Ancient DNA Studies of Domesticated Cattle in Northern China

Summary

This study aims to use ancient DNA techniques to characterize the genetic features of ancient domesticated cattle in order to trace the origin and spread of cattle in ancient China from eight Late Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in Northern China. DNA was successfully extracted from ancient cattle bone or tooth samples in dedicated ancient DNA labs following vigorous protocols for contamination controls. This study was focused on amplifying mitochondrial D-loop using standard PCR techniques. Among the obtained mtDNA sequences, several haplogroups could be identified including haplogroup C, which belongs to Bos primigenius. Our analysis indicated that there were different ways cattle might have been brought into China. In addition, this study also demonstrated the unique contribution that ancient DNA analysis can make, when combined with archaeological contexts, to our understanding of the origin and history of domesticated animals and to the reconstruction of human-animal interactions in the past.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Recent Advances in Chinese Zooarchaeology

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15700