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84 - The Beginning of Animal Domestication and Husbandry in Southwest Asia

from Part VI: - Humans in the Levant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

Yehouda Enzel
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
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Summary

The numerous new excavations and archaeozoological analyses of Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) sites in the Levant during the last 15 years shed new light on the domestication and early husbandry of animals. This chapter provides a synthetic update of the dates and locations of the early domestication of dog, cat, pig, sheep, goat and cattle, and of their utilisation by PPN societies. It also briefly discusses patterns and processes, with special attention to the commensalism and controlled hunting. Based on the data presented, the authors discuss different mechanisms and possible reasons behind early animal domestications in the Levant, as well as the role of animal domestication in the Neolithic transition.
Type
Chapter
Information
Quaternary of the Levant
Environments, Climate Change, and Humans
, pp. 753 - 760
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

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