The domestication of animals

Juliet Clutton‐Brock. Domesticated Animals from Early Times.Austin: University of Texas Press; London: The British Museum, 1981. 208 pp. $24.95.     

Pig domestication and husbandry practices in the middle Neolithic of the Wei River Valley,northwest China: evidence from linear enamel hypoplasia

Linear enamel hypoplasia is a physical deficiency occurring during the process of enamel formation and it is visible on the crowns of mammal teeth. It can be used to trace physical stresses during life. In this study, linear enamel hypoplasia in samples of pigs from three Neolithic sites in the Wei River valley (China) were recorded and analysed, to investigate the status of pigs at these sites, their living conditions, and furthermore to explore husbandry strategies for pigs during the Neolithic in the valley. The results suggest a domesticated status for pigs in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age. Also the frequency of LEH occurrence for the pigs corroborates a presumed intensification processes of pig husbandry, and the presence of environmental fluctuations during the period are considered. Some evidence also points to the fact that for pig, spring farrowing was the most common reproductive strategy in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age in this region.     

Motives and opportunities for domestication: an ethnoarchaeological study in southwest Ethiopia

Farmers of southwest Ethiopia are currently transplanting yams (Dioscorea cayenensis) from wild contexts to home gardens. Ethnoarchaeological study of this practice can inform considerations of agricultural origins in prehistoric times by revealing motives and opportunities that shape decisions to adopt wild-growing plants. In one part of the study area, case studies demonstrate that decisions to manipulate yams may arise mainly among individuals of a particular gender or household composition. Comparisons across the study area illustrate the effects of slight variations in environment and human mobility upon adoption of wild-growing yams. The social and environmental factors that favor or impede manipulation of yams are highly specific and nuanced, and operate on both intra- and inter-community levels.     

Maya and their animals

Hamblin, Nancy L. Animal Use by the Cozumel Maya. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1984. vii + 206 pp. including references and index. $23.00 cloth.     

Identifying donkey domestication through changes in cross-sectional geometry of long bones

The initial phases of donkey domestication are difficult to identify in the archaeological record due to late and inconsistent changes in morphology and body size in the earliest domestics. Use of donkeys for load carrying and the management of captive herds resulted in a distinctive behavioral shift away from the free-ranging speed and mobility characteristic of wild asses toward slower, more steady pacing. Given the ability of bone to adapt to its mechanical environment, bone remodeling in the limbs of wild asses and donkeys are evaluated using cross-sectional geometry to determine whether weight bearing or locomotor differences between the wild and domestic forms may be used to recognize early domestication. Cross-sectional data were collected on the humeri, radii, metacarpals and metatarsals of eight wild ass and six donkey skeletons. Wild ass forelimbs have greater overall strength and more cylindrical humeral diaphyses, indicating better resistance to a varied locomotor repertoire. These results demonstrate that analyses of shaft geometry can provide information on changes in locomotor behavior during domestication. Our finding that shifts in gait had greater effects on the morphology of early domestic donkeys than did load-carrying places a new emphasis on understanding selection for gait changes in domestication dynamics.     

Analyzing the process of domestication: Hagoshrim as a case study

Recent excavations at the Neolithic site of Hagoshrim, northern Israel, have yielded a large assemblage of skeletal fragments, representing mostly caprines, cattle and pigs. The three layers of the site's occupation span approximately 2000 years of a crucial period in the domestication of these taxa in the southern Levant, including Pre-Pottery Neolithic C (Layer 6, 7562 ± 85 BP and 7735 ± 55 BP) and the Pottery Neolithic cultures, Jericho IX (Layer 5, 6725 ± 120 BP) and Wadi Raba (Layer 4, 6505 ± 120 BP). Therefore, this site provides an outstanding opportunity to study the process of domestication in a comparative manner, both across taxa and through time. We used kill-off patterns, size reduction and changes in body proportions, and introduced statistical methods to discern the different stages of the domestication process for each taxon. Pig remains reflect simultaneous changes at the end of the 7th millennium BP: kill-off patterns, size and proportions of cranial and post-cranial elements all change between Layer 5 and 4 with no significant changes between Layer 6 and 5. Gradual changes—both between Layer 6 and 5 and between Layer 5 and 4—were found only for cattle, while caprine remains exhibit no changes throughout the site's occupation. These results can be explained in light of the differences between the taxa in terms of their life history strategies, among other things, that can be viewed as pre-adaptations to domestication.     

