Yak, a species of bovid uniquely adapted to high-altitude environments, plays a critical role in the life of the inhabitants of the Tibetan Plateau and neighboring areas. There is currently no consensus on when these animals may have been domesticated. In this paper, we review the archaeological, genetic, and linguistic evidence relevant to this question, and suggest that the domestication took place following hybridization with taurine cattle from the end of the fourth millennium BCE. This study also shows that the original domesticators of yaks included not only the ancestors of the Tibetans, but also Rgyalrongic speaking people from Eastern Tibet.

中文翻译：

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牦牛驯化：语言学、考古学和遗传证据的回顾

牦牛是一种独特适应高海拔环境的牛科动物，在青藏高原及周边地区居民的生活中发挥着至关重要的作用。目前还没有关于这些动物何时被驯化的共识。在本文中，我们回顾了与这个问题相关的考古学、遗传和语言学证据，并认为驯化是在公元前四千年末与牛磺酸杂交后发生的。这项研究还表明，牦牛的原始驯化者不仅包括藏族的祖先，还包括来自藏东地区的讲嘉戎语的人。