Earliest livestock herds in Northern Europe found in the Netherlands

Archaeologists have found evidence of the earliest cattle herds in Northern Europe at the site of Swifterbant in the Netherlands. Using a combination of zoological, botanical and biochemical methods, they examined the rise of agriculture in Northern Europe and found that this is not only the earliest known domesticated livestock, but was also managed in very specific ways.

Agriculture spread through Central Europe about 7,000 years ago with the migration of the people of the Linear Pottery culture. North of this region, however, the indigenous inhabitants of what are now the Netherlands, northern Germany, Scandinavia and Great Britain continued to live as hunter-gatherers; how and when they adopted agriculture remains a subject of much debate.

The timing and character of the start of livestock farming in the Dutch part of this region was investigated in a project at the University of Groningen. The results are published in the journal Antiquity.

“Until now, the earliest clear evidence placed the find around 4000 BC. Older data were controversial,” says lead author of the publication, Dr. Nathalie Brusgaard, now at Leiden University. “In particular, the question of when hunting animals transitioned to keeping them as livestock remained difficult to determine.”

“We found that by 4240 BC the relationship between people, animals and plants had clearly changed. Cattle, sheep and pigs were raised alongside arable farming by then,” says Dr. Brusgaard. “In addition, these early farmers had several herds of cattle that were fed and herded in different ways.”

The researchers discovered this through stable isotope analysis, a biochemical method that provides insight into the diet of ancient individuals. By looking at the livestock’s diet, they found that these animals could be divided into two different groups based on what they ate. One herd had grazed in the woods, while the other had grazed in fertilized fields or in the salt marshes.

This also challenges the way we view early farmers.

“These results tell us that not only were farmers in this region as early as 4240 BC, but they also managed their livestock in complex ways, using distinctive grazing strategies or acquiring certain livestock from elsewhere,” says Dr. Brusgaard. “These early farmers had an incredible amount of knowledge about how to manage livestock in this dynamic environment.”