A survey of European primitive breeds of sheep

Abstract

This paper surveys the primitive (i.e. unimproved) sheep of Europe using data (notably the fleece type) from surviving breeds in place of the more commonly-used skeletal and textile remains.Only bone evidence exists for the Neolithic sheep, and its coat is assumed to have been little different from that of the undomesticated wild ancestor. Textile remains show that Bronze Age sheep had less hairy, but still brown, fleeces like those of the Soay sheep that survives feral in the Saint Kilda islands off north west Scotland. Within this less hairy fleece type both textile remains and surviving sheep show a range of variation from relatively hairy to woolly animals.Textile remains show that white sheep appear in the Iron Age. Much wool was, however, still coloured, having either 100 p. 100 pigmented fibres (black or some pigmented fibres and others not (grey or roan). Surviving breeds of this type (often with a primitive short tail) have a similar fleece structure to the Soay but with a range of colours, white, black and grey, in addition to the brown of the Bronze Age Soay. The present paper concentrates on this type which was probably the predominant sheep in Europe untill after the Middle Ages when modern, improved breeds began to emerge.The breeds considered to be of Iron Age type described are divided into groups as follows. The Northern Short-tail which comrises the Romanov of Russio, the Finnish Landrace, tehSwedish Goth, the Norwegian Spaelsau, Faroe, Iceland, Orkney-Shetland, British Four-horned and Irish Cladagh. The consican and Uhant breeds of France are placed with the Guirra of Spain in a South Western group, and three Heath breeds are described from the north European plain, the Drenthe of the Netherlands, the Heidsnucke of Germany and the Wrzosowka of Poland.On Alpine group comprises the Bundner of Switzerland, the Steinschaf of Austria, and the Della Roccia of Italy, and two other Italian breeds and the Massa and Carapelle. The Balkan group includes the Racka of Hungary, the Dubrovnik of Yugoslavia with the Karakachan and Karnobat of Bulgaria, and the Drama and Chalkidiki of Greece. It was possible to include only two breeds of the Soviet Union, the Karachaev of the Caucasus, and the Kulunda of Siberia, which is included for completeness although it is not a European breed.