Cattle Domestication Essay

Domestication of cattle occurred in two regions, the Near East and the Indian subcontinent around 10,500 BP. Taurine (Bos taurus), domesticated in the Near east, has been found to be connected to an original group of as small as 80 aurchos. (Bollongino, 2012). B. taurus (identify these cattle) These animals are very different than modern day domesticated cattle and did not exhibit some of the features of those modern cattle do such as smaller size and docile behavior. This in turn made the domestication of cattle a very tedious process. With this being said, it was not possible to domesticate auroch in a mobile settlement, one must have a permanent dwelling. In the Near East, we find the earliest evidence of domestication at 2 sites, Dja’de, found in the Middle Euphrates Valley during the Early

After an initial breeding phase, which lasted about 1,500-2,000 years, we see a decrease in size and sexual dimorphism of cattle species. Later cattle domestication began to travel to other parts of the globe. In Anatolia and Southeastern Europe, evidence for cattle was found as early as 8,800 - 8,500 BP, and in Central Europe, cattle usage is indicated around 8,000 cal. BP. (Bollongino, 2012). In early sites we find evidence for the slaughtering of cattle for meat, however in more recent settlements, there is specific evidence for milk production form cattle species. Over time the archeological evidence points to an increasing economic importance of cattle for meat and milk production as time goes on. One example of early management of cattle can be found at the site of Çatalhöyük. In the lower levels of this site, full cattle skeletal remains are not prominent which indicates more of a hunter and gather lifestyle (Arbuckle, 2009). Through the comparison of cattle remains from Çatalhöyük with those from morphologically wild type cattle populations, we see that cattle from the lower levels at Çatalhöyük are similar in body size to that of wild