Ancient dung analysis suggests animals being farmed for food 13,000 years ago

Dung spherulites from the soil samples from Abu Hureyra (Alexia Smith/University of Connecticut)

Animals were being farmed for food as early as around 13,000 years ago, an analysis of ancient dung suggests.

According to researchers, hunter-gatherers living in Abu Hureyra – the Upper Euphrates valley in Syria – were bringing sheep and other live animals and tending to them outside their huts thousands of years ago.