Rural masculinities and fathering practices

Fatherhood and fathering practices have been surprisingly absent from the literature on rural men and masculinity. This article draws on interviews with two generations of farm fathers in Norway to examine how rural masculinities are constructed through fathering practices. It explores how fathering creates potential for the development of alternative rural masculinities in two socio-historical contexts. Findings demonstrate that farm work is important for masculine legitimization in both generations, but, in contrast to the older generation, for the current generation farm work and fathering practices have become spatially separated. Their greater involvement in childcare within the domestic spaces indicates a slight shift towards more equal co-parenting driven by the movement of mothers into the non-farm labour force and the new fathering moralities in society. However, fathering practices through outdoor sports, wilderness activities and hunting constitute stable sites of rural masculinity. As fathering requires nurture and compassion, these ‘traditional’ rural activities display the fluidity of rural masculinity.     

Reconsideration of criteria for differentiating faunal assemblages accumulated by hyenas and hominids

Zooarchaeologists have established several criteria for differentiating hominid‐ and hyena‐derived faunal assemblages. In some cases, however, the patterns of skeletal part representation and bone surface modification on which these criteria are ultimately based have been observed in fossil bone assemblages of unknown origin, rather than in modern assemblages of known origin. When the proposed criteria are evaluated within an actualistic framework, only three are able to differentiate between hominid‐ and hyena‐created faunal assemblages. I suggest that only these three criteria—proportions of carnivores to ungulates in the assemblage, the preserved condition of long bone specimens (either as whole cylinders or as splintered shaft fragments), and the types of bone surface modifications—should be retained as important factors in a diagnosis of the ancient bone‐collector. The remaining four criteria—the relative proportion of horn pieces in the assemblage, the relative representation of podial bones, the relative representation of small and large bovid skeletal parts, and bovid mortality profiles—are not relevant or applicable to the problem of differentiating hominid‐ from hyena‐derived faunal assemblages. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Secrecy and Genoese commercial practices

Genoese commercial practices, among the best known in medieval Europe, relied on notaries and their cartularies to create and preserve valid contracts. This system of generating records raises questions about how private or secret Genoese business was, and whether it was safe from fraud and forgery. Legal and notarial sources reveal methods of organizing commerce that fostered trust by involving suitable witnesses and discreet notaries. The Genoese sacrified some privacy in order to acquire a reputation for predictable and reliable contracts and markets.     

Methodology,consetvation criteria and performance evaluation for archaeological site shelters

Abstract

The many intersecting issues that arise when deciding whether to shelter an archaeological site should be approached using a values-based methodology, one that has demonstrated its validity arid practical worth in conservation over recent decades. Nonetheless, pitfalls abound in the decision-making process and in establishing effective conservation criteria which should be based principally on a thorough understanding of the threats to the resource and the specific deterioration mechanisms operating, with the objective of creating a shelter that will preserve the site's identified values. An aspect that has received almost no attention in the past is evaluation of a shelter's performance, both qualitative and quantitative, in preserving the site. It is urged that this receive priority when establishing the conservation criteria during the initial phases of a sheltering project. Issues are illustrated from a range of diverse sites, including a number of published shelters. The paper first looks at the examples of the Laetoli (Tanzania) and Lark Quarry (Australia) trackway sites in the context of decision-making and conservation criteria, and then discusses two examples of evaluation: one quantitative, using an experimental shelter and the other discussing publications on a petroglyph site shelter.     

