An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c6.s2.t1.3

v1.c6.s2.t1.3

The earliest evidence for the zebu dates back to *c.* 3500 B.C. in the Quetta valley and the Zhob region in Baluchistan. The Harappa sites (*c.* 2000 B.C.) [4.9] have also yielded bones of cattle (humped and humpless) in addition to depictions on seals and pottery. The humpless cattle are traced back to *primigenius* (aurochs) cattle originally from w. Asia, but the origins of the zebu remain problematic. Its ancestors may have been the Pleistocene humped cattle of India, *Bos namadicus*, bones of which have been found at sites along the Narmada and Godavari, and at Mohenjo-daro and LANGHNAJ. Theories tracing its origin to an African wild race of *Bos* or the wild ox of Burma and Malaysia (*Bos banteng*) remain unsubstantiated. An indigenous origin is also proposed, because *Bos indicus* is believed to have some gaur blood and is found in several very early prehistoric sites, e.g. ADAMGARH. Pilgrim, 1939, considered *Bos acutifrons* of the Siwaliks as a possible ancestor of both *Bos primigenius* and *Bos namadicus*. Evidence suggests a connection between the former and *Bos indicus*, but these issues must await further data from the intermediate regions, as the original centre of domestication in the Old World has not yet been established.