ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDIES OF DOMESTICATION : SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PERSONS AND LIVESTOCK/CROP

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The purpose of this research project was to examine and describe the symbiotic reciprocal relationships be tween persons and plants/animals through the field work as an anthropological study of domestication. In the first two years of the project, we concentrated on the collection of raw data relating to the relationships between persons and plants/animals. Comparative studies and overall analysis of the accumulated data were made in comparison with the related data obtained from previous field research in Africa.Regarding to the symbiotic relationships between animals and persons. We focused on the study of cattle herds of Nishinoshima island in Oki islands and those of Kitakami Mountain area in Tohoku. The size and structure of home range, mother-infant relationships, male-female relationships, and the structure of groupings were studied. We also video-recorded the scenes of different varieties of human intervention towards cattle herds and the reaction of cattle herds against human activities.For the study of person-plant relationships as an on-going process of domestication, we chose two research site ; Okinawa and Kitakami Mountain area. In Kitakami, the utilization and recognition of wild plants, present status of Japanese indigenous millet cultivation and its history, and utilization and unconscious human intervention towards semi-domesticated plants were studied. The ethnobotanical study on Ryukyu-Itobasho (Japanese Musa) was also made on the utilization and the field management. The extent of human intervention were investigatcd and quantitatively measured.Research findings were reported and discussed in several occasions. Results of the analysis were compared to those obtained from the research in Africa.In the meeting new possible approaches towards the anthropological study of domestication viewing the plants and animals on the common platform, were examined.