An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c6.s1.2

v1.c6.s1.2

The process of domestication of animals, one of the factors to lay the foundations of civilization, involves first the capture and subsequently the taming of select species, and then their breeding and maintenance under controlled conditions for man's benefit. Its origins may lie in a symbiotic relationship between animals and the early hunter-gatherers or may have been motivated by religious beliefs or even by the supposed womanly instinct to feed and ultimately keep and tame pets. With man's gradually increasing control over his environment, he also realized the value of animals as sources of food and clothing and for transport. The majority of animals economically useful to man were probably domesticated under conditions of scavenging (e.g. pig, dog) or social parasitism (e.g. reindeer, sheep, goat). Domestication was probably largely the outcome of the interaction of economic and biological phenomena. The most important physical changes that occurred in domesticated animals are reflected in size, skeletal elements, soft parts and colour (Zeuner, 1963).