Early Origin of Cattle Farming in China Uncovered by Researchers

A team of international researchers has uncovered early evidence of management of cattle population in northern China almost the same time as cattle domestication took place around 10,000 years ago in the Near East.

The research was co-led  by Professor Michi Hofreiter of the University of York and Professor Hucai Zhang of Yunnan Normal University.

Till date it was assumed that the domestication of cattle began around 10,000 years ago in the Near East that gave rise to the humpless cattle, 2000 years later humans started managing humped cattle in Southern Asia. But this latest finding asserts that management of cattle in northeastern china took place at the same time as the domestication of humpless animals.

Based on the morphological and genetic analysis of bone fossils, researchers say cattle management started along with domestication of taurine cattle (humpless cattle). This clearly indicates that humans may have begun domesticating cows in many more regions around the world than was previously believed.

The researchers unearthed a lower jaw from an excavation site in North china that belonged to an ancient cattle specimen. Carbon dating of the jaw revealed it was some 10,660 years old. The jaw showed distinctive pattern of wear indicating long term management of cattle by humans. Also the DNA of the ancient jaw did not match the lineage of cattle that were domesticated in the Near East and South Asia.

Professor Hofreiter said in a press statement, "The specimen is unique and suggests that, similar to other species such as pigs and dogs, cattle domestication was probably also a complex process rather than a sudden event."

The researchers combined the genetic traits of the ancient jaw, the DNA results and the distinctive wear and said that this give clear evidence of cattle management in  north-east China, a region which was previously not considered a part of the process

"This is a really exciting example of the power of multi-disciplinary research; the wear pattern on the lower jaw itself is already really interesting, and together with the carbon dating and ancient DNA we have been able to place it in an even bigger picture of early cattle management," Johanna Paijmans, the PhD student at York who performed the DNA analysis concluded.

The details were published in the journal Nature Communications.