By: Jenne Giles

Before there can be felt, there must first be sheep. Where the sheep go, the wool and felt will surely follow. Sheep have been an essential element of the growth of civilizations, the development of industry, and the colonization of new territories that have shaped the world we know today.

Sheep belong to the Ovis Aries species, part of the Caprinae family. Caprinae animals first appeared 15 to 18 million years ago. They have a tolerance of extreme temperatures and are ideally suited to living in mountainous environments of Europe and Asia. A wild breed of sheep called the "mouflon" is thought to be the primary ancestor of the modern, domesticated sheep that we are familiar with today. It is surprising to think that these early sheep did not have the fleecy wool we so readily associated with present-day breeds. Instead they were likely a variety of hair sheep with a short coat of bristly fibers, unsuitable for spinning or felting. It would take many millennia and careful breeding practices to produce these wooly coats.

Sheep were one of the earliest animals to be domesticated for agricultural purposes, which occurred sometime between 11, 500 to 9500 BCE in the Mesolithic Era. The earliest domestication of sheep is though to have occurred in Central Asia. The steppes in Central Asia are an arid prairie land, too dry to support a forest but not dry enough to form a desert that made traditional agriculture difficult. The people who lived there were pastoral nomads always in motion to find new grazing pasture for their stock of horses, goats, camels and sheep.

Historical records tell us that sheep were raised in Mesopotamia for their meat, milk and skins. It was not until 6000 BCE, during the Neolithic Era, that sheep were selectively bred to produce finer quality wool. Raising sheep for wool production was one of the earliest industries in the ancient world. By 3500 to 3000 BCE, sheep rearing was a major industry that spanned a vast territory ranging from the Caspian Sea across Anatolia into the northwest as far as modern-day Germany and Switzerland and southeast into Sumeria (Schoeser, 25). As ancient people transitioned from nomadic lifestyles to permanent settlements, looms were used to transform wool fibers into woven textiles, which could be traded. In fact, the sheep and textile industry that blossomed during these times may have played an important role in the development of writing to keep better records of this trade.

Sheep first entered the African continent via Sinai and were present in Ancient Egypt between 6000 to 5000 BCE, said to have migrated down Africa from Egypt. Sheep were present in ancient Egyptian society between 6000 and 5000 BCE. The ancient Egyptians revered the male sheep, the Ram, for its virility and war-like attributes. Priests were forbidden from wearing wool garments or eating mutton. Similarly, the dead were not buried with wool, nor were sheeps milk and meat offered to the dead in ceremony. It is unsure whether this is because the sheep were considered impure or whether the sheep were manifestations of important gods that prohibited the use of sheep products in Ancient Egypt.

On the European continent, the sheep industry continued to grow through the Bronze and Iron Age. In ancient Greece, 80% of the economy was based on agriculture and animal husbandry was a sign of wealth and power. Goats and sheep were the most common livestock animals, providing meat, wool and milk. In Ancient Rome, oxen and sheep were the essential elements of wealth and their value is evident in the fact that fines were paid in units of these animals, even after the introduction of coins as currency. In Rome, sheep were used for sacrifice to the gods and for divination of the future, a practice called haruspicy adopted from the Etruscan civilization. Soap made from sheep's tallow emerges at this time, a technology credited to the Celts of Gaul. Romans kept sheep on a large scale and it is likely that they helped sheep to spread through the continent of Europe and other territories of the Roman Empire. Romans introduced a hornless, whiteface short-wool sheep in the British Isles by 55 BCE where they were cross bread with indigenous Soay breed. By 50 CE, the Romans established a wool mill in England, where the wool production flourished to such an extent that it would later dominate the industry during the Middle Ages. The Phoenicians are attributed with introducing sheep from Asia Minor to North Africa, from whence the foundation flocks for the wool industry in Spain would derive.  An alternate legend for the origin of sheep in Britain says that the Phoenicians brought wool to the British Isles sometime between 800 and 500 BCE.