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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 17, 2025

Experimental Protocol for Manipulating Plant-induced Soil Heterogeneity

Experimental Protocol for Manipulating Plant-induced Soil Heterogeneity

Published on: March 13, 2014

Seeking consensus on the domestication concept.

Robert N Spengler¹, Li Tang¹, Marta Dal Corso²

¹Domestication and Anthropogenic Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, 07745 Jena, Germany.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences

|May 15, 2025

Summary

Early domestication of plants and animals enabled societal development. This study redefines domestication to unify scholarly perspectives on its origins and human involvement in this crucial evolutionary process.

Keywords:

archaeology cultivation domestication origins of agriculture

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Archaeology
Anthropology

Background:

Plant and animal domestication were pivotal for human civilization, enabling cities and social structures.
Scholarly consensus remains elusive regarding the initial stages, duration, and human agency in early domestication.
Distinguishing between biological domestication and cultural cultivation presents ongoing challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

To critically examine existing definitions of domestication.
To propose a unified and adaptable definition of domestication.
To reconcile diverse scholarly viewpoints on the domestication process.

Main Methods:

Literature review of existing domestication theories.
Conceptual analysis of domestication and cultivation.
Synthesis of multi-disciplinary perspectives.

Main Results:

Existing definitions of domestication are often tied to specific theoretical stances.
A need exists for a flexible definition accommodating various models of early domestication.
Scholarly debate increasingly favors protracted, unconscious models of domestication.

Conclusions:

A revised definition of domestication is necessary to advance research.
The proposed definition aims for broad utility across different theoretical frameworks.
This work contributes to a more cohesive understanding of human-nonhuman co-evolution.