Domestication (Zooarchaeology) Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

SUMMARY: Chapter 7, in Renfrew & Bahn's textbook (Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice), covers how to assess past subsistence and diet, including plant food (e.g., macro- and microbotanical remains; plant residues; seasonality; domestication), animal resources (e.g., macro-faunal remains; age, sex, and seasonality; domestication; small fauna; types of exploitation), and assessing diet from human remains (e.g., stomach contents; feces; teeth; isotopic methods; bone collagen). A small case study is placed at the end of this ppt. lecture, emphasizing some aspects of subsistence. In my view, this is one of the best college textbooks available, and is invaluable for students, archaeologists, and the public in general, to obtain a top notch overview of approaching and interpreting the archaeological record. UPDATED May 2023.

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- Archaeology, Anthropology, Zooarchaeology, Archaeobotany
- by Ann Gibbons
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- Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Endangered Species, Domestication (Zooarchaeology)

With the help of archaeology and archaeozoology, art and image studies and with an analysis of written sources, the history of our domestic animals can be traced from their wild ancestors over their domestication and their further developments. Dogs as the oldest domesticated animals play a particular role: Like no other domesticated animal, they have centred on humans and are able to understand human facial expressions and gestures. The common history of humans and dogs goes back to the Palaeolithic whereas the cat which is the most popular companion animal in many European countries today was domesticated only many thousand years later. The living together of humans and dogs resp. cats in prehistoric and protohistoric times is complex and characterized by adoration as well as rejection, which has an impact on our society even today.

- by Claude Guintard
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- Systematics (Taxonomy), Domestication (Zooarchaeology)

During the Early Bronze Age, populations of the western Eurasian steppe expanded across an immense area of northern Eurasia. Combined archaeological and genetic evidence supports widespread Early Bronze Age population movements out of the Pontic–Caspian steppe that resulted in gene flow across vast distances, linking populations of Yamnaya pastoralists in Scandinavia with pastoral populations (known as the Afanasievo) far to the east in the Altai Mountains1,2 and Mongolia3. Although some models hold that this expansion was the outcome of a newly mobile pastoral economy characterized by horse traction, bulk wagon transport4,5,6 and regular dietary dependence on meat and milk5, hard evidence for these economic features has not been found. Here we draw on proteomic analysis of dental calculus from individuals from the western Eurasian steppe to demonstrate a major transition in dairying at the start of the Bronze Age. The rapid onset of ubiquitous dairying at a point in time when stepp...

- by Dorcas Brown
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- Archaeology, Dairy Science, Bronze Age Archaeology, Multidisciplinary

Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare1. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling2–4 at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc3. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia5 and Anatolia6, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 bc, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled char...

- by Andrey Logvin
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- Indo-European Studies, Multidisciplinary, Domestication (Zooarchaeology), Nature

In this paper, we test a hypothesis about local dog domestication in the Danube Gorges of the central Balkans in the course of the Mesolithic period. Morphometric features of dog mandibles and teeth from Mesolithic – Early Neolithic sites of Vlasac, Padina, Lepenski Vir and Hajdučka Vodenica have been analyzed and compared with recent wolves from the central Balkans. Decrease in size and changes in proportions of dog's dental features were tracked diachronically. We identified specimens which manifested mixed wolf/dog features. Such specimens originate from the Early Mesolithic contexts, the time when a decrease in size began. On the basis of this pattern we suggest that dog domestication may have taken place in the Danube Gorges during the Early Mesolithic (c. 9500–7500 cal. BC). The reduction of size continued throughout Late Mesolithic (c. 7500–6300 cal. BC), but there were still individuals that might be regarded as “transitional” in comparison with wolves on account of their size, and a distinct difference in size between wolves and dogs didn't develop. Accordingly, if local domestication was in progress here, the domestication process might have lasted for more than just few generations and even several millenia.

