Researched
Animal domestication
Sheep, goats, cattle and pigs were bred for meat, milk, wool and labour, building on the dog, domesticated over 15,000 years ago.
Open in the interactive tree →Sheep and goats were domesticated in West Asia around 9000-8000 BC, cattle and pigs soon after. Animals supplied milk, wool, hides, manure and above all pulling power, which multiplied the energy a farm could use. Close contact with livestock also gave humans many of their epidemic diseases.
Prerequisites
- Spoken Languageat least ~135,000 years ago?
- Farming (Neolithic Revolution)~9500 BC
Unlocks
- Draft Animals & Muscle Power~4000 BCDraft animals must first be domesticated
- The plough~3500 BC
- Genetics and plant breeding1866
- Cultivated meat2020
- Aquaculture overtakes wild catch2022
More in Agriculture & Food · Prehistory
- Farming (Neolithic Revolution)~9500 BC
- Granaries & Grain Storage~9300 BC
- Fermented food and drink~7000 BC
- Irrigation~6000 BC
- The plough~3500 BC