The contribution of Mediterranean connectivity to morphological variability in Iron Age sheep of the Eastern Mediterranean

The movement of livestock across the Mediterranean is well-documented in the Neolithic era, but its significance during subsequent periods has received less attention. Here we start addressing this lacuna by analyzing astragal bone morphology from four coastal and inland sites in Israel and Cyprus, seeking potential evidence for maritime connections between sheep populations in the Iron Age eastern Mediterranean. Employing an established geometric morphometric protocol, we investigated the hypothesis that intra-site morphological variability is higher in coastal sites, reflecting greater genetic diversity in the livestock populations. While our findings support this hypothesis, the conclusions are constrained by contextual and sample size limitations.