Domestication of plants and animals is a milestone in human cultural development and it is how the production economy started. This research topic binds a wide range of specialists, such as agronomists, biologists, ecologists, but also archaeobotanists, zooarchaeologists, and palaeoecologists who provide a long-term perspective. This interplay between ancient and modern raises particular interest in the topic.

In recent years, a lot of methodological advances have been made so that an update was needed. On May 15 the journal Philosophical Transactions B of the Royal Society published the theme volume “Unravelling domestication: multi-disciplinary perspectives on human and non-human relationships in the past, present and future”. Within this volume, there are 17 contributions by authors from different countries and backgrounds. Dr. Marta Dal Corso, researcher of the Department of Geosciences of the University of Padua, was among the editors of this special issue, together with Rosalind Gillis (German Archaeological Institute, Berlin), Hugo Oliveira (University of Algarve, Faro) and Robert Spengler (Max Planck Institute, Jena).

“We came to the idea of a special issue about domestication because we mainly wanted not to study a domesticated plant or animal species in isolation, but in the ecosystem where they evolved, in order to consider the possibilities of co-evolutionary pathways and to evaluate the complexity of such a process. We were also eager to know more about less prominent crop species: in the volume, you find papers about opium poppy, t’ef, cucurbits such as squash and melon, and reindeer. The application of new methods to large datasets sheds light on well-known domesticated crops and animals as well, such as barley, wheat, rye, chickens and sheep, which are of course still very relevant”, Dr. Marta Dal Corso explains.

Understanding how, when, and where the transition from wild progenitors to domesticated species occurred is a subject of great intrigue. Current perspectives aim to move beyond an anthropocentric view, considering instead the evolution of domestication traits as part of a mutualistic relationship of convenience. The volume dedicates space to the debate surrounding definitions in this field, as well as to traditional farming practices and landscape changes.

Dr. Marta Dal Corso works as a postdoc in the ERC project GEODAP, led by Prof. Cristiano Nicosia, which focuses on the reconstruction of ancient environments and plant use in the Bronze Age. In particular, Dr. Dal Corso recent studies on environmental changes and Bronze Age plant resources for animal husbandry, have been integrated in a paper in the volume about European agro-sylvo-pastoral landscapes.

"In this paper, together with three colleagues, Rosalind Gillis, Aurélie Salavert and Elena Marinova, we investigated some regions in Europe where well-known agro-sylvo-pastoral landscapes today are considered hotspots of biodiversity and cultural identity. What were these regions like in prehistory? This was our main research question. From our review, it seems that the pace and variety of activities led by prehistoric farmers brought an increase in diversity of environments: they were niche constructors, in a very different view compared to what the impact of today’s agriculture on the landscape”.

The volume is available at the page of the journal Philosophical Transactions B: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/2025/380/1926