FROM LIBERTY TO CAPTIVITY - ANIMALS

“FROM LIBERTY TO CAPTIVITY” ANIMALS

Is it us who wanted them to be domesticated or is it them who wanted to be domesticated? 35,000-year-old cave paintings give us the earliest traces of this

relationship. Although evidence of it hasn’t yet been discovered, this relationship must have begun in the very earliest times. Even if human beings accept that they themselves built civilization, animals, which are the most important supporters of humans, lost their liberty and became the captives of humans. Actual Archaeology Magazine takes readers on a historic journey of unlimited adventure. This time, the oldest friends of humans are being discussed: animals, from

liberty to captivity!

• How did this adventure, which started approximately 15 thousand years ago with the domestication of the dog during the Neolithic Period, continue?

• What was the place of goats, sheep, cattle, pigs, winged animals, cats and horses in human life and what happened over time?

• How did animals which were feared at the beginning because of their powerful and predatory nature change to become powerful gods hiding within animals’ physical bodies and the best friends of man?

• Is the relationship which emerged and developed between humans and dogs the result of dogs’ will or is it the result of humans’ effort?

• What was the foundation of the kind of close relationship which allowed humans and animals to be put in the same grave?

• How did animals which humans had considered as frightening beings gain sympathy as living beings?

• Why did the Code of Hammurabi, which was enacted during the period of King Hammurabi, impose the world’s first written provisions towards the protection of animal rights?

• Did domesticated animals lose their charms over time?