黄牛之路：从伏尔加河流域到黄河流域-《中国农史》

文章信息/Info

Author(s):: YANG Yimin; （School of Humanities, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049）

Keywords:: the cattle road; herding revolution; early states; climate change

摘要:: 黄牛是古代社会最重要的家畜之一，是史前物种全球化的主要实证。黄牛既能提供肉、皮和骨等初级产品，也能提供奶、畜力等次级产品。黄牛从西亚起源到传入中国开始大规模养殖经历了约六千年。根据国内外考古资料的梳理，黄牛到中国经历了两次传播，第一波传播在公元前四千纪晚期，从伏尔加河流域到达阿尔泰山脉地区，并零星传播到东北地区和甘青地区，但没在中国社会留下深刻的烙印；第二波传播在公元前三千纪晚期，黄牛从阿尔泰山脉地区传入南疆和黄河流域，让中国先民可以大规模开发之前难以利用的草地资源，提供了新的食物（热量）、手工业原料和动力来源，是中国历史上物质与能量利用形式的一次重大飞跃，引发了牧业革命，从而催化了当时陕北和晋南地区早期国家的诞生。在这些传播过程中，气候变化可能扮演了关键角色。

Abstract:: Cattle was one of the most important domestic animals since antiquity, serving as the solid evidence of the prehistoric species globalization. Cattle not only provided the primary products such as meat, hide and bones, but also offer the secondary products like milk and power. It spent about 6000 years for cattle from the domestication center in west Asia to China with large-scale breeding. Archaeological finding across Eurasia reveal two waves of cattle spread into China. The first wave happened in the late fourth millennium BCE, originating from the Volga Valley to the Altai Mountains, and then sporadically into northeast China and Gansu-Qinghai Region; however, this spread nearly had no impact on ancient China’s societies. The second wave appeared in the late third millennium BCE, starting from the Altai Mountains to south Xinjiang and the Yellow River Valley. Subsequently, ancient Chinese began to raise cattle in large scale and further exploit the grasslands, which were previously difficultly exploited without domestic herbivorous animals. The cattle had provided new sources of food (heat), raw materials for handicraft industry and power, which marked a great leap in materials and energy utilization in China history, triggered a herding revolution that catalyzed the birth of early states in contemporary north Shaanxi province and south Shanxi province. During the spread progress, climate change might play a critical role.