Archaeology Research

Association for Environmental Archaeology AGM and keynote session, University of Glasgow

Organisers: Dr Gill Campbell and Dr Nicki Whitehouse

Programme

6:00 pm: Association for Environmental Archaeology AGM (detail previously circulated to AEA members)

6:45-7:45 pm: Keynote, Prof Naomi Skykes, University of Exeter: From “Feed the Birds” to “Do Not Feed the Animals”

Abstract

Signs stating ‘Do not feed the animals’ are ubiquitous in zoos, national parks and urban spaces. They stress that uncontrolled feeding by people can affect animal health, alter wild animal behaviour and create public hygiene and nuisance issues. However, humans appear to have a deep-seated proclivity to feed animals.
Many ancient cults fed animals, some modern religions require it, and feeding is often actively encouraged as a tourist attraction. Millions of people feed wildlife in gardens and in 2018, the pet-food industry was worth £2.7 billion in the UK alone.
This paper will introduce a new project (and its preliminary results) that is undertaking a deep-time and cross-cultural investigation to uncover the roots of animal feeding and critique the benefits/risks for all concerned. Particularly, it is testing the hypothesis that animal domestication itself was driven by the human penchant for animal feeding and that this process is not just continuing but accelerating, with consequences for global human-animal-environmental health.

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First published: 23 November 2020