Iron age genomic data from Althiburos - Tunisia renew the debate on the origins of African taurine cattle

The Maghreb is a key region for understanding the dynamics of cattle dispersal and admixture with local aurochs following their earliest domestication in the Fertile Crescent more than 10,000 years ago. Here, we present data on auto-somal genomes and mitogenomes obtained for four archaeological specimens of Iron Age (similar to 2,800 cal BP-2,000 cal BP) domestic cattle from the Eastern Magh-reb, i.e. Althiburos (El Kef, Tunisia). D -loop sequences were obtained for an addi-tional eight cattle specimens from this site. Maternal lineages were assigned to the elusive R and ubiquitous African-T1 haplogroups found in two and ten Althi-buros specimens, respectively. Our results can be explained by post -domestica-tion hybridization of Althiburos cattle with local aurochs. However, we cannot rule out an independent domestication in North Africa considering the shared ancestry of Althiburos cattle with the pre-domestic Moroccan aurochs and pre-sent-day African taurine cattle.

Automated summary

This article investigates the genetic makeup of domestic cattle from the Iron Age in the Eastern Maghreb, specifically Althiburos, Tunisia. The maternal lineages of these cattle can be traced back to the R and African-T1 haplogroups, suggesting hybridization with local aurochs. However, it is also possible that these cattle were independently domesticated in North Africa due to their shared ancestry with pre-domestic Moroccan aurochs and present-day African taurine cattle.