Current perspectives and the future of domestication studies

TLDR

Domestication of plants and animals has profoundly shaped human culture and biology, and scholars have long sought to pinpoint its origins, timing, and frequency; recent advances in archaeology and genetics have transformed our understanding of its patterns and processes. The authors aim to review current knowledge of domestication’s spatial and temporal patterns, debate its speed, intentionality, and evolutionary aspects, and identify three key challenges for future research. A 2011 workshop of 25 scholars from genetics, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, geoarchaeology, and archaeology convened to discuss recent progress and outline future research directions, forming the basis of this Special Feature. We conclude that although recent progress has been impressive, the next decade will yield even more substantial insights into how, when, where, and why domestication occurred.

Abstract

It is difficult to overstate the cultural and biological impacts that the domestication of plants and animals has had on our species. Fundamental questions regarding where, when, and how many times domestication took place have been of primary interest within a wide range of academic disciplines. Within the last two decades, the advent of new archaeological and genetic techniques has revolutionized our understanding of the pattern and process of domestication and agricultural origins that led to our modern way of life. In the spring of 2011, 25 scholars with a central interest in domestication representing the fields of genetics, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, geoarchaeology, and archaeology met at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center to discuss recent domestication research progress and identify challenges for the future. In this introduction to the resulting Special Feature, we present the state of the art in the field by discussing what is known about the spatial and temporal patterns of domestication, and controversies surrounding the speed, intentionality, and evolutionary aspects of the domestication process. We then highlight three key challenges for future research. We conclude by arguing that although recent progress has been impressive, the next decade will yield even more substantial insights not only into how domestication took place, but also when and where it did, and where and why it did not.