Goat

After the dog, goats and sheep are the oldest domestic animals kept by humans.

After dogs, goats and sheep are the oldest domestic animals kept by humans.

The goats of the Neolithic Europeans descended from Anatolian wild goats called Bezoar goats. Anatolia is in Turkey. There they were domesticated around 10,000 BC and later brought to Europe by the first farmers.

At first, goats were kept primarily for meat production. Their horns, bones, tendons, skins and furs were also important for people back then. Later they discovered milk as food (drinking milk, yogurt, cheese) and that goat faeces can be used as fertilizer.