Leather from Cueva de los Murciélagos in Albuñol, Granada, yielded genome-wide DNA data from a domestic goat with European ancestry, according to a PLOS ONE study. Radiocarbon dating puts the sample at approximately 7,250–7,000 years old. The study calls it Murciélagos1 and describes its genetic data as among the oldest nuclear-genome evidence recovered from organic remains outside high-altitude or high-latitude regions. Read the study in PLOS ONE.
Genetic affinity links an ancient sample to the populations compared; it does not identify the animal as a member of a modern breed.
What the Granada leather reveals
The sample came from an Early Neolithic context at Cueva de los Murciélagos. Genome-wide data means genetic information drawn from across an organism’s genome. In this case, the study identifies Murciélagos1 as leather from a domestic goat of European ancestry.
The study says the finding is notable because nuclear-genome data from organic remains are rarely recovered from regions outside high altitudes and high latitudes. The DNA preserved in the leather offers a genetic record of an animal that lived roughly seven millennia ago.
Bermeya was the closest match among the goats compared
The study reports the strongest affinity between Murciélagos1 and modern Bermeya goats from northern Spain among the modern goats it compared. That result is a relative match within the comparison, not an identification of the ancient animal as Bermeya.
Human and canid DNA traces
The leather also contained fragmented human and canid DNA. The study interprets the human traces as likely connected to handling or wearing the leather, and the canid traces as indicating disturbance after the leather was deposited.
