The dating evidence for the earliest domesticated cattle and sheep/goats and pastoralism history in Gansu-Qinghai regions, NW China

The early dispersal path of cattle and sheep/goats which first was domesticated in the Fertile Crescentregion of West Asia into China remain controversial. Hexi Corridor, located in the northwest of Gansu-Qinghai (GQ) regions (NW China), is the throat of cultural exchange between East and West Eurasia. Basedon the identification and radiocarbon dating of the animal remains unearthed from two Xichengyi-culturesites from Hexi Corridor, combined with other archaeological data published in GQ regions, this study aimto reveal the time of the earliest domesticated cattle and sheep/goats and pastoralism history in this area,and the early dispersal path of these livestocks into China. The results suggest that to date, the dating agesof domestic sheep/goats (۴۰۵۰ cal BP) and cattle (۳۹۶۰ cal BP) unearthed from these two sites were theearliest within GQ regions, but significantly later than that in the temperate-grassland areas of northernChina. This shows that the earliest domestic cattle and sheep in northern China probably were notintroduced from GQ regions, but rather from the Eurasian temperate-grassland path. Furthermore, theearly pastoralism in GQ regions occurred at the beginning of Qijia/Xichengyi culture (~۴۰۰۰ cal BP),significantly later than the substantial increase of sedimental coprophilous fungal spores in this region since~۵۶۰۰ cal BP). Therefore, the increased coprophilous fungal spores before ۴۰۰۰ cal BP could not come fromdomestic sheep/goats, and hence could not reflect the intensification of pastoralism.