ABSTRACT
Animals were a central element of the Neolithic worlds, and the control and care of certain speciesin particular, cattle, pigs, sheep and goats-was exercised as an integral part of the process of making a living. While the majority of archaeological and zooarchaeological studies focus on understanding animals in terms of their place within subsistence practices, diet and strategies of environmental adaptation, of equal importance is an awareness of the social, ontological, symbolic and cosmological status of animals during the period (e.g., Jones 1998; Marciniak 2005; Pollard 2006; Tilley 1996; Whittle 2003). The status of animals was likely to be greater than that of other components of the non-human environment such as plants, though the latter carried their own values (Brown 2000; Palmer and Van Der Veen 2002). The elevated status of animals derived from their position as sentient beings sharing many of the ontological qualities of people-for example, comparable life cycles and behavioural traits, the display of dominance hierarchies, and differing degrees of sociality-all while at the same time retaining clear biological and behavioural differences. The Early and Middle Neolithic in the Polish section of the North European Plain revealed this multi-
scalar significance of animals. It is an area rich in data, with tight chronological controls and, in many instances, high-quality recovery techniques. It is also where the early farming groups first entered the North European Plain and so lays the foundation for the development of food-producing societies across much of northern Europe.
