A review of the evidence for domestication of Myotragus balearicus Bate 1909 (Artiodactyla, Caprinae) in the Balearic Islands

Myotragus balearicus was a small-sized bovid endemic to the Gymnesic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca and surrounding islets), an archipelago within the Balearics. It is thought that this species became extinct approximately 4800 BP. Since 1974, it has been widely accepted that this species was the subject of a domestication attempt by the first human settlers of Mallorca. A review of the presumed evidence for the domestication of M. balearicus is presented in this paper. Our principal conclusion is that there is no conclusive evidence for the human management of this species. Morphological evidence previously cited as indicating domestication is more plausibly interpreted as the result of taphonomic processes, including post-mortem alteration of bones by the M. balearicus themselves. Accordingly, there is at present no empirical basis for the notion that Homo sapiens ever attempted to domesticate Myotragus in any manner. Copyright 2001 Academic Press