Introduction 

The domestication of wild animals had played a crucial role in the revolutionary transition from hunter-gatherer to agriculture-based societies (Wen and Zhao, 2021). As one of the earliest domesticated animals, the goat (Capra hircus) made significant contributions to the development of human societies, not only as a stable source of high-quality animal protein and products such as skins and hairs, but also as a contributor to the formation and development of national cultures via its vital role in religious rituals and divinations (Cai et al., 2021). Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the issues related to the origin, diffusion and matrilineal inheritance of goats. Archaeological evidence suggests that domestic goats originated in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East about 10,000 years ago, and then spread around the world along with human migration (Zeder, 2008). As informed by molecular biology studies, the direct ancestor of the domestic goats is the wild goats (i.e., Bezoar, Capra aegagrus) (Ajmone-Marsan et al., 2014). A large number of goat remains and archaeological artefacts associated with goats such as goat figurines, goat pens, and other remains  have been unearthed from many Neolithic archaeological sites in China. The earliest dated domestic goats identified by morphological analysis have been unearthed from the Shimao site in Northern Shaanxi which dates back to the Late Longshan period (4300-3800 BP) (Hu et al., 2017). During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, goats appeared in abundance in Northern China, and gradually spread throughout the region (Zuo, 2017). It is hypothesized that domestic goats may have spread to Northwestern China during the Late Longshan period around 4000 years ago, and were introduced to the Central Plains in the middle of China during the Erlitou culture around 3700 years before present (Cai et al., 2021). The results of ancient genome studies show that the Chinese goat originated in West Iran, departed from Iran during the Chalcolithic period (about 6000–7000 BP), and spread to Northwest China around 4000 years ago. However, the dispersal of goats into China and the historical dynamics after their entry into China remain largely uncertain. In addition, the number of sites included in previous studies is small, and as for domestic animals, more attention has been paid to the nuclear genome. By comparison, ancient goat mitochondrial matriline ages have received insufficient attention. Furthermore, previous matrilineal studies have focused on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) fragments, ignoring the more informative mitochondrial whole genome sequences (Meadows et al., 2011). It is worth noting that mitochondrial DNA has been widely used in molecular identification of animals and has been proven successful in species identification for many animals (Hong et al., 2020).