Domestic goat

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The domestic goat (Capra aegagrus hircus; formerly Capra hircus) is after the dog and together with the sheep probably one of the first economically used pets. Domestic goats belong to the genus of goats in the family of hornbearers.

Designation
The female animal of Capra aegagrus hircus (synonym: Capra hircus Linné), to Latin capra ("Geiß"), is called besides goat (von ) also goat (von ; compare also /// ), hip, chick or zip, the male animal buck (goat), the castrated male animal is called monk and the goat boy is called goat kitz, goat, goat lamb, chick or chick, in Switzerland Gitzi.

In the Upper German dialects as well as in the Rhine Franconian dialects, there are Gaiß/Goiß/Goaß, or Gääß/Gaaß/Gååß in general for the female goat (compare , ) and goat for the male. Through Luther’s Bible translation, goat has prevailed in high-level language.

Domestication

The domestic goat is descended from the Bezoar goat. Domestication probably occurred before the 11th millennium BC in the Near East, probably in the southern Levant (the territory of Israel and Jordan) or in the Zagros Mountains (the territory of Iran). Studies assume an approximately simultaneous but independent domestication at different points of the Near East. After that, the populations were quickly mixed by human nomadism. Usually it is assumed that with domestication morphological changes in the skeleton occur quickly, especially the shape of the horn cone, as well as a decrease in size. The sex and age ratio in animal bones from archaeological sites is also used to distinguish domesticated and hunted populations.

Locations that prove an early domestication of the goat are, for example:
Ganj Dareh, Iraq, 9000–7500 BC Here, the age composition was cited as evidence of domestication (male young were preferably killed), and the animals were on average smaller than today's wild animals.
Ali Kosch (near Susa, now in Iraq), 7500–5500 BC. Here, the predominance of young animals is cited as evidence of domestication, along with changes in the cross section of the horn cone.

With the neolithization of the European mainland, goats were imported as livestock, such as the neolithization of the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus and Crete. In the prehistory and early history of Central Europe, the goat is proven for the first time in the Körös culture (6200 to 5600 BC) as a livestock, since there are in addition to bone finds also clay vessels with carved goat heads. Goats and sheep are also integral parts of the oldest peasant culture on German soil, band ceramics. The bones of both species are often difficult to distinguish according to classical anatomical determination, so the actual proportion of goat in the prehistory has been poorly researched