Ever wondered how cows could spill the tea on ancient human stories? 🐄💬 This week, a team led by Prof. Cai Dawei from Jilin University in the Chinese mainland and researchers at Seoul National University in the Republic of Korea published their findings in Science, mapping 10,000 years of East Asian cattle DNA. The result? Solid proof that prehistoric societies along Silk Road routes were mixing, mingling, and trading more than just spices and silk.
By sequencing 166 ancient bovine samples from sites across the Chinese mainland, spanning 10 millennia, the researchers built one of the biggest time-series genomic datasets ever for ancient East Asian cattle. And the surprises keep coming…
As early as 5,000 years ago, taurine cattle had made it to the Yellow River basin, the cradle of ancient Chinese civilization. There, they hooked up with local wild aurochs, spawning unique regional herds—like the VIP collabs of the prehistoric animal kingdom.
But hold up: in the Xinjiang region, early cattle bore genetic traces from Western taurine and South Asian indicine lineages. This bio-blend slowly drifted eastward, shaping northern China’s cattle game from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age.
“Cattle have long played a central role in agropastoral societies across East Asia,” says Cai. “Our study mirrors the deep networks tying eastern and western Eurasia—think of it as ancient geo-tagging on a massive, continent-spanning feed.”
Beyond the bovine glow-up, these findings open a window into early human migrations, tech-sharing, and civilization exchanges. It’s like discovering a prehistoric group chat buzzing with ideas, but way cooler and with more cows. 🐮✨
Next time you see cattle grazing, remember: their DNA is a living time machine, keeping secrets from 10,000 years ago. Future digs and DNA dives will surely add more chapters to this epic saga of ancient collaborations and cross-continental connections.
Reference(s):
East Asian cattle history reveals prehistoric civilization exchanges
cgtn.com