- by Sonja Vuković and +1
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- Domestication (Zooarchaeology), Dogs

Whether or not the wolf was domesticated during the early Upper Palaeolithic remains a controversial issue. We carried out detailed analyses of the skull material from the Gravettian Předmostí site, Czech Republic, to investigate the issue. Three complete skulls from Předmostí were identified as Palaeolithic dogs, characterised by short skull lengths, short snouts, and wide palates and braincases relative to wolves. One complete skull could be assigned to the group of Pleistocene wolves. Three other skulls could not be assigned to a reference group; these might be remains from hybrids or captive wolves. Modifications by humans of the skull and canine remains from the large canids of Předmostí indicate a specific relationship between humans and large canids.

This chapter surveys the early domestication of camelids,
the precursor event to the studies in this volume
dealing with llamas and alpacas. Domesticated
camelids were central to the expansive complex societies
of South America. Beyond South America, camelids are a
key example for understanding the importance of specific
variables in animal domestication and pastoralism.
Camelid domestication has been extensively researched
and reviewed (Bonavia 2008; Gilmore 1950; Mengoni
Gonalons and Yacobaccio 2006; Stahl 2008; Wheeler 1999;
Yacobaccio 2007). Even so, a comprehensive picture seems
elusive. I still get asked by colleagues what the "answer" is
to the question of the origins of llamas and alpacas. The
detailed zooarchaeological record of camelid domestication
from central Peru does not resemble the abundant
archaeological record of the south-central Andes. This
chapter emphasizes recent contributions to the study of
camelid domestication from three angles: an increasingly
detailed and comparable zooarchaeological record, new
data from the genetics of living and prehistoric camelids,
and new understanding of living wild and domesticated
camelids. The behavioral and biological data come from
programs for managing wild camelids for sustainable harvest
of their wool and from the recent global popularity of
llamas and alpacas as specialty herd animals and pets.

In an effort to document the density and distribution of prehistoric chicken (Gallus gallus) remains across Oceania, this paper presents the analysis of reported faunal remains from over 500 individual archaeological and natural sites from across the Pacific. We examined the presence and absence of chicken in secure prehistoric contexts and factors which may account for this, including human choice, taphonomy, the influence of other animals on extinction events, differential access to resources, and purposeful extirpation. This research highlights the need for full study of the large percentage (18%) of Pacific avifauna collections which have yet to be analysed, to clarify the range and importance of chicken in prehistory.

- by Alice Storey
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- Gallus gallus, Domestication (Zooarchaeology), Pacific Archaeology

- by Egor Kitov
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- Archaeology, Dairy Science, Bronze Age Archaeology, Medicine
- by Jean Brixhe
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- Ancient Egyptian Religion, Egyptology, Zooarchaeology, Egyptian Art and Archaeology

The art history of South Asia covers a time span of roughly four and a half thousand years. During this period, a vast number of animal stone sculptures has been produced, ranging from the pre-historic period till today and covering a great variety of motifs and imagery in different regions and religious traditions. Even so, the number of studies devoted to these animal sculptures has remained extremely limited. The present book aims at filling this knowledge gap. With this richly illustrated book, the first of its kind, Van der Geer offers a comparative study of the ways in which various … read moreanimals have been depicted and a lucid analysis of the sculptors’ treatment of their “models”: living animals. The art history of sculptured animals is contextualized with a description of the use of animals as can be read from ancient texts, archaeological evidence and contemporaneous culture. In doing so, parallels as well as differences in style or iconography are highlighted, elucidating the variety of animal depictions across regions, religious contexts and through time. The corpus of discussed material ranges from Indus seals, stupa panels and railings, monumental temples from North and South India, non-religious palace and fort architecture to loose sculptures in museum collections

This paper is an introduction to the issue of the journal Arabian Humanities no 8, devoted to the horse in Arabia and in Arabian culture.
The setting of the following contributions is detailed from
specific viewpoints:
• The al‑Maqar case: an ideological historical reconstitution
• The domestication of the horse: the state of the art
• The introduction of the horse in Arabia: the state of the art
• The horse in the Islamic period
• The myth of the Arabian horse

- by Jérémie Schiettecatte and +1
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- Horse culture, Saudi Arabia, Arabian Gulf, Domestication (Zooarchaeology)
- by joris peters
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- Zooarchaeology, Domestication (Zooarchaeology), Ritual Zooarchaeology

