This brief provides a unique overview that weaves a thread across the deep history of the management and symbolism of wild aurochs and domestic cattle in Sudan, where these practices are attested for over 15,000 to 20,000 years. It highlights the central preoccupation with these bovids by societies of the region, from the time of the earliest funerary rituals involving wild aurochs in the late Pleistocene, to the introduction of domestic cattle in the Neolithic, to pre-state societies through the historical period into the present day. It recounts the relationship between humans and the African aurochs, the processes of wild animal management, the prey pathway that provides a possible model for domestication, the introduction of Bos taurus to the African continent, and then the establishment of widespread herding practices, including the introgression of the African aurochs into domesticated cattle populations. Finally, it emphasises the economic and symbolic value of cattle seen through social cults and even a human ‘infatuation’ with cattle by observing the roles and representations of these animals from different disciplinary perspectives. Its geographic scope covers modern…

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