Zooarchaeology, ancient mtDNA, and radiocarbon dating provide new evidence for the emergence of domestic cattle and caprines in the Tao River Valley of Gansu Province, northwest China

Abstract

The Gansu-Qinghai region of Northwest China was an important region for cultural exchange and the adoption of new animal domesticates during the fourth through second millennia BCE. This paper summarizes previously published zooarchaeological reports from Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces in order to synthesize the changing uses of domesticated taxa and the timing of the arrivals of new domesticates into northwest China. We present new zooarchaeologial data collected during archaeological investigations by the Tao River Archaeological Project (TRAP) at the sites of Dayatou, Qijiaping, and Huizuiwa. These sites allow us to explore changes in animal use at a local scale of analysis, revealing the increasing importance of caprine pastoralism through time. Our analyses also include the first directly dated sheep and goat bones for the region, with the earliest samples dating to 1900-1750 cal. BCE. We conclude that although there is a suggestion that cattle, sheep, and goats arrived in the Gansu-Qinghai region during the 4th millennium BCE, we do not believe that there is definitive evidence for cattle, sheep, and goats until after about 2500 BCE.