Decision-Making in Subsistence Herding: A View from Mediterranean Europe

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Breaking the Mold: A Consideration of the Impacts and Legacies of Richard W. Redding" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Richard Redding’s body of research pushed zooarchaeologists to think more deeply and creatively about human-animal interactions. His 1981 dissertation “Decision-making in Subsistence Herding of Sheep and Goats in the Middle East” set the stage for his impactful career, bringing together multiple disciplines to characterize the nature of subsistence herding. My own research was heavily inspired by Redding’s dissertation and subsequent publications. This paper presents a case study from Mediterranean Europe that demonstrates how Redding’s ideas continue to influence new generations of scholars. In particular, much recent research on sheep and goat herding among Neolithic farming populations in Mediterranean Europe is using multiple proxies to assess the nature and role of pastoralism, the impacts of introduced animals into new environments, and exploring the biological changes of small founder populations on ancient breed development.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Breaking the Mold: A Consideration of the Impacts and Legacies of Richard W. Redding   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39850.0