It was obviously a huge benefit to have food on hand when hunting was unproductive.Īmong the first animals domesticated for use as a food source were sheep, whose domestication occurred between 12,000 and 9,000 B.C. The earliest domestications can be traced to a period of history when humans began transitioning from relying primarily on food gathered in the wild (the hunter-gatherer economy) to a farming economy. Humans have domesticated animals for several purposes, including for food (meat and milk), work, transportation, pest control, and companionship. Without animals, we wouldn’t be who we are.Ĭave painting depicting bison dating to about 18,000 BCE (Altamira Cave, Spain) Researchers theorize that these additions to the diet fueled the evolution of modern humans. In addition, animals’ bone marrow, also fatty and energy rich, was likely an important food source for scavengers. They opened the discarded animal heads to gobbled up the fatty, nutritious, energy-rich brains. Nomadic humans, however, mastered that trick.
Animal scavengers like hyenas consume almost all of a carcass, but leave the heads because they lack the ability to crack open the skulls to extract the brains. The skulls were almost certainly scavenged by ancient humans two million years ago.
#ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT SYMBOL CRACKED#
In fact, the earliest cavemen likely did more scavenging than hunting, according to archaeological evidence.Īt a site near the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya, archaeologists discovered stone tools and the cracked skulls of large antelopes, similar in size to wildebeests. Most people imagine cavemen as hunters, wielding large clubs as they roamed around ancient grasslands, while cavewomen busied themselves gathering berries and other fruits-work that supplied about 70% of the dietary calories. It’s been a long and complicated relationship ever since.
The earliest humans began interacting with other animals they began walking the African savannah over two million years ago. Humans and Animals in Prehistorical Times
Humans and Animals: A Brief History of Our Complicated Relationship