Credit: CC0 Public DomainThe archaeological record is well-recorded and shows the movements of prehistoric Eurasia's animal domesticates. It is not clear how Bronze Age farmers and ranchers incorporated new domesticated animals, such as cows from southwestern Asia, into their long-standing animal husbandry practices and culinary traditions.Washington University in St. Louis archaeologists have found that dairy and meat played a greater role in Bronze Age China's diet than previously believed. This analysis also shows that farmers and herders treated sheep and goats differently to their cows than in other parts. They kept cows closer to their homes and fed them the byproducts of grain crops, such as the millet stalks.Scientific Reports published a study that integrates previously published data from nine locations along the Hexi Corridor. This region is located between the Gobi Desert, Tibetan Plateau and facilitates the movement of ancient crops between Central Asia and East Asia.Petra Vaiglova (postdoctoral Research Associate) and Xinyi Lu (Associate Professor of Archaeology in Arts & Sciences), based their analysis upon bone records and other isotopic information from humans, animals, and plants.Vaiglova stated that the stable isotope method was used to analyze the diets of local herbivores in northwestern China's Bronze Age Hexi Corridor. The results showed that goats, sheep and cattle were managed differently in each ecological niche. This could be attributed to the varying management decisions made by local farmers who sought to balance innovation and tradition.She said that this method had been used in previous research to understand the nature of human diets and the roles of different domestic animals within it. "In this paper we changed our focus to understanding the minutiae in animal dietsand what it tells us about animal management during the Bronze Age."Although sheep and goats may have grazed in the area of villages to get natural vegetation, scientists discovered evidence that cattle were grazed and fed. Researchers found evidence that cattle bones had a greater amount of plants than natural vegetation. This crop group includes millet which was originally grown in Eastern Asia.These results suggest that cattle's diets were more affected by human provisioning. Cattle may have been raised closer to human settlements than goats and sheep.Liu and his colleagues at Washington University are studying how Chinese social and culinary systems respond to exotic crops and domestic animals. His research revealed how foreign innovations that were adopted in Central China ancient times were transformed into highly-organized social and cultural systems.Liu stated that "our results suggest a similar process for the adoption and localization cattle in Hexi Corridor," an animal raised in a markedly altered environment." People adapted local pig-rearing economies to cattle stall-feeding in areas with restricted grazing land.These findings are consistent with ethnographic examples from North China where cattle are more tied to human settlements than allowed to roam freely on nearby or further distant pastures with sheep and goats.Liu stated that understanding past farming practices and diets can help us deal with some of today's challenges. These challenges are both environmental and social.Liu stated that "in the context of warming climates, where soil moisture is expected to be decreasing on a global level, one can draw parallels with the Mid-Holocene conditions in northwest China."He stated that "The widespread spread of agriculture across the Eurasian continent in the period 5000-1500 BC had long-term, profound social impacts." "Identifying the particular nature of agricultural innovations within the continental interior can help with modern-day cultivation practices in marginal environments."Further research on the Earliest Spread of Millet Agriculture Outside China, which is closely linked to herding animalsPetra Vaiglova and colleagues, Localized management in Northwestern China of non-indigenous domestic animals during the Bronze Age. Scientific Reports (2021). Information from Scientific Reports Petra Vaiglova and colleagues, Localized management in Northwestern China of non-indigenous domestic animals during the Bronze Age. (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-95233-x
