Archaeologists have discovered evidence for the earliest cattle herds in northern Europe, at the site of Swifterbant in the Netherlands. Using a combination of zoological, botanical, and biochemical methods, they investigated the emergence of farming in northern Europe and found that, not only are these the earliest known domestic cattle, they were also managed in very specific ways.
Agriculture spread through central Europe around 7,000 years ago with the migration of the people of the Linear Pottery culture. North of this region, however, the indigenous inhabitants of what are now the Netherlands, northern Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain continued to live as hunter-gatherers; how and when they adopted farming remains a matter of much debate...
"Until now, the earliest clear evidence placed it around 4000 BC. Older dates were contentious," says lead author of the publication, Dr. Nathalie Brusgaard, now at Leiden University. "In particular, the question of when animals went from being hunted to being kept as livestock remained difficult to pinpoint."
"We discovered that by 4240 BC, the relationship between humans, animals, and plants had clearly changed. Cattle, sheep, and pigs were by then being kept alongside crop farming," states Dr. Brusgaard. "What is more, these early farmers had different herds of cattle that were fed and herded in different ways."
The researchers uncovered this through stable isotope analysis, a biochemical method that gives insight into the diet of ancient individuals. By looking at the diet of the cattle, they found that these animals could be separated into two different groups based on what they ate. One herd had grazed in forests, while the other had been pastured either on manured fields or in the salt marshes.Earliest cattle herds in northern Europe found in the Netherlands | Antiquity | via Phys.org | June 4, 2024
Hmmmm...that’s not what it said in Clan of the Cave Bear...
;]
The Yamnaya were the original Riders of Rohan!
I’ve had bad experiences when milking a cow.
I can’t imagine trying to milk a horse!
“But other people living north of the CAUCASIAN Mountains domesticated horses for transportation about 4,200 years ago”
Yet ANOTHER major achievement, by the White Man.
Horses also evolved in North America; however, they were too small and delicate for domestication. The earliest horses had five-toed feet!
(That is, had there been humans around back then to domesticate them).
It took Spanish ships to introduce horses back to the New World.