Reference Work Entry
pp 3592-3611
State of Knowledge and Current Debates
There
is an increasing recognition that the study of human-animal-landscape
interactions, as reflected in the zooarchaeological, artistic, and
historical record, can provide important information about how people
engaged with and perceived their surroundings as well as each other.
Human responses to wild animals in particular have been shown to reflect
individual, social, and cultural attitudes to the “natural world.” Some
of the most pivotal moments in the human story have been characterized
by shifts in the relationship between humans and wild animals. For
instance, the concept of domestication not only gave rise to the
category of “wild” but also meant that it was no longer
necessary
to hunt in order to obtain meat. Yet people continued to do so. In some
periods, hunting was a rare occurrence; in others, it became a frequent
pursuit central to popular culture, evidenced by the art and literature
of the time
