Note: There is still a lot we don't know about early beginnings of cattle domestication. %% [[The Origins of Agriculture in the Near East#p7 we don't know much about how cows were domesticated in the Near East]] %% During the early days of domestication, most food still came from hunting and fishing. Agriculture (cattle-keeping and wheat cultivation) seemed to have been pursued part-time, as an insurance policy against bad years and perhaps as a way of keeping up with the neighbors, not as a replacement of foraging economy and morality. %%[[The Horse The Wheel And Language by David Anthony#ch08p159 Part Time Cultivation in the Dniester valley]]%% As animal keeping in the steppes spread, so did the rise of chiefs with lots of ostentatious ornaments. Their funerals were accompanied by the sacrifice of sheep, goats, cattle, and horses. The domesticated cattle and sheep that played such a large ritual role were eaten only infrequently, particularly in the east. %%[[The Horse The Wheel And Language by David Anthony#ch09p160 Funerals]]%% Herders ate about 70% fish, with the remaining meat coming from quadrapedal game. Cattle and sheep were more important in ritual sacrifices than in the diet, as if they were initially regarded as a kind of ritual currency used for occasional sanctified meals and funeral feasts. %% [[The Horse The Wheel And Language by David Anthony#ch09p186 The Khvaylnsk Culture on the Volga]]%%