http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/10/15/humans-have-hosted-tuberculosis-bacteria-for-at-least-9000-years/ 80beats is DISCOVER's news aggregator, weaving together the choicest tidbits from the best articles covering the day\'s most compelling topics. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:01:14 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/10/15/humans-have-hosted-tuberculosis-bacteria-for-at-least-9000-years/comment-page-1/#comment-10908 Brad Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:30:47 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/10/15/humans-have-hosted-tuberculosis-bacteria-for-at-least-9000-years/#comment-10908 A date of 9000BP does not rule out that TB was passed from domesticated cattle to humans. It would only indicate that such a transfer happened farely quickly. There is good archaeological evidence to support domesticated cattle in the Western desert of Egypt by 9000BP. Faunal remains at sites in the area show that the inhabitants has access to cattle, but the climate was such at that time that wild cattle could not have been supported by the environment. These had to be domestic animals receiving assistance to find water and food in the harsh desert environment. Domestication is not something which happens quickly. If these cattle were domesticated in 9000BP, then the people using them had been in close contact with these animals for some time before that evidence became apparent in the archaeological record. A date of 9000BP does not rule out that TB was passed from domesticated cattle to humans. It would only indicate that such a transfer happened farely quickly. There is good archaeological evidence to support domesticated cattle in the Western desert of Egypt by 9000BP. Faunal remains at sites in the area show that the inhabitants has access to cattle, but the climate was such at that time that wild cattle could not have been supported by the environment. These had to be domestic animals receiving assistance to find water and food in the harsh desert environment. Domestication is not something which happens quickly. If these cattle were domesticated in 9000BP, then the people using them had been in close contact with these animals for some time before that evidence became apparent in the archaeological record.

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