The origin and spread of stock-keeping in the Near East and Europe

The domestication of plants and animals and the spread of ways of life based on these resources was one of the most important events in human history. Still considered by many to be an inevitable and relatively straightforward process, it was thought until recently to be relatively well understood. Recent research has, however, begun to reveal a far more complex and intriguing picture of what it involved, and the signatures it has left in the archaeological record now need to be re-evaluated in the light of this new evidence.

In western Eurasia we know that the earliest evidence for domestic farmyard animals occurs in the Levant and Anatolia around 10,000 years ago. We also know that farming then spread westwards through Europe over the subsequent millennia, arriving in the far west and north of Europe some 6,000 years ago. However, for decades there have been major debates as to the nature of this spread, with many basic questions still remaining largely unanswered. For example, was it gradual or punctuated? Was the spread achieved through actual migration/colonisation of people, or were only ideas and goods exchanged? Did indigenous domestication of widely distributed wild animals such as wild boar and cattle take place outside the core 'hearth' area of the near East and, if so, was it spontaneous and devoid of external influence? How much interaction was there between early farming groups and contemporary and adjacent foragers/hunters? Are there differences in husbandry practices through time and across both cultural and geographic boundaries, and if so how are they to be explained?

The answer to many of these questions can be directly addressed through study of the actual surviving remains of the plants and animals excavated over the past decades from many archaeological sites. A study of the plant evidence has recently been completed by the Principal and second Co-applicant and colleagues. However, much of the debate has been carried out in the absence of a full and systematic understanding/appreciation of the available animal bone evidence. This research project aims to rectify this by carrying out the largest and most systematic survey of published/archived archaeological animal bone data ever undertaken, in order to re-examine the evidence for the origins of stock-keeping in the Near East and its spread into Europe during the Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic periods some 12,000 to 6,000 years ago.

The main objective is to compile a comprehensive database of select animal bone data from relevant sites, through which we can systematically aim to, 1) Establish the characteristics of early Neolithic animal exploitation economies through time and over broad geographic regions, 2) Understand the key factors that account for variation in early Neolithic animal exploitation - e.g. local availability versus physical dispersal of animals or ideas, 3) Explore possible variation in husbandry/hunting strategies that developed as Neolithic herding economies spread from their area/s of origin, 4) assess the speed and rate of its spread across the Europe 5) look for possible adaptive changes in husbandry and hunting practises, 6) look for evidence of indigenous domestication and finally 7) see whether the evidence from animal bones is similar or different to that already researched from ancient domestic and wild plant remains.

The results will be of interest to wide archaeological audience beyond the specialism of zooarchaeology- The effort of studying domestication can also be justified on the grounds that it will provide the key to a more detailed understanding of the history of Homo sapiens and our relationship with the natural world and its exploitation. Domestication is a model for evolution itself, and as such, will provide the foundation for a deeper appreciation of the world in which we live.