeping feline companions for twenty years, and which history deserves a post all its own. Suffice to say here, that for thousands of years we were at the mercy of giant sabertooth tigers, lions, and other predatory cats; that, in fact, we were prey animals, subject to the same rough treatment Felix uses today with a hapless deer mouse; and that the current amicable relations between Felis catus and our own species seems to me one of the greatest diplomatic feats in the history of life on earth.
Such a thrilling tale whetted my appetite for others; and, with my love of wool, the sheep was an obvious candidate for study.
The mouflon, a subspecies of which is pictured above, is thought to be the wild descendant of the domestic sheep. It is still very much present as a wild species, like the ancestor of the house cat, and is found today throughout the Middle East, and on the island of Cyprus, where it is thought to have been introduced in the Neolithic era. It seems the mouflon originated in the Caspian region, spanning over modern-day Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran, and was domesticated between 11,000 and 9,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, which would make the sheep one of the oldest domesticated species. (It seems dogs, however, were domesticated an astonishing 20,000 years earlier!)
The earliest purpose of domestication would no doubt have been meat and milk production, as well as harvesting of hides from butchered animals. As you may notice from the picture above, the sheep’s ancestor did not have quite the same cloud-like halo of fluff we have come to associate with our woolly friends. The coat is primarily comprised of hair rather than wool, which is neither simple to spin, nor pleasant to wear. It was not until approximately 6,000 BC that some clever, enterprising people began to work on creating wool which could be spun in the same way they had already been spinning bast fibers like linen for 30,000 years. This required some major changes through breeding to the mouflon’s makeup. Over time, an animal resulted which produced wool that could be combed out from the surrounding hair, in a process known today as “rooing”, and which can still be used on breeds like the Shetland and certain other primitive European short-tail sheep, where seasonal shedding of the undercoat has not been bred out. It seems this was the dominant form of wool harvesting in the Bronze Age.
But when did shearing come about? Here my research becomes a little hazy. I have not been able to find a reputable source to date this innovation; however, there are references to shearing sheep in the Torah, so it would stand to reason that in the civilization of the Ancient Hebrews at least, shearing was a well-established practice by the 7th century BC.
Certainly by the Middle Ages, when English wool dominated the European market, shearing was the dominant form of wool harvesting. By this time breeds like the Cotswold and the Ryeland looked much closer to our modern idea of a sheep; their coats were almost entirely wool and required shearing, the Cotswold being famous for its length and lustre, and the Ryeland for its softness.
The Merino breed, now so prized and prevalent, by most accounts originated in North Africa in the 12th century, from whence flocks were imported to Spain and bred with Spanish ewes. By this time, the Merino was beginning to evolve into what it looks like today:
And there you have it. Thousands upon thousands of years of domestication later, we have our fluffy cloud in mammalian form, subject of many a nursery rhyme and many an insomniac’s desperate attempts to think of something besides work in the morning.
However, I am loathe to leave things here, as though the evolution of the domestic sheep has culminated in some perfect, rousing finale with the Merino breed. Certainly Merino wool is soft and warm; but it is also not very durable, pills and felts very easily, and its popularity contributes to the narrowing of available livestock breeds. For many breeds of livestock, as well as wild animals, are critically endangered, and by losing them we will lose some of our own resilience in the face of a changing planet. No one breed can withstand every circumstance, nor can provide every advantage. And so, let me finish with a few photos of other, lesser known breeds, who thrive in climates the Merino finds hard to withstand, and who provide advantages the Merino, with all its loveliness, finds difficult to match.
The Navajo Churro
This lovely breed is prized by the Diné of the Southwest United States, and its wool is used for their magnificent rugs. Its wool is low in lanolin, which means it does not need the scrupulous washing process Merino’s high-lanolin wool calls for. This consumes less water; highly desirable in a desert landscape! The Navajo Churro thrives in this difficult climate, and it has an irreplaceable significance to one of the greatest art traditions of the Southwest.
The Leicester Longwool
The Leicester Longwool is a British breed, whose wool, as the name suggests, has a very long staple, and is strong and lustrous. This makes it an excellent choice for hand weaving, where durability is a must and lustre is prized. It was once one of the most popular imported breeds in the United States, but commercial desire for fleeces of a uniform type and color has left Longwool breeds almost entirely out of the equation.
Clun Forest
This Welsh breed is an excellent triple-purpose animal; the Clun Forest produces high-quality meat, milk and wool, and is also naturally worm-resistant.
And these are only three of more than 1,000 domestic sheep breeds! For those interested in learning more, I highly recommend checking out The Livestock Conservancy, which works tirelessly to protect and promote heritage and endangered breeds, as well as the excellent The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Carol Ekarius and Deborah Robson.
Thank you for reading! I will see you next week with a wardrobe update.