biostudies-literatureStiner MCMoSTR | National Science FoundationIstanbul University Research Funde2110930119https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC8795544biostudies-literatureUnknown119(4)Sheep and goats (caprines) were domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but how and in how many places remain open questions. This study investigates the initial conditions and trajectory of caprine domestication at Aşıklı Höyük, which preserves an unusually high-resolution record of the first 1,000 y of Neolithic existence in Central Anatolia. Our comparative analysis of caprine age and sex structures and related evidence reveals a local domestication process that began around 8400 cal BC. Caprine management at Aşıklı segued through three viable systems. The earliest mode was embedded within a broad-spectrum foraging economy and directed to live meat storage on a small scale. This was essentially a "catch-and-grow" strategy that involved seasonal capture of wild lambs and kiProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of AmericaAn endemic pathway to sheep and goat domestication at Asıklı Hoyuk (Central Anatolia, Turkey).PMC879554424030BCS-135413825754BCS-0912148Munro NDBuitenhuis HDuru GOzbasaran MStiner MCfalseAn endemic pathway to sheep and goat domestication at Asıklı Hoyuk (Central Anatolia, Turkey).Sheep and goats (caprines) were domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but how and in how many places remain open questions. This study investigates the initial conditions and trajectory of caprine domestication at Aşıklı Höyük, which preserves an unusually high-resolution record of the first 1,000 y of Neolithic existence in Central Anatolia. Our comparative analysis of caprine age and sex structures and related evidence reveals a local domestication process that began around 8400 cal BC. Caprine management at Aşıklı segued through three viable systems. The earliest mode was embedded within a broad-spectrum foraging economy and directed to live meat storage on a small scale. This was essentially a "catch-and-grow" strategy that involved seasonal capture of wild lambs and ki2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 Jan2025-04-18T17:08:53.129Z2025-04-07T04:44:00.248ZS-EPMC87955443504279310.1073/pnas.2110930119