History of Cows
The cow is traceable throughout ancient history. While some authorities date the domestication of cattle as early as 10,000 years ago, others place the date somewhere around 5,000 years. Sanskrit records mentioned milk 6,000 years ago. Fossilized remains of domestic cattle dating to 6,500 B.C. have been found in Turkey. Evidence at other sites in the Near East approach this age.
Modern domestic cattle evolved from a single early ancestor: the aurochs. Aurochs was a very large breed, gone extinct in the 17th century. ccording to the Paleontologisk Museum, University of Oslo, aurochs evolved in India some two million years ago, migrated to the Middle East and further into Asia, and reached Europe about 250,000 years ago. Domestication of the aurochs began in the southern Caucasus and northern Mesopotamia from about the 6th Millennium B.C.
The relationship between cows and man began with the revolutionary advent of domestication in Mesopotamia, the Indus River Valley, and Africa. here were many possible candidates for the job but only the cow fit the specific criteria humankind needed: not too flighty, breeds well in captivity, grows at a good pace, not aggressive, requires a low maintenance diet. Our ancestors chose wisely: Cows provide just about all of our basic needs, from milk and meat to muscle.
Domesticated since at least the early Neolithic, cattle occupy a unique role in human history. They are raised for meat (beef cattle), milk (dairy cattle), and hides. They are also used as draft animals and in certain sports. Some consider cattle the oldest form of wealth, and cattle raiding consequently the earliest form of theft.
Societies that learned to domesticate the cow prospered, while those that did not were left behind. A valuable commodity to some, religiously revered by others, it is a beast of burden, a means of transportation, a way of life. This creature's many gifts have sustained and supported the human race on our journey to civilization, and each of us continues to owe a daily debt to the humble, extraordinary cow.
Speaking Scientifically
Cattle (often called cows in vernacular and contemporary usage, or kye as the Scots plural of cou) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae.
Cattle were originally identified by Carolus Linnaeus in the 18th century as three separate species. These were Bos taurus, the European cattle, including similar types from Africa and Asia; Bos indicus, the zebu; and the extinct Bos primigenius, the aurochs. The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and European cattle.
Terminology
The word cattle did not originate as a name for bovine animals. It derives from the latin caput, head, and thus originally meant "unit of livestock" or "one head". The word is closely related to "chattel" (a unit of property) and to “capital” in the sense of “property.”
Older English sources like King James Version of the Bible refer to livestock in general as cattle. Additionally other species of the genus Bos are often called cattle or wild cattle. This article refers to the common modern meaning of “cattle,” the European domestic bovine.
Sources
The Educational Broadcasting Corp., OSU Board of Regents, Wikipedia: Aurochs, Wikipedia: Bovinae, Wikipedia: Cattle