The Elizabeth site is a bluff-top mortuary mound group constructed and primarily used during Hopewellian (Middle Woodland) times. Recent reanalysis of nonhuman skeletal remains from the site reveals that an intentional burial previously identified as a dog (Canis familiaris) is actually an immature bobcat (Lynx rufus). As a result of this discovery, we reevaluated eight other purported animal burials from Illinois Middle Woodland mounds, including seven dogs and a roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja). The dogs all appear to be intrusive or unrelated burial events, but both the bobcat and the roseate spoonbill were definite Hopewellian mortuary interments. The roseate spoonbill was decapitated and placed beside a double human burial. But the bobcat was a separate, human-like interment wearing a necklace of shell beads and effigy bear canine teeth. To our knowledge, this is the only decorated wild cat burial in the archaeological record. It provides compelling evidence for a complex relationship between felids and humans in the prehistoric Americas, including possible taming.

- by Terrance Martin and +1
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Domestication (Zooarchaeology), Woodland Archaeology

Histoire de la découverte (1983-2000) de centaines de sites rupestres inédits sur les parois d'une cinquantaine de vallées sillonnant le plateau de grès nubien du MESSAK au Fezzan Libyen. Le nombre d'œuvres permet de percevoir une culture Africaine originale du Néolithique au début de la domestication des grands bovidés et, ayant développé une surprenante mythologie.

The aurochs (Bos primigenius) is generally agreed to be the wild ancestor of domestic cattle (Bos taurus) and an in-depth knowledge of this animal is therefore key to research exploring human-cattle interactions, and the origins and spread of cattle domestication. Domestic cattle are smaller than their wild ancestors, but there is also a degree of overlap between the two species, which means that distinguishing them can be problematic. However, previous analyses of aurochs morphology have generally been patchy, and do not provide a picture of aurochs variation across Europe according to environment, climate and geography. As a consequence, zooarchaeologists often refer to comparative biometrical data from geographical areas and time periods which may not be suitable for identifying remains from their study area. This paper presents results from a wide-ranging study of aurochs biometrical data, in order to provide an overview of its morphological variation across Europe, and highlight the importance of using geographically and climatically appropriate comparative data when attempting to identify and interpret the significance of aurochs remains. We also propose a set of ‘standard’ measurements from an aurochs population excavated at the site of Ilford (Essex, UK) dated to Marine Isotope Stage 7 with the hope that they will be of use to others seeking a suitable standard for the biometrical analysis of cattle populations, especially when looking for the presence of wild specimens.

The domestication of dogs likely occurred in Eurasia by 16,000 years ago, and the initial peopling of the Americas potentially happened around the same time. Dogs were long thought to have accompanied the first migrations into the Americas, but conclusive evidence for Paleoindian dogs is lacking. In this study, the direct dating of two dogs from the Koster site (Greene County, Illinois) and a newly described dog from the Stilwell II site (Pike County, Illinois) to between 10,190 and 9,630 cal BP represents the earliest confirmed evidence of domestic dogs in the Americas and individual dog burials anywhere in the world. Analysis of these animals shows Early Archaic dogs were medium sized, lived active lifestyles, and exhibited significant morphological variation. Stable isotope analyses suggest diets dominated by terrestrial C 3 resources and substantial consumption of riverine fish.

- by Angela Perri and +1
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- Prehistoric Archaeology, Zooarchaeology, North American archaeology, Domestication (Zooarchaeology)

