Animal Domestication and Early Pets
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Neo-Assyrian relief depicting dogs being used to hunt lions, 7th century BCE. London: British Museum. |
Originally published on my World History class blog on September 10, 2016.
During our discussion of animal domestication the other day, a question came up about when humans began to keep pets. I did some digging and came up with some resources and news articles on the topic.
The first news deals with the domestication of the dog. Your textbook, while up-to-date on many topics, seems to be behind the latest research on dog domestication. While the conventional narrative dates it to 15,000 years ago, a number of more recent finds challenge that idea, using archaeological evidence to push the date as far back as 30,000 years ago. This blog post from 2008 discusses some of this research shortly after it came out (it contains a link to the scientists' findings, as well, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science). A 2011 article from the Wall Street Journal also deals with this topic, referencing even more recent finds. This is an interesting read if you want to learn more about the process of domestication. The author, historian Mark Derr, notes that this was not a one-sided process - some wolves felt it was as useful to have us around as we felt it was to have them!
For an overview of what animals were domesticated by humans, when, and why, check out this very comprehensive articlefrom the popular history website History World.
For an overview of what animals were domesticated by humans, when, and why, check out this very comprehensive articlefrom the popular history website History World.
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Finally, if you are interested in more detailed stories about pets in the ancient world, these two pages from the popular history website Ancient History Encyclopedia provide some good ones: the first is on dogs in the ancient world and the second is on all sorts of pets in ancient Egypt. Some highlights include: the ancient Egyptian word for dog (iwiw), which was based on the sound of its bark; the later Greek historian Herodotus' claim that Egyptians shaved all the hair on their bodies (as a gesture of mourning) when their household dog died; the mummified pet gazelle of the Egyptian Queen Isiemkheb; and the story from the Indian epic poem The Mahabharata about King Yudisthira and his dog, who follows him on his journey to the afterlife.
Enjoy!
Chloe Dog, enjoying the autumn sun. |
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