Variability in Human-Animal Interactions at the Emergence of Animal Domestication in Southwest Asia

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.

In his 2002 paper “Breaking the Mold,” Richard Redding wrote that “by focusing on the emergence of tactics of animal use that characterize the Neolithic, we may be missing aspects of the process that are not only interesting but critical to building and testing explanations.” Twenty years later, our understanding of the beginnings of animal domestication has changed substantially from the unilineal perspective that Redding criticized to a multiregional view emphasizing multiple origins, local context, gradual change, and stops, starts, and dead ends. This scenario emerged based on a growing archaeological record demonstrating significant variation in human-animal relationships surrounding the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary in Southwest Asia. This presentation uses Redding’s quote as a jumping off point to reflect on the nature and meaning of this variability. In doing so it touches on the value of assembling the multiple lines of evidence that Redding believed were so important and provides a synopsis of current research on the early emergence and evolution of animal management and domestication.

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): 39810.0