Identifying the beginnings of sheep husbandry in western China
Situated at the two sides of Eurasia, Western Asia and China are both important centres for the origins of agriculture and civilization. Key suites of domestic crops, animals, and technologies were independently developed at these two centres. Scholars have been interested in seeing whether there was communication between these ânuclear centresâ in prehistory, and how they were influenced by each other. The domestication of sheep and goat, which first occurred about 10,000 years before present (BP) in the region of modern-day Syria, Turkey, and Iran, has long been assumed as introduced from the West to China, behind which there were population movements and cultural exchanges. However, this hypothesis has not yet been systematically examined. This is because in Western China there is such a complex distribution of wild Caprinae and Gazella species, which all have similar skeletal morphology to domestic sheep (Ovis aries) and goats (Capra hircus), and are difficult to separate from each other based on fragmentary and eroded archaeological remains. This project carries out a systematic osteoscopic and osteometric study of the Caprinae and Gazella in Western China and different Ovis species in Eurasia by
Wang, Yiru
sheep husbandry ; western china ; osteoscopic ; osteometric ; Eurasia ; Caprinae
Identifying the beginnings of sheep husbandry in western China. Situated at the two sides of Eurasia, Western Asia and China are both important centres for the origins of agriculture and civilization. Key suites of domestic crops, animals, and technologies were independently developed at these two centres. Scholars have been interested in seeing whether there was communication between these ânuclear centresâ in prehistory, and how they were influenced by each other. The domestication of sheep and goat, which first occurred about 10,000 years before present (BP) in the region of modern-day Syria, Turkey, and Iran, has long been assumed as introduced from the West to China, behind which there were population movements and cultural exchanges. However, this hypothesis has not yet been systematically examined. This is because in Western China there is such a complex distribution of wild Caprinae and Gazella species, which all have similar skeletal morphology to domestic sheep (Ovis aries) and goats (Capra hircus), and are difficult to separate from each other based on fragmentary and eroded archaeological remains. This project carries out a systematic osteoscopic and osteometric study of the Caprinae and Gazella in Western China and different Ovis species in Eurasia by
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