Juliet Clutton-Brock obituary
Juliet Clutton-Brock, who has died aged 82, was a pioneer in the relatively new field of archaeozoology - the study of animal remains from archaeological sites - which aims to shed light on the relationships between people and animals in the distant past. The focus is particularly upon the where, when, how and why of the transformation of wild animals, hunted mainly for food, skins and fur, into tame, domesticated creatures, to be slaughtered as sources of meat and leather, or exploited when alive to provide milk and wool, carry loads, pull ploughs and be ridden, and as human companions.
Juliet's numerous books outlined the development of these relationships, encompassing not only her own seminal researches, but also drawing together information from a wide variety of sources and incorporating the results of radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis as they became available. They included Domesticated Animals from Early Times (1981), Horse Power: A History of the Horse and Donkey in Human Societies (1992), Two Hundred Years of British Farm Livestock (1989, in collaboration with Stephen Hall), and the Eyewitness Guides: Dog (1991), Cat (1991), Horse (1992) and Mammals (2002). She had a particular interest in dogs and was the author of at least 20 scientific papers on them and co-author of an 82-page paper, A Review of the Family Canidae, published by the Natural History Museum.
Continue reading...