

Domestication of animals helped humanity thrive.




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RE: Make a Name for Yourself
By rs1 on 8/11/2010 4:22:15 PM , Rating: 2
For once I agree with you. This research appears to be based upon little more than the thought experiment of "how would ancient people have passed on the knowledge of animal husbandry? By developing communication skills, that's how". And while that's not an unreasonable conclusion, you get the same answer if you ask "how would ancient people have passed on the knowledge of how to make weapons" or "how would ancient people have passed on knowledge about hunting and gathering", both of which predate domesticated animals by a fairly significant span of time.

So sure, domesticated animals probably did play a role insofar as the process of domestication introduces new concepts that need to be communicated. However, it doesn't seem like there's any evidence to suggest that the role played by domesticated animals is any larger or more significant than the role played by weapons, tools, pottery, agriculture, or any other novel concept that people have come up with over the past hundred thousand years or so.

