Tame, Feral, and Pest Species: Plants and Animals at the edges of Domestication and Human Control

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

We love to think that we are firmly in charge of our domestic spaces, and we love sharply delineated definitions. The designations of “wild” and “domestic” species speak to this; we define domestic species as those who have changed irrevocably under the reproductive control of humans. However, there are still species who exist in the spaces in-between: “tamed” wild animals living in human habitats and in cooperation with humans, feral plants and animals who are domesticates breaking away from human control, and pest species who live within and because of humans, but are unwelcome. Genetically and morphologically, however, pest species may be undergoing or have undergone genetic changes that we usually associate with domestic species. Likewise, feral animals often display behaviors and traits that we believe to have been “bred out” of them. This study the narratives around domestic species as well as domestication studies and studies of human- animal relationships to explore how the beings who live in the grey areas between wild and domestic may reveal biases within domestication theories. Examining the life histories, paleopathology, and mobility of these species may have implications for how we interpret and approach their presence in assemblages and in human history.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 41565.0