The name of the game: Palaeoproteomics and radiocarbon dates further refine the presence and dispersal of caprines in Eastern and Southern Africa

Assessing caprine introductions is a complicated task because of their skeletal similarity to endemic wild bovid species and the sparse and fragmentary state of relevant archaeological remains. Palaeoproteomics has previously proved effective in clarifying species attributions in African zooarchaeological materials, but few comparative protein sequences of wild bovid species have been available.

Using newly generated collagen type I sequences for wild species, as well as previously published sequences, we assess species attributions for elements originally identified as caprine or “unidentifiable bovid” from seventeen eastern and southern African sites that span seven millennia. We identified over 70% of the archaeological remains and the direct radiocarbon dating of domesticate specimens allows refinement of the chronology of caprine presence in both African regions.