Common carp aquaculture in Neolithic China dates back 8,000 years

Despite the growing importance of farmed fish for contemporary economies, the origins of aquaculture are poorly known. Although it is widely assumed that fish domestication began much later than the domestication of land animals, the evidence is largely negative. Here, we use age-mortality and species-selection profiles of fish bones from prehistoric East Asia to show that managed aquaculture of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) was present at the Early Neolithic Jiahu site, Henan Province, China, by around 6000 bc. Comparing body-length distributions of modern and archaeological specimens of common carp, the authors find evidence consistent with fish management in the Early Neolithic site of Jiahu in China, representing the earliest identified form of aquaculture.