ANTH326

040538

A common traditional definition of \"domestication\" is the process by which wild plants and wild animals are adapted and altered for human use. This course shows a more complicated, and more remarkable, story of the intimate long-term relations between humans and certain other organisms with whom we are co-dependent. To understand how domestication occurs, and the surprisingly short prehistoric time frame in which the most important domesticated species arose, we will explore the contexts in which the selective process was set in motion, including cultural effects, the built environment, and the inherent properties species that constrained the overall process. Domestication is a mutually affecting evolutionary relationship that develops over many generations, altering not only the animals and plants so important to humans, but also the human beings who have depended on them. This survey course integrates information from anthropology (including archaeology), biology, geography, and environmental science.

OPT - Student Option

Undergraduate

GE - T2-NATS (Tier 2 Natural Sciences)