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184 M. Masseti: Homogenisation and the loss of biodiversity of mammals of the Mediterranean islands
in relation to the various species and the different insular In any case, to assess the range of the primeval dis-
complexes. The Neolithic settlement of the islands can- tribution of the species, earlier chronologies prior to the
not be explained as the result of a merely casual maritime Neolithisation of the Near-East and the Mediterranean
dispersal of the hunter-gatherers, but appears much should be considered. After this, the aforementioned
more plausibly a movement of intentional and planned improvement in human seafaring skills and the trade net-
colonisation (Perle` s 2001). The Neolithic settlement of works set up between the various countries enabled the
islands, such as Crete and Cyprus, support this hypoth- artificial exportation of faunistic species of kinegetic
esis. In both cases, the colonisation was accompanied interest, together with those already involved in the pro-
by the transfer of the continental ecological appurte- cess of domestication (Masseti 1998, Lorenzini et al.
nances, also comprising domestic animals, the wild pro- 2002). Archaeozoological investigation records that the
genitors of which did not exist on the islands (Broodbank process of domestication of mammals, such as the wild
and Strasser 1991, Masseti 1998, Vigne and Buitenhuis boar, the Asiatic mouflon and the wild goat, was already
1999, Willcox 2001). Therefore, it is not simply a question established in the Near East from the Middle Pre-Pottery
of the transfer of breeding knowledge, but also of the Neolithic B (MPPNB) (Peters et al. 1999, cf. Schmidt
physical transportation of the animals themselves. The 1999). Thus, evidence of human cultural control over
human group and the related domestic animals that were these mammals can be hypothesised, since they could
moved by sea had to be sufficiently important and bal- have been imported onto the islands from mainland
anced to establish a vital population of men and beasts areas, even located very far afield.
so that the agrarian way of life could be reproduced in a
new territory. This ecological and cultural transplantation As far as is presently known, the first transfers of
could not have been the result of casual maritime pros- allochthonous mammals to Mediterranean islands have
pecting, but only the outcome of an expedition, or a been documented from Cyprus and are chronologically
series of expeditions, planned and prepared with a spe- referred to the colonisation of this island that, as we have
cific objective: the colonisation of an island. already seen, has been dated around the end of the
9th–8th millennium BC (Guilaine et al. 1996, 2000, Pel-
Man brought with him the animals he needed as eco- tenburg et al. 2000, Guilaine and Le Brun 2003). How-
nomic supplies for the colonisation of the new geograph- ever, for the first certain evidence of the importation of
ical areas, promoting their diffusion by eliminating ecolo- exotic ungulates towards more western territories we
gical barriers and by augmenting the anthropogenic envi- have to wait until later dates. This could, for example, be
ronment suitable for these species (Masseti 1998, Cucchi the case of the appearance of Capra aegagrus on the
and Vigne 2006). Together with sheep, goats, pigs, cattle archipelago of the northern Sporades (Aegean Sea,
and dogs, a variety of wild species were also brought Greece). Unknown in the oldest Mesolithic levels of the
onto the Mediterranean islands, including shrews, island of Youra, the remains of wild goats can be regard-
hedgehogs, hares, mice, spiny mice, dormice, foxes, ed as evidence of one of the most ancient human intro-
weasels, martens, badgers, cats and red and fallow deer. ductions in the Mediterranean area beyond the natural
It should be emphasised, however, that in many cases distribution of the species, which was completely extra-
such species have not been yielded by any of the Pleis- neous to the fossiliferous horizons of the north-western
tocene deposits of the islands. It is not immediately Aegean region (Masseti 2002b). In fact, the date of Cal
apparent why man should have wanted to introduce all BC 6410–Cal BC 6220 (7th millennium BC) was obtained
these animals, and the phenomenon can only be for the oldest C. aegagrus remains from the cave of
explained considering each case individually. Regarding Cyclops, through the radio-carbon analysis performed at
this, Meiri et al. (2004) observed that carnivores found on the Beta Analytic Laboratory of Miami (Miami, FL, USA)
modern-day islands could possibly be ‘‘«not colonizers, (Masseti 2002b). The examination of data reported from
but insular relics from a time when a mainland-island con- the archaeological sites of the circum-Mediterranean
nection existed’’. This is, however, not true in many area, yielding the first documentation of the appearance
cases, since there is sufficient evidence for the anthro- of Near Eastern caprines, reveals that the westward arti-
pochorous introduction of these animals (Masseti 2002b, ficial diffusion of sheep and goats in the Mediterranean
2003b). The evidence, in fact, suggests that continental region seems to be quite independent of the cultural con-
carnivores were imported voluntarily by man, otherwise text in which they appeared for the first time: Pre-Pottery
they would not have been able to pass unobserved on and Aceramic Neolithic, respectively, in the eastern Med-
board the small boats employed to reach the islands iterranean and in the Aegean region, and Early Neolithic
(Vigne 1988b, 1995, Masseti 1995a). Synanthropic spe- characterised by the production of impressed ware in the
cies, such as shrews and mice, on the contrary, may well central and western Mediterranean (Masseti 1997, 1998,
have been transported involuntarily by man, hidden with- 2002b). In Sardinia, amongst the first immigrants around
in foodstuffs (Masseti 1998). Furthermore, ethnozoologi- the end of the 7th–6th millennium BC are the fox, Vulpes
cal enquiry documents that hedgehogs (Vigne 1988b) vulpes L. 1758, the wild boar, Sus scrofa L. 1758, the
and dormice (Carpaneto and Cristaldi 1994, Colonnelli et wild goat, the Asiatic mouflon, and the red deer, Cervus
al. 2000) were utilised as food, medicine or for other pur- elaphus L. 1758 (Masseti and Vianello 1991, Vigne 1992).
poses from prehistoric times onwards. Through the intro- The specific absence from the Pleistocene faunal hori-
duction of continental mammals, the endemic faunal zons of osteological finds attributable to all these species
elements were gradually replaced (cf. Vigne 1992), gen- means that they cannot be considered as endemic to
erating changes in the original ecosystem that can be Corsica and Sardinia, as has instead been hypothesised
observed throughout the Mediterranean basin. by Zachos and Hartl (2006) for Cervus elaphus corsica-
nus Erxleben 1777.
