Ancient Falconry

This was the period when human groups in the Near and Middle East underwent a radical change in their economic and social life. Archaeological remains testify to one of the most significant events in human history - the shift from a nomadic life of hunting and gathering wild resources to a settled one of farming with the first domestication of crops and livestock. This momentous event led inextricably to a rapid rise in human population, the subsequent emergence of the first major civilisations and a radical re-shaping of the world as we know it.

The sites we’ve been discussing in the Near and Middle East provide significant insights into this transition. The remains contain such a wide range of species that it seems the inhabitants were facing a rapid decline in their food resources - perhaps because they were over-exploiting a hunting territory that was forever diminishing. This is certainly a plausible explanation for these hunters apparently shifting towards smaller, less rewarding, species. It was perhaps the driving force that funnelled many of these groups down the road towards agriculture as their only alternative survival strategy.

Eating smaller species must have meant changes in the way that people hunted them down – and using birds of prey might have been one solution. What’s most intriguing is that this period coincides with the appearance of the domestic dog. Descended from tamed wolves, the dog may have served as a hunting aid and companion. Thus the origins of falconry, developed as an additional hunting strategy (with possible spiritual or religious dimensions), may be linked with the domestication of the dog.

If the bird-of-prey remains at these sites do indeed represent evidence of experimentation with their taming and management, then birds of prey may take their place (along with the dog) as the earliest domestic animals. More important, both must have been extremely influential in setting the scene for the subsequent domestication of the later economically important species - sheep, goat, cattle and pigs.

On the basis of all the available evidence, the significance of bird-of-prey bones recovered from these early sites remains very much open to debate. Whether they simply represent domestic food refuse, symbolic artefacts or the remains of tamed and managed birds, is still far from clear. The idea that birds of prey were domesticated before the advent of agriculture, and may have even contributed to its beginnings, may still be a theory – worthy of further, more critical consideration – but it potentially offers crucial insights into our origins.

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Video: Grounded Eagle [Return to the Wild]
A mature bald eagle named Patch and five juveniles make their way, healthy and strong, back to the wild, thanks to the dedication and hard work of Dr. Jim Scott.