Ancient Mongolian aurochs genomes reveal sustained introgression and management in East Asia.

Societies in East Asia have utilized domesticated cattle for over 5000 years, but the genetic history of cattle in East Asia remains understudied. Genome-wide analyses of 23 ancient Mongolian cattle reveal that East Asian aurochs and ancient East Asian taurine cattle are closely related, but neither are closely related to any modern East Asian breeds. We observe binary variation in aurochs diet throughout the early Neolithic, and genomic evidence shows millennia of sustained male-dominated introgression. We identify a unique connection between ancient Mongolian aurochs and the European Hereford breed. These results point to the likelihood of human management of aurochs in Northeast Asia prior to and during the initial adoption of taurine cattle pastoralism.

Zaraa Uul: An archaeological record of Pleistocene-Holocene palaeoecology in the Gobi Desert.

Environmentally-based archaeological research at Zaraa Uul, including zooarchaeology, phytolith analysis, and radiocarbon dating, is the first of its kind in Mongolia and presents critical new insight on the relationship between periods of occupational intensity and climatic amelioration from the earliest anatomically modern humans to the adoption of pastoralism. The palaeoenvironmental and faunal record of Zaraa Uul show that Early-Middle Holocene hydrology and species distributions were distinct from all other periods of human occupation. Holocene hunter-gatherers inhabited an ecosystem characterized by extensive marshes, riparian shrub and arboreal vegetation along the hill slopes and drainages. The exploitation of species associated with riparian and wetland settings supports the hypothesis of, but suggests an earlier timing for, oasis-based logistical foraging during the Early-Middle Holocene of arid Northeast Asia. The onset of wetter conditions at 8500 cal BP agrees with other regional studies, but multiple lines of evidence present the first integrated field- and laboratory-based record of human-environment relationships in arid East Asia during the Holocene Climatic Optimum. We compare it to Late Pleistocene climatic amelioration, and highlight specific responses of the hydrological, vegetative and faunal communities to climate change in arid Northeast Asia.

Archaeological assessment reveals Earth's early transformation through land use.

Environmentally transformative human use of land accelerated with the emergence of agriculture, but the extent, trajectory, and implications of these early changes are not well understood. An empirical global assessment of land use from 10,000 years before the present (yr B.P.) to 1850 CE reveals a planet largely transformed by hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists by 3000 years ago, considerably earlier than the dates in the land-use reconstructions commonly used by Earth scientists. Synthesis of knowledge contributed by more than 250 archaeologists highlighted gaps in archaeological expertise and data quality, which peaked for 2000 yr B.P. and in traditionally studied and wealthier regions. Archaeological reconstruction of global land-use history illuminates the deep roots of Earth's transformation and challenges the emerging Anthropocene paradigm that large-scale anthropogenic global environmental change is mostly a recent phenomenon.