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Morphological and genetic evidence for early Holocene cattle management in northeastern China

Author

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  • Hucai Zhang

    (Key Laboratory of Plateau Lake Ecology and Global Change, College of Tourism and Geography, Yunnan Normal University)

  • Johanna L.A. Paijmans

    (The University of York
    Present address: Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Street 24–25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany)

  • Fengqin Chang

    (Key Laboratory of Plateau Lake Ecology and Global Change, College of Tourism and Geography, Yunnan Normal University)

  • Xiaohong Wu

    (School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University)

  • Guangjie Chen

    (Key Laboratory of Plateau Lake Ecology and Global Change, College of Tourism and Geography, Yunnan Normal University)

  • Chuzhao Lei

    (Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory for Agriculture Molecular Biology, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A & F University)

  • Xiujuan Yang

    (Museum of Heilongjiang Province)

  • Zhenyi Wei

    (Museum of Heilongjiang Province)

  • Daniel G. Bradley

    (Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin)

  • Ludovic Orlando

    (Centre for Geogenetics, Natural History Museum Copenhagen)

  • Terry O’Connor

    (The University of York)

  • Michael Hofreiter

    (The University of York
    Present address: Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Street 24–25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany)

Abstract

The domestication of cattle is generally accepted to have taken place in two independent centres: around 10,500 years ago in the Near East, giving rise to modern taurine cattle, and two millennia later in southern Asia, giving rise to zebu cattle. Here we provide firmly dated morphological and genetic evidence for early Holocene management of taurine cattle in northeastern China. We describe conjoining mandibles from this region that show evidence of oral stereotypy, dated to the early Holocene by two independent 14C dates. Using Illumina high-throughput sequencing coupled with DNA hybridization capture, we characterize 15,406 bp of the mitogenome with on average 16.7-fold coverage. Phylogenetic analyses reveal a hitherto unknown mitochondrial haplogroup that falls outside the known taurine diversity. Our data suggest that the first attempts to manage cattle in northern China predate the introduction of domestic cattle that gave rise to the current stock by several thousand years.

Suggested Citation

  • Hucai Zhang & Johanna L.A. Paijmans & Fengqin Chang & Xiaohong Wu & Guangjie Chen & Chuzhao Lei & Xiujuan Yang & Zhenyi Wei & Daniel G. Bradley & Ludovic Orlando & Terry O’Connor & Michael Hofreiter, 2013. "Morphological and genetic evidence for early Holocene cattle management in northeastern China," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-7, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3755
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3755
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