Researchers from the Prehistoric Studies and Research Seminar and the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Barcelona have identified the oldest mule documented in the western Mediterranean and continental Europe, in the Penedès region. The discovery, reported in an article published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports , dates back to between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, during the early Iron Age, when the Phoenicians introduced donkeys to the Iberian Peninsula. Since mules are a hybrid between a donkey and a mare, the dating established by researchers suggests that knowledge of hybridizing equids may have reached Europe from the Middle East earlier than previously thought.
The animal studied was documented in 1986 during the excavation of part of the Hort d'en Grimau site in Castellví de la Marca. Specifically, it comes from inside a pit, probably a silo, in which the partially burnt skeletal remains of a woman were also deposited. The material is currently preserved at the Museum of Wine Cultures of Catalonia (VINSEUM) in Vilafranca del Penedès. In this study, the animal was dated using radiocarbon dating methods and identified through genetic analyses. The research team has conducted a multidisciplinary study at the taxonomic, morphological, pathological and dietary levels of the animal based on stable isotopes. Both the context of the discovery and the presence of Phoenician material at the same site or at other nearby sites link the area to Phoenician trade networks.
Donkeys were introduced to the Iberian Peninsula through the trade networks established by the Phoenicians throughout the Mediterranean. These traders ended up settling in trading posts and colonies along the peninsula's coastline and introduced, among other products, exotic animals of foreign origin, such as donkeys and chickens .
The hybridization of equids made it possible to obtain transport animals such as mules, which are better adapted to arid climates and more resistant than horses. The study suggests that the mule from the Penedès site, which was used for transport and fed on fodder, could be the result of hybridization on the Iberian Peninsula from the in situ crossbreeding of local horses and imported donkeys. However, other possibilities are equally plausible, and it could also be a mule born outside the peninsula, a fact that genetic and isotopic analyses will resolve. In any case, the discovery opens the door to considering the north-western Mediterranean as an important centre for Phoenician expansion. Until now, the oldest mules on Europe were dated three or four centuries later, during the early Roman period.
This study, led by the UB, also involved researchers from the Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse (CNRS and University of Toulouse III), the University of A Coruña and the University of Extremadura. The study received funding from the projects ARQ001SOL-178-2022, from the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Catalonia; PID2024-156954NB-I00, from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and the EU European Regional Development Fund; SGR2021-00337, from the UB's Prehistoric Studies and Research Seminar, and PEGASUS (681605) and HorsePower (101071707), from the European Research Council.
Reference article:
Albizuri, Silvia; Nadal, Jordi; Martín Cuervo, María; Grandal-D'Anglade, Aurora; Orlando, Ludovic; Fages, Antoine; Mercadal, Oriol (†); Mestres, Josep; Farré, Jordi; López Cachero, F. Javier. "The oldest mule in the western Mediterranean. The case of the Early Iron Age in Hort d'en Grimau (Penedès, Barcelona, Spain)". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, February 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105506 .
