Morphometric and genetic evidence for cattle imports from the Mediterranean into present-day Austria during the Iron Age

Abstract

Osteometric data and morphological observations on cattle bones from Roman period sites from present-day Austria suggest the arrival of a new large-sized cattle population, which has been connected with the conquest of this area by the Romans and subsequent import of a Mediterranean population. Therefore, recent documentation of some large-sized cattle remains, similar to those found in the Roman period, already from two Late Iron Age sites, one even north of the Danube, indicate an earlier presence of this cattle population together with the typical small-sized Iron Age cattle population. We applied ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis on fourteen Iron Age and Roman period cattle teeth and bones to find genetic evidence concerning possible cattle mobility. Our results show the presence of haplogroup T3, a common European haplogroup, for both large-sized (imported) and small-sized (Iron Age) cattle. For the first time in present-day Austria, our documentation of haplogroups T1 (common in cattle populations from southern Europe) and T5 (so far recorded only in Italian and some Croatian cattle populations probably due to Mediterranean influence) in the Iron Age large-sized cattle provides evidence for cattle imports from the Mediterranean already during the Iron Age.