Morphological and morphometric bone variation between archaeological wolves and the oldest domestic dogs commonly are used to define species differences. However, reference data often have been based on small numbers, without robust statistical support. We consulted the literature on these matters in all possible languages and tested many of the proposed species differences by examining wolf and dog skeletons from several collections, accompanied by an extensive synthesis of existing literature. We thus created large reference groups, assessing data distributions and variability. We examined mandible height, width, length, and convexity; contact points of the skull on a horizontal plane; caudal shifting of the border of the hard palate; skull size; carnassials tooth size reduction; micro-anatomical differences in teeth, snout, and skull height; and snout length and width. Our results show that skull length and related size; skull height; snout width; orbital angle; P4 and M1 mesio-distal diameter can help (albeit to a limited extent) to distinguish the oldest archaeological dogs from wolves. Based on our observations, we re-evaluated recent large Pleistocene canids reported as Paleolithic dogs and concluded instead that they fit well within the morphomentric distributions seen with Pleistocene wolves. The research presented here reflects the recent trend to critically re-evaluate axiomatic assumptions about wolf-dog differences, and to rephrase the morphological and morphometric definition of an early archaeological dog in a more suitable manner. These results are important to the international archaeological community because they place historical reports in a newer context, and create a robust (although narrow) framework for further evaluation of archaeological dogs and wolves.

- by Angela Perri
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- Zooarchaeology, Morphological evolution, Morphology, Domestication (Zooarchaeology)

This compilation of faunal data has allowed the development of a chronology of the dispersal of domesticated horses from the Eurasian steppe into Southwest Asia. During the late Pleistocene, horses were widespread throughout much of the Near East, however increasing aridifi cation led to their extinction from the region. Their presence within the archaeological record of the Late Holocene therefore suggests their spread as a human-controlled domesticate. Early domesticated horses are found at Botai, Kazakhstan, although faunal data indicates that Anatolia, Iran, and the southern Levant contained surviving populations of wild horses during the mid-Holocene. If these remains from the Levant, western Iran, and Anatolia do not belong to native wild progenitors, their presence in Late Chalcolithic deposits indicate an introduction of domesticated horses to this region much earlier than previously assumed. The Buhen horse is the oldest dated domesticated horse in Egypt and was assumed to be anachronistic given the lack of contemporaneous Levantine specimens. However horses were present in the Levant prior to and contemporary with the Buhen horse, illustrating a steady southward distribution from the Eurasian steppe over two millennia dating from the Late Chalcolithic to the Late Bronze Age; a spread likely hastened by the widespread adoption of chariot warfare in the early 2nd millennium BC.

- by Gene Shev
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- Near Eastern Archaeology, Zooarchaeology, Archaeozoology, Ancient Near East

Little is known about the beginnings and spread of food production in the tropics, but recent research suggests that definitions that depend on morphological change may hamper recognition of early farming in these regions. The earliest form of food production in Africa developed in arid tropical grasslands. Animals were the earliest domesticates, and the mobility of early herders shaped the development of social and economic systems. Genetic data indicate that cattle were domesticated in North Africa and suggest domestication of two different African wild asses, in the Sahara and in the Horn. Cowpeas and pearl millet were domesticated several thousand years later, but some intensively used African plants have never undergone morphological change. Morphological, genetic, ethnoarchaeological, and behavioral research reveals relationships between management, animal behavior,
selection, and domestication of the donkey. Donkeys eventually showed phenotypic and morphological changes distinctive of domestication, but the process was slow. This African research on domestication of the donkey and the development of pastoralism raises questions regarding how we conceptualize hunter-gatherer versus food-producer land use. It also suggests that we should focus more intently on the methods used to recognize management, agropastoral systems, and domestication events.

- by Lior Weissbrod
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- Africa, Food Production, Domestication (Zooarchaeology)

- by Alan Outram
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- Geography, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Indo-European Studies
- by Nadezhda Kotova
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- Geography, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Indo-European Studies

- by Alan Outram
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- Archaeology, Dairy Science, Bronze Age Archaeology, Medicine
- by Rozenn Bailleul-LeSuer
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- Ornithology, Zooarchaeology, Poultry Science, Historiography

