CHAP. VIH. J THE DOMESTIC OXEN, SHEEP, AND GOATS. 299 



Professor Nilsson, it was imported into Scandinavia from 

 Southern Europe. The same remarks apply equally to 

 the probable ancestry of the domestic horse. 1 



The sheep of the pile-dwellings was horned, and of a 

 fine delicate breed, and the goat possessed keeled horns 

 arching backwards, nearly in one plane, and was prob- 

 ably the ancestor of the Welsh goat. Neither of these 

 animals is represented by any wild stock in Europe, 

 and both were unknown in the Pleistocene age. It is 

 therefore clear that we must seek their ancestry in some 

 other, quarter of the world. 



The remains of most of these domestic animals are 

 found in association with Neolithic implements, not 

 merely in Britain and Switzerland, but in Italy, Spain, 

 France, Germany, and Scandinavia, and imply that the 

 same breeds were kept by the herdsmen of that remote 

 age over the greater part of the Continent. It is, how- 

 ever, interesting to note that the local varieties presented 

 now by our domestic breeds, and produced by long-con- 

 tinued selection, have not been observed, up to this 

 time, in Neolithic Europe. 



It is a remarkable fact that the domestic animals 

 appear to have been introduced into Europe en masse, 

 and not, as they might have been expected, one after 

 another. The dog probably was the first servant of 

 man, and aided him in hunting ; but the association of 

 the remains of the animals in Europe affords no direct 

 evidence on the point. 



i Professor Biitimeyer adds the ass to the domestic animals found in 

 the Neolithic pile-dwellings of Wanwyl, and that of Auvernier, of late 

 Bronze age. Keller, Lalce-dwellings, pp. 543, 545. 



