News Anthropology

Humans may have started tending animals almost 13,000 years ago

Evidence of charred dung may push the onset of animal husbandry back about 2,000 years

black and white illustration of buildings at the ancient settlement Abu Hureyra

Early humans at Abu Hureyra (illustrated), an ancient settlement in present-day Syria, burned dung as fuel and may have kept animals on-site nearly 13,000 years ago.

Andrew Moore (CC-BY 4.0)

By Richard Kemeny

Hunter-gatherer groups living in southwest Asia may have started keeping and caring for animals nearly 13,000 years ago — roughly 2,000 years earlier than previously thought.