ABSTRACT
Since ancient times the nomadic peoples of Central Asia have developed nomadic livestock husbandry techniques appropriate to their environment. Over millennia, they have successfully domesticated five principal types of animals indigenous to the region, including sheep, goats, cattle (including yaks), camels, and horses. Archeological findings reveal that humans lived in Central Asia at least since the Paleolithic era, 500,000 years ago. There is evidence that over 14,000 years ago, during the Mesolithic era, humans first experimented with the domestication of wild animals in territory known today as Mongolia. The Neolithic era, 8,000 years ago, saw widespread domestication of animal livestock in the area. The transition from hunting wild animals to domesticating them as livestock was truly a revolution of the Neolithic age. Farm animals used in Mongolia today have evolved under human influence since this time, and animal husbandry has been the main livelihood of Central Asian nomads since the Bronze Age, approximately 5,000 years ago.
