Perspectives on Animal Husbandry and Human-Animal Relationships: A Multi-Proxy Approach – 11 December 2024

Date: 11 December 2024

Location: Nijenborgh 6, 9747 AG, Groningen, room 62 (ground floor)

Credits: 1 ECT

Animal husbandry, encompassing both the domestication and management of animals, has profoundly shaped the evolutionary history of both humans and animals for millennia. This workshop will explore the intricate relationships between humans and animals, emphasising the social, economic and ecological factors of these interactions. Using multiproxy methodologies, the workshop combines archaeological, zooarchaeological, paleogenomic, isotopic, and paleoenvironmental data to enhance our understanding of human-animal interactions through time.

We will cover a geographical area encompassing both the Fertile Crescent and Europe, exploring human-animal relationships across diverse landscapes and communities, as well as the economic role of animals. Emphasis will be placed on how integrating multiple lines of evidence can provide insights into the mutual impact on evolution and environments of both humans and animals. This workshop aims to foster interdisciplinary discussion and collaboration among scholars from various fields.

Programme

12:00 – 12:30 Registration

12:30 – 12:45 Welcome and introduction (organizers)

12:45-13:15 Keynote Lecture: Dan Bradley: Ancient genomes of aurochs and cattle and the nature of domestication.

Session 1, chair: Merita Dreshaj

13:15-13:20 Opening session

13:20 – 13:40 Lecture 1: Jolijn Erven: The complex human-animal interactions in Neolithic Central and Northern Europe

13:40 – 14:00 Lecture 2: Kevin Daly: Following The Hoof-prints: Parallels and Peculiarities of Small Ruminant Domestication in Southwest Asia

14:00-14:20 Lecture 3: Hannah Dugdale: The evolution of ageing in wild animal populations

14:20-14:40 Coffee Break 1

14:40-15:00 Lecture 4: Victoria Mullin: Ancient genomics to explore cattle and human interactions on the Western Atlantic Edge

15:00-15:20 Lecture 5: Catarina Ginja: Hybridization as a source of genetic variation: clues from Iron Age cattle from Althiburos, Tunisia

15:20-15:40 Discussion

Session 2, chair: Jolijn Erven

15:40-15:45 Opening session

15:45 – 16:05 Lecture 5: Max Price: Approaching Pig Husbandry Through Multiples Lines of Evidence: Prospects and Perils

16:05 – 16:25 Lecture 6: Donna De Groene: Animal management Pigs in the Neolithic of the eastern Fertile Crescent: New evidence from Pre‐Pottery Neolithic Bestansur and Shimshara, Iraqi Kurdistan (7800–7100 BC)

16:25-16:45 Coffee break 2

16:45 – 17:05 Lecture 7: Rosalind Gillis: Diverse woodland use during the LBk in central Europe

17:05 – 17:25 Lecture 8: Hans Huisman: Shifty baselines: archaeological implications of the variability of C,N isotopes in wetland landscapes

17:25 – 17:55 Discussion & Closing remarks

Credits: ARCHON members can receive 1 ECT for attending the conference and handing in a report of max. 2000 words within one month of the event afterwards, including 140 pages of additional literature. Please send your report to Jolijn van Erven for assessment. Please direct any questions about the assignment to the ARCHON coordinator.

Registration:

If you wish to attend the event online, you can do so through this link. Please note that anyone wishing to obtain an EC for the event is required to attend in person. Please register through the form below, indicating whether you intend to attend online or in person, as both the room and the livestream have a limited capacity (those who have already registered do NOT need to do so again).