ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to explore some of the uses of the concept of “domestication” in anthropology and archaeology, to point out some of the difficulties of the concept, and to suggest how these very ambiguities can provide fertile ground for future work. The concept and study of domestication has already provided fertile ground for communication and collaboration across disciplinary and subdisciplinary boundaries. The broadening use of domestication suggests that many disciplines and subdisciplines could benefit from the work on domestication by others. Domestication is difficult to pin down, partly because it involves both biological processes of alteration to organisms and social and cultural changes in both humans and animals. The varying degrees of intimacy with animals that are created by domestication pose problems that are solved by mechanisms familiar from kinship systems. Despite its difficulties, domestication has been a useful concept for anthropology and archaeology.
