Genetics and Domestication: Important Questions for New Answers
Abstract
The recent ability to extract genetic data from archaeological remains of wild and domestic animals has opened up a new window onto the history and process of domestication. This article summarizes the impact of that new perspective derived from both modern and ancient DNA and presents a discussion of the validity of both the methods and conclusions. In general I address the use of post hoc conclusions and the lack of starting hypotheses to inform what we know about domestication from a genetics perspective. I use three case examples (dogs, goats, and pigs) to exemplify fundamental aspects of the genetic data we still do not understand before specifically commenting on the use of molecular clocks to date domestication and the necessity of thinking about domestication as a process. I conclude on a positive note with a brief discussion about the future relationship between genetics and domestication.
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The genetics of domestication are relatively well understood for livestock.
“However, domestication is a long and difficult process, but the genetics of domestication are relatively well understood for livestock143–148.”
From Chromosomal-level reference genome assembly of muskox (Ovibos moschatus) from Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic, a resource for conservation genomics (2024) · cites this paper as [143]
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- Authors
- Larson, G.
- Corresponding author
- Larson, Greger
- ORCID
- Larson, Greger
- Venue
- Current Anthropology
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 2011-10
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- S4
- Pages
- S485-S495
- ISSN
- 0011-3204 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5382
- OpenAlex
- W1606491640
- Cited by
- 28
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 2.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Anthropology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Forensic and Genetic Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic diversity and population structure
- Keywords
- animal domestication, ancient DNA, dogs, goats, pigs, molecular clock, archaeological finds
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