Therapeutic landscapes and non-human animals: the roles and contested positions of animals within care farming assemblages

The concept of therapeutic landscapes has been used as a way to critically understand how health and well-being are related to place. However, traditional discourses on therapeutic landscapes have been constructed from an anthropocentric perspective, completely ignoring and silencing the agency and experiences of non-humans. Building on the idea of therapeutic spaces as assemblages, I highlight the heterogeneity of elements that come together to produce therapeutic space. Mobilizing empirical research undertaken in spaces involved in the practice of ‘care farming’, I demonstrate how non-human presence actively creates and facilitates a therapeutic engagement with place. However, with this recognition of the non-human in therapeutic spaces, there is a need to discuss animals’ contested positions, and question the ways in which being part of these assemblages impacts animals; for whom are these landscapes therapeutic? Thus, this article advocates a critical understanding of the role of non-human animals as both co-constituents and co-participants of therapeutic spaces, moving from framing therapeutic spaces – and the animals within them – purely in relation to human needs and desires.     

Diagnostic criteria for identification of seashell as a trephination implement

Scanning electron microscopy has been applied to experimentally cut bone samples and an ethnographical example of trephination on a human skull in order to produce diagnostic criteria for the identification of mollusc shells as cutting implements used in trephination. Shell scrapes are identifiable by parallel striations in the direction of cut, crossed at 90° by chatter marks caused by uneven movement of the fragile shell-edge across the bone surface.     

The need for river management and stream restoration practices to integrate hydrogeomorphology

There is growing support amongst scientists worldwide about the need for a shift in river management approaches to include hydrogeomorphic processes. However, the degree to which these concepts are transferred to governmental agencies and practitioners varies widely. In Quebec, for example, many stream restoration projects are based on the (incorrect) assumption that river mobility and its inevitable consequences (bank erosion of meanders, presence of woody debris in the channel) are problematic for salmonids. This paper presents examples drawn from current guidelines on stream restoration for fish habitat in Quebec to demonstrate the need to improve the knowledge exchange among scientists and decision makers about the positive impact of river mobility and large wood dynamics on biodiversity. Our observations reveal that existing guidelines for stream restoration in Quebec need to be revised to better integrate hydrogeomorphic concepts and to no longer assume that maintaining rivers in a static state is beneficial for fish. Adopting the “freedom space for rivers” approach would likely result in improved habitat as it combines natural processes related to mobility, flooding, and riparian wetland connectivity to determine the minimal space around rivers where development should not be allowed, thus allowing river processes to be restored.     

Measured domestication rates in wild wheats and barley under primitive cultivation,and their archaeological implications

Man's (or, more probably, Woman's) first cereal crops were sown from seed gathered from wild stands, and it was in the course of cultivation that domestication occurred. Experiments in the measurement of domestication rates indicate that in wild-type crops of einkorn, emmer, and barley under primitive systems of husbandry: (a) domestication will occur only if they are harvested when partially or nearly ripe, using specific harvesting methods; (b) exposure to shifting cultivation may sometimes have been required; and (c) under these conditions, the crops could become completely domesticated within 200 years, and perhaps only 20–30 years, without any conscious selection. This paper (a) considers possible delays in the start of domestication due to early crops of wild-type cereals lacking domestic-types mutants; (b) examines the husbandry practices necessary for these mutants to enjoy any selective advantage; (c) considers the state of ripeness at harvest necessary for the crops to respond to these selective pressures; (d) outlines field measurements of the selective intensities arising from analogous husbandry practices applied experimentally to living wild-type crops; (e) summarizes a mathematical model which incorporates the measured selective intensities and other key variables and which describes the rate of increase in domestic-type mutants in early populations of wild-type cereals under specific combinations of primitive husbandry practices; (f) considers why very early cultivators should have used those husbandry methods which, we suggest, led unconsciously to the domestication of wild wheats and barley; and (g) considers whether these events are likely to leave archaeologically recognizable traces.