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In a new study, an international team of researchers discovered evidence of cattle management in northern China at around the same time cattle domestication was starting in the Near East around 10,000 years ago. Before this study's findings, researchers believed that cattle domestication was exclusive to the Near East. Now, the team, co-led by scientists from the University of York in the United Kingdom and Yunnan Normal University in China, found evidence that the domestication of cattle might have occurred in multiple regions at around the same time.

The researchers were able to conclude their findings after discovering an ancient cattle specimen at an excavation site located in northeast China. The specimen was carbon dated to be 10,660-yeasr-old. The researchers studied the jaw and the wear on the molars and found a pattern that was unique to animals that have been managed under humans. The evidence strongly suggested that cattle domestication was starting in this region of the world as well.

"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," said Professor Michi Hofreiter, who belongs to the department of biology at the University of York.

Johanna Paijmans, the Ph.D. student at York who performed the DNA analysis, added according to the press release, "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."

The study was published in Nature Communications.