From South Asia to the Eastern Mediterranean: Zebu cattle in iconography and nature of Bronze Age Cyprus

Zooarchaeologist Anna Spyrou investigates the appearance of Bos indicus, or zebu cattle, in the iconography and potential fauna of Bronze Age Cyprus. Domesticated in the Indus Valley two millennia after taurine cattle (Bos taurus) were domesticated in the Fertile Crescent, zebu are distinguished physically by a thoracic hump, a pronounced dewlap, long pendulous ears, a sloping rump, and upward-facing horns. Physiologically, they produce less milk and meat than taurine cattle but are thermotolerant, resistant to parasites, and suited to arid environments. Recent genetic studies discussed with Yorgia Hadjipavlou at the Agricultural Research Institute show that the modern indigenous Cypriot cattle breed carries a strong Bos indicus genetic component.

To trace when zebu reached Cyprus, Spyrou outlines three lines of archaeological evidence: skeletal morphology (such as bifid vertebrae found at Levantine sites like Deir Alla), ancient DNA, and iconography. Because faunal reports in Cyprus have traditionally grouped all cattle under Bos and ancient DNA studies on Cypriot cattle had not yet been conducted, she turns to three-dimensional terracotta and bronze figurines, assembled with the help of Vassos Karageorghis. Requiring both a thoracic hump and a dewlap alongside secondary anatomical traits to identify a zebu rather than a heavy-shouldered taurine bull, she examines examples primarily from the Late Bronze Age: a small terracotta bull from Sinda now in the Louvre; two terracotta bulls from the sanctuary at Ayia Irini; a schematic figurine and a 90.9-gram zoomorphic balance weight from Enkomi (paralleled at Tel Beth Shemesh); a handmade figurine incised with four Cypro-Minoan signs from Psilatos at Moutti; bronze statuettes from Katydhata and the ashlar altar at Myrtou-Pigadhes; and a single earlier Middle Bronze Age red-slipped bull from Kissonerga-Skalia.

Spyrou connects this evidence to ecological arguments by Roger Matthews and paleogenomic research by Dan Bradley's team at Trinity College Dublin, which linked the spread of zebu ancestry into Near Eastern taurine herds to multi-century droughts around 4.2 ka and 3.2 ka BP, the latter attested in pollen records from the Larnaca Salt Lake. She concludes by describing her collection of Cypriot cattle bone samples for ancient DNA analysis in Dublin. In the question session, participants including Julia Mutti, Bernard Knapp, and Diane Bolger discuss distinguishing zebu humps from draught oxen musculature, Alassa figurines, collagen preservation in Cyprus, and zebu depictions in Early Christian mosaics.