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Oldest Directly Dated Remains of Sheep in China

The origins of domesticated sheep (Ovis sp.) in China remain unknown. Previous workers have speculated that sheep may have been present in China up to 7000 years ago, however many claims are based on associations with archaeological material rather than independent dates on sheep material. Here we p...

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Autores principales: Dodson, John, Dodson, Eoin, Banati, Richard, Li, Xiaoqiang, Atahan, Pia, Hu, Songmei, Middleton, Ryan J., Zhou, Xinying, Nan, Sun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5384082/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25417648
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep07170
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author Dodson, John
Dodson, Eoin
Banati, Richard
Li, Xiaoqiang
Atahan, Pia
Hu, Songmei
Middleton, Ryan J.
Zhou, Xinying
Nan, Sun
author_facet Dodson, John
Dodson, Eoin
Banati, Richard
Li, Xiaoqiang
Atahan, Pia
Hu, Songmei
Middleton, Ryan J.
Zhou, Xinying
Nan, Sun
author_sort Dodson, John
collection PubMed
description The origins of domesticated sheep (Ovis sp.) in China remain unknown. Previous workers have speculated that sheep may have been present in China up to 7000 years ago, however many claims are based on associations with archaeological material rather than independent dates on sheep material. Here we present 7 radiocarbon dates on sheep bone from Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Shaanxi provinces. DNA analysis on one of the bones confirms it is Ovis sp. The oldest ages are about 4700 to 4400 BCE and are thus the oldest objectively dated Ovis material in eastern Asia. The graphitisised bone collagen had δ(13)C values indicating some millet was represented in the diet. This probably indicates sheep were in a domestic setting where millet was grown. The younger samples had δ(13)C values indicating that even more millet was in the diet, and this was likely related to changes in foddering practices
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spelling pubmed-53840822017-04-12 Oldest Directly Dated Remains of Sheep in China Dodson, John Dodson, Eoin Banati, Richard Li, Xiaoqiang Atahan, Pia Hu, Songmei Middleton, Ryan J. Zhou, Xinying Nan, Sun Sci Rep Article The origins of domesticated sheep (Ovis sp.) in China remain unknown. Previous workers have speculated that sheep may have been present in China up to 7000 years ago, however many claims are based on associations with archaeological material rather than independent dates on sheep material. Here we present 7 radiocarbon dates on sheep bone from Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Shaanxi provinces. DNA analysis on one of the bones confirms it is Ovis sp. The oldest ages are about 4700 to 4400 BCE and are thus the oldest objectively dated Ovis material in eastern Asia. The graphitisised bone collagen had δ(13)C values indicating some millet was represented in the diet. This probably indicates sheep were in a domestic setting where millet was grown. The younger samples had δ(13)C values indicating that even more millet was in the diet, and this was likely related to changes in foddering practices Nature Publishing Group 2014-11-24 /pmc/articles/PMC5384082/ /pubmed/25417648 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep07170 Text en Copyright © 2014, Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder in order to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Dodson, John
Dodson, Eoin
Banati, Richard
Li, Xiaoqiang
Atahan, Pia
Hu, Songmei
Middleton, Ryan J.
Zhou, Xinying
Nan, Sun
Oldest Directly Dated Remains of Sheep in China
title Oldest Directly Dated Remains of Sheep in China
title_full Oldest Directly Dated Remains of Sheep in China
title_fullStr Oldest Directly Dated Remains of Sheep in China
title_full_unstemmed Oldest Directly Dated Remains of Sheep in China
title_short Oldest Directly Dated Remains of Sheep in China
title_sort oldest directly dated remains of sheep in china
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5384082/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25417648
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep07170
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