This study explores and demonstrates processes of cultural change in the first half of the 6th millennium cal BC, among the Körös and Starčevo groups of the northern marginal zones of the Balkans. Within this period and zone, which forms the southern part of the Carpathian basin, clay was the fundamental and most abundant building block of material culture, architecture, everyday life and cult practices. Clay walls, furniture, ten thousands of vessels, hundreds of clay figurines and other cult objects accumulated as huge piles of clay debris in every settlement. Traditional system of subsistence patterns ceased to fully function when these first farmers occupied cool and wet hilly forested landscapes: the environmental and cognitive challenges gradually led to the decline of this clay-centred orbit. At the same time, these changes gave birth to a no-less stunning world constructed more of timber and stones, with transformations in subsistence, material culture and rituals. This transition is inextricably bound up with the formation of the first farmers’ communities of Central Europe, the Bandkeramik (LBK). The need for new elements of subsistence involved the increasing significance of cattle over caprinae: this shift infiltrated into ritual activities. The newly identified large horned cattle figurine type, acting as the cornerstone of this study, is an embodiment of the last instance among the South-East european communities of the clay world, while changes in the depictions already reflect the transformation of lifestyles. The role of cattle and their monumental depictions, found in domestic contexts, define methods for unfolding this phenomenon. In this fascinating new study, Eszter Bánffy takes a holistic approach to the definition of monumental early Neolithic clay figurines, analogies over South-east Europe, and the reconstruction of rituals involved in the making and using figurines. She reviews a broad scope of environmental and (social) zooarchaeological analyses to examine the concomitant development and significance of early dairying. The target is to present one possible narrative on the fading of the South-east European ’clayscapes‘, towards the birth of the LBK and the Central European Neolithic.

- by Eszter Banffy
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Anthropology, Social Sciences

Since the discovery of desert kites during the 1920s in southwestern Asia (where they are widely distributed) their possible functions have received much attention from archaeologists. Two main functions have been hypothesized, namely, kites primarily used either as game traps or as structures used for livestock husbandry. Two papers published in the 1990s expressed opposing views about the relevance of these different uses. During the last two decades much information has been gathered on kites as a result of archaeological excavations and satellite imaging. However the function or functions of desert kites remains uncertain. Starting from the 1990s debate, we revisit this controversial issue by reviewing the academic literature published since then. On the basis of this literature and other considerations, we conclude that although some (or all) may have been used for hunting, their main use was for the mustering of livestock. This favors the hypothesis of Echallier and Braemer (1995). In addition, it seems likely that kites were used for a third function, namely the capture of some wild or feral species of animals, particularly goats.

The recent explosion of stable isotope analyses of ancient faunal remains are opening new vistas into understanding the complex subsistence, social, and political facets of the human-animal relationship traditionally investigated through zooarchaeological analytical approaches. This paper traces a path of increasing connectivity between the disciplines of stable isotope biogeochemistry and zooarchaeology, a process initially facilitated by their shared interest in faunal remains and also discipline specific methodological and technological developments that opened new areas of archaeological inquiry. While a disciplinary convergence on research questions concerned with Neandertal subsistence provided an important touchstone between zooarchaeology and stable isotope analysis, zooarchaeological research agendas investigating animal domestication processes and documenting ancient animal management strategies in particular provided the critical spark that propelled stable isotopic approaches toward questions engaged with understanding how humans manipulated animal resources for their own subsistence and social needs. This paper further argues that an integrated isotope zooarchaeology is defined by an intrinsic scalar analytical flexibility that provides mutually contextualized multi-scalar insights into human behaviors at the levels of individual, household, and community previously unattainable by either zooarchaeology or stable isotope analysis alone. A further tempering of isotope zooarchaeology through explicit use of theoretical frameworks that draw from human behavioral ecology, practice theory, and cultural niche construction theory is now needed to provide coherent frames of reference that incorporate zooarchaeological and stable isotopic datasets to better understand the human use of animals for daily subsistence, social negotiation, ritual activity and political purposes.

This paper aims to present the most plausible scenario of the domestication of the wolf, concentrating on the initial
phase of this process. According to the nature of the subject, this is accessible only through a deductive approach.
It will be argued that domestication must have been performed unconsciously, starting out with wolf pups taken as
emotional objects. Wolves can be socialized to humans under certain circumstances, so that even adult wolves can
fulfill this function as pets, although some animals do better than others. This individual variation then is the basis
for human selection, performed without consciousness for the process domestication, and without the intention to
domesticate the wolf. The selection will be directed solely towards the behavioral traits that make better pets, which
are for the wolf increased socialization and decreased flight behavior. As shown by other studies, selection for
behavioral traits will cause morphological and physiological changes as well, since numerous characters are
linked through polygenes that govern hormones responsible for ontogenetic growth patterns. However, the
unintended wolf domestication is not repeatable for the following livestock species for reasons connected to their
behavioral constitution as well as their food requirements. One must conclude, therefore, that between the
domestication of the wolf and that of the following species, a comprehension of the process must have arisen. The
subsequent conclusion then is that it was not just by chance that the wolf was the first species to be domesticated,
but the wolf could be termed the inevitable first domesticate.

