Pastoral

Exactly where and when herding began remains unclear. On the basis of size and abundance, sheep and goats may have been first domesticated in central (i.e., Syria, southeast Turkey) or eastern ( i.e., Iraq, Iran) part of the Fertile Crescent by 8000 B.C., possibly much earlier. We know that the occupants of Abu Hureyra by the Eupherates were herding sheep and goats in 7500 B.C. . . . .

Qu how the idea of goat/sheep domestication came about and was put into practice is also a matter of debate. Frank Hole of Yale uNiversity thinks that hunters became aware of an increasing scarcity of wild animals and took deliberate steps towards their management. This may have involved the provision of winter forage, the construction of fences to control herd movements, and caring for orphan animals. ~ Page 77/78 (From: "After the Ice" ~ Steven Mithen

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Dinesh ^club

Sheep had been raised for their wool in England since Roman times.
The rocky sod and damp climate of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, though poorly suited for agriculture, were excellent for sheep farming. Beginning in the early twelfth century, but especially after the arrival of Cistercian monks around 1130, the size of English flocks doubled and then tripled. Scholars have estimated that, by the end of the twelfth century roughly 6 million sheep gazed on the English moors and downs. They produced fifty thousand sacks of wool a year. Originally, a “sack” of wool was the burden one packhorse could carry, an amount eventually fixed at 364 pounds, fifty thousand sacks, then, represented huge production. ` Page 332 ~Excerpt “ THE HISTORY OF WESTERN SOCIETY” Volume I