Domesticating Animals in Africa: Implications of Genetic and Archaeological Findings |
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Authors: | Diane Gifford-Gonzalez Olivier Hanotte |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA;(2) The School of Biology, Centre for Genetics and Genomics, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK |
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Abstract: | Domestication is an ongoing co-evolutionary process rather than an event or invention. Recent zooarchaeological and animal
genetics research has prompted a thorough revision of our perspectives on the history of domestic animals in Africa. Genetic
analyses of domestic animal species have revealed that domestic donkeys are descended from African ancestors, opened a debate
over the contribution of indigenous aurochs to African domestic cattle, revealed an earlier and possibly exogenous origin
of the domestic cat, and reframed our vision of African dogs. Genetic diversity studies and mapping of unique traits in African
cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens indicate adaptations to regional environmental challenges and suggest hitherto unknown
and complex patterns of interactions both among Africans and with Southwest Asia and other Asian regions on the Indian Ocean.
This article argues against the static perspective on domestication as invention and for viewing it as a dynamic, locally
based and continuing process. |
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