中国北方地区黄牛起源的分子考古学研究

MOLECULAR ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ORIGINS OF CATTLE IN NORTHERN CHINA

中国黄牛的起源及驯化一直是考古学家和遗传学家共同关注的热点问题。目前的研究多是基于古代黄牛遗骸的形态学鉴定和对现代地方黄牛品种的DNA分析,而针对中国古代黄牛的DNA研究尚少。本文对中国北方5个青铜时代早期遗址出土的42个黄牛进行了线粒体DNA分析,并结合现代黄牛线粒体DNA数据以及考古学文化对中国黄牛的起源、传播路径及其与早期文明的关系进行了讨论。在青铜时代早期,中国北方古代黄牛均为普通牛,未见瘤牛。古代黄牛主要由T2,T3和T4构成,近东起源的T3世系在古代黄牛中占统治地位,频率高达81.0%。近东起源的普通牛可能随着早期人群的迁徙经过两条路线进入中国。

The origin and domestication of cattle have always been the focus of attention of archaeologists and geneticists. Recent studies were based on the morphological identification of cattle remains and DNA analysis of modern cattle, but were not extended to ancient cattle specimens. The emergence and development of ancient DNA technology can help people to recover ancient cattle population genetic structure and trace the genetic relationship between different prehistoric groups. In this study, mitochondrial DNA （mtDNA）analysis was carried out on 42 archaeological remains recovered from five early Bronze Age sites in Northern China. Combining mtDNA data of modern cattle and archaeological culture evidence, we discussed the origin and migration routes of Chinese cattle, as well as the relationship between cattle and early civilization. During the early Bronze Age, all ancient cattle in Northern China belonged to Bos taurrus and no Bos indicus was found. Ancient cattle were composed of T2,T3 and T4, of which the Near-Eastern origin of T3 was predominant with the highest frequency of 81.0%. Bos taurrus were probably introduced from the Near East into China with early human populations via two migration routes.