aDNA sequencing of Galician cattle mitochondrial genomes

Domestic cattle were brought to Spain by early settlers and agricultural societies. Dueto missing Neolithic sites in the Spanish region of Galicia, very little is known aboutthis process in this region. We sampled 18 cattle subfossils from different ages anddifferent mountain caves in Galicia, of which 11 were subject to sequencing of themitochondrial genome and phylogenetic analysis, to provide insight into theintroduction of cattle to this region. We detected high similarity between samples from different time periods and were able to compare the time frame of the first domesticatedcattle in Galicia to data from the connecting region of Cantabria to show a plausibleconnection between the Neolithization of these two regions. Our data shows a closerelationship of the early domesticated cattle of Galicia and modern cow breeds andgives a general insight into cattle phylogeny. We conclude that settlers migrated to thisregion of Spain from Europe and introduced common European breeds to Galicia.