Research conducted by Durham University and the University of Exeter compared modern fallow deer records with zooarchaeological samples dating back 10,000 years. By undertaking this research, the study combined DNA analysis with archaeological insights to reveal how fallow deer have repeatedly been moved to new territories by humans and possess cultural histories dating back to the Roman Empire.

Previously, it was thought that the Normans first introduced fallow to Britain. However, the study has revealed that it was, in fact, the Romans who did so.

As a result of humans manipulating fallow deer populations, there has been a broad range of outcomes confronting fallow deer, such as the Persian fallow deer (dama mesopotamica), which is now endangered compared to the European fallow deer (dama dama), which are now widespread globally and simultaneously are considered and treated as wild, domestic, endangered, or invasive.

The study used DNA samples from modern and archaeological deer specimens worldwide. The oldest sample is from the UK and is 130,000 years old! This sampling created an evolutionary tree that provided an insight into their origins.

Europe features two distinct fallow deer populations, with the first originating in the Balkans and extending across the southern and western parts of Europe, including England during the Iron Age and Roman Empire. However, this population now only survives in pockets of Spain, Italy, and the Greek Islands.

 A second population was also identified that originated from Anatolia and remained isolated until it was brought to Britain in 1,000 AD and, from there, around the world. Previously, a third population, the Persian fallow deer, was widespread throughout southwest Asia but now finds itself listed as Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

The study combined the genetic data with archaeological and historical records to build a picture of fallow deer movements during different periods and relative cultural contexts.

Fallow deer are strongly associated with Greco-Roman goddesses Artemis and Diana, which the study found would have driven much of the deer's movements around the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman period.

What is now known as West Sussex, was identified as the earliest evidence of fallow deer beyond the Mediterranean at a Roman palace in Fishbourne. It was also discovered that fallow deer remained in the country for several centuries before becoming extinct and then being repopulated with fallow from the Anatolian population.

It was, in turn, this population that found itself exported around the British Empire.