When did sheep show up on the scene?
 

I have been thinking about all the talk about pork and lamb being out of balance with omegas.

Somebody had to be eating them at some point. Wild boar (which may be different) and pigs have been around for quite sometime haven't they. I know that the living conditions and how they are raised now is totally different.

Does anybody know when they showed up on the evolutionary timeline?

Just curious.

They were all domesticated post-Neolithic agricultural revolution and have had significant morphological change due to selective breeding since then.
I used to know the best-guess dates for domestication. I think sheep were quite late, about 3500BCE?

OK, take that back. I'll check my sources again but this is what http://www.leeds.ac.uk/chb/lectures/anthl_03.html says:
Domestication of sheep seems to have happened around 11,000bp, goats and pigs 8,500bp.
Cattle were domesticated around 7,000bp
Other OK ish links are:
http://www.le.ac.uk/archaeology/rug...ng/animals.html
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~cpd/history.html

Thanks Ian!

I will check those out.

:)

Here's a food timeline.

http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/kid/food.html

Hey that is a great link!

Thanks for sharing! I am going to put it up in the paleo links thread. :)

:) can't wait to check out the links you put up!

wonderful link! I went to their link on Pork and learned more about pigs in ten minutes than I had learned in my whole life!
The suggestion in that article is that humans reared animals first, and didn't get into growing crops until later. Now isn't that interesting.

Also, if Nela is reading this, there's an interesting section on Spain, who were instrumental in distributing pigs to the new world and other places, and it even mentions one of Nela's recipe photos she posted:
"Cochonillo asado, a strongly traditional Castilian meal, features a 1-month-old piglet fed only on its mother’s milk and roasted in an earthenware dish."

Now that's what I would love to try!

Michael Gardner
Australia

Hey Michael! Yes, I'm going to check this out. Sounds so interesting, looking at all the different foods over time. Funny how you noticed the Cochinillo Asado! LOL.

BTW, do you all know about the "Forum de Las Culturas" here in Barcelona? It's an international event that celebrates the world's cultures and promotes peace and tolerance. It has many exhibitions/shows/conferences and Gastronomy is just one of the interesting things to learn about.
It's a great reason to come to Spain this year!
Go here: http://promotions.yahoo.com/forum_t...atic/index.html

My brother lives in Spain. I'll have to thing about when I go to visit.

Goodness. You people make me feel stooooopid,lol.. I need to go back to school.
Angel

Nela,
the reason I noticed Cochinillo Asado is that when I originally saw your piglet photo I drooled so much that I had to change my shirt. The rabbit I can do without, but the piglet: mmmmmm

How many people would a month old piglet feed to the point of groaning "Arrrghhh - I've eaten too much" ?

My partner's niece's mother is married to a pig farmer, so this may be a real possibility for me, if I can get it back chilled in one piece (they live about as far away as you are from, say, Jerez of sherry fame!!!)
cheers

Michael Gardner
Queensland
Australia

Michael Gardner

Australia

Ian, where does your brother live? If you want to see the Forum, it's on from May-September. :)

Michael, gosh, I have no idea how many people it would feed, but if you manage to get hold of one, cook it and horde it in your cave, just for you! LOLOLOL. ;)

BlitzedAng...
LOL, yes, some of the people on here are so informed that I sometimes feel I should do that too. :D

Nela, my brother in near Alicante. One of those terrible retired Brits running away to Spain.

Alicante? I lived there for almost 8 years! It's full of Brits. A very beautiful area. You can get to Barcelona in under 3 hours on the Euromed train, BTW.