ABSTRACT
Zooarchaeology documents the gradual intensification of the long-standing relationship between humans and animals, which eventually led to domestication. Research has partly focused on identifying biological markers of domestication in the archaeological record, leading also to the recognition of the complexity of the trajectories and the difficulty of establishing boundaries between wild and domestic statuses. Key to the debate is a better characterization of humans-animals relationships. Using a few case studies focused on pig domestication, this chapter describes how, in combination with osteology, the biogeochemistry of animal skeleton remains contributes to defining the cohabitation between humans and animals within the farming and domestic spheres. This includes feeding strategies and the place allocated to the animal in the human environment. These contributions are relevant in particular for highlighting incipient domestication and feralization.