This article examines domestic animals in a different light: the initial responses of Aborigines in Arnhem Land, Northern Australia to the sudden appearance of strange animals in their midst. European explorers and settlers’ accounts of their first impressions of fauna in new lands feature descriptions of strange hopping kangaroos and bizarre-looking platypus. There has been little conveyed, however, about how the First Australians responded to encounters with a whole new suite of animals that engaged with humans in a very different way. What was their attitude toward domesticated animals, given that they did not immediately belong within their totemic way of structuring the world? How did they react when they first saw horses carrying humans on their backs? Were they interpreted initially as a single alien being? Instigated by images from rock art, but accompanied by historic and ethnographic accounts, records of first contact provides some insight into Aboriginal reactions to an unknown domestic animal. Initial encounters with the horse reveal how colonisation and domestication were inextricably entwined through a particular European mindset of domination, control and containment.

Recent excavations of two domestic residences at theMitla Fortress, dating to the Classic to Early Postclassic period (ca. CE 300–1200), have uncovered the remains of juvenile and adult turkeys (both hens and toms), several whole eggs, and numerous eggshell fragments in domestic refuse and ritual offering contexts. Holistically, this is the clearest and most comprehensive evidence to date for turkey domestication in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico. Juvenile turkeys range in age, from recently hatched poults to young juvenile birds. Medullary bone,
which only forms in female birds before and during the egg-laying cycle, indicates the presence of at least one egg-laying hen. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the eggshell reveals both unhatched and hatched eggs from a range of incubation stages, from unfertilized or newly fertilized eggs to eggs nearing the termination of embryogenesis to hatched poults. We present these new data and explore turkey husbandry, consumption, and use by two residential households at the Mitla Fortress.

- by Gary Feinman and +2
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- Archaeology, Anthropology, Zooarchaeology, Ritual

Geoarchaeological investigations along the Galana River, eastern Kenya, document a pattern of channel aggradation and then degradation from the Middle to Late Holocene. Archaeological occupations at six sites in fluvial terraces along a ˜100 km stretch of the Galana River in Tsavo East National Park correspond with fluvial aggradation beginning ca. 6000 years ago. Artifact analyses indicate that the inhabitants of these sites utilized ceramics and stone tools similar to Pastoral Neolithic traditions detected at other penecontemporaneous archaeological sites in East Africa and possessed domesticated cattle from ca. 3700 years ago. The site occupations that occur during this period have dense artifact concentrations of predominantly locally procured items. The Galana River incised after ca. 900 years ago and there is a noticeable paucity of archaeological material, reflecting more peripatetic lifestyles. This shift in settlement pattern may reflect a decrease in reliance on riverine food sources during the Late Holocene, with diminished riparian environments associated with channel incision.

- by Steven Forman and +1
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- Human Ecology, Archaeology, Geology, Geomorphology

At the transition of the Neolithic and the Chalcolithic, the expansion of Syro-Mesopotamian farmer-herders to the Caucasus was accompanied by the exploitation of mineral resources (obsidian, copper), causing the integration of indigenous cultural entities in the form of local traditions such as those of Aratashen (Armenia), Shulaveri (Georgia) and Shomutepe (Azerbaijan) . In the highlands of Syunik (Armenia), the hunter-gatherers of the Vorotan River, whose livelihood was essentially based on the exploitation of horses since the Upper Paleolithic, joined the farmer-herders whose expansion quickly reached the Pontic Steppe, the Volga Basin and Central Asia. The domestication of the horse, part of the new baggage of knowledge, spread simultaneously from the Vorotan and Araxes rivers from the beginning of the 5th millennium BC.