CATTLE FARMING IN CHINA 10,000 YEARS AGO

Research led by Professor Michi Hofreiter from the Department of Biology at the University of York and Professor Hucai Zhang of Yunnan Normal University established clear fossil evidence that cattle farming began in China around 10,000 years ago.

The lower jaw of an ancient cattle specimen was discovered during an excavation in northeast China; the specimen was carbon dated to be 10,660 years old. The molar wear pattern on the teeth of the ancient specimen indicates that humans were involved in feeding the animal. DNA testing indicates that this is a species of cow that is not related to any line of cattle that were domesticated in the Near East and South Asia.

Previously, paleontologists thought that humans began raising domesticated hump less (taurine) cattle in the Near East about 10,000 years ago and peoples in Asia began herding domesticated humped cattle (zebu) in Southern Asia 2,000 years later. The fossil find indicates that the first management of domesticated cattle by humans occurred during the same time frame in Asia and the Near East. There is no evidence that the two cultures communicated in any way at that time although both cultures had a very ancient lineage in Africa.

Edited from Examiner.com (9 november 2013)
http://tinyurl.com/q75n4w3
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