Introduction to the Domestication Series:
 
This series of posts represents the skeleton (pun intended) of a rather
long scientific paper I am working on.  Because of the kindness of many
people who have donated the remains of beloved pets to enrich my skeletal
studies, I will report many things here that I do not want in the public
domain.  I feel I owe that much to many of you for your generous support.
Nonetheless, I will protect most of the numeric data, some of the sources
of my information, and my bibliography to prevent the unscrupulous from
stealing my ideas and publishing or promoting them in their own name.
The only property an academic has is their intellectual property, so I
must take some steps to protect it as much as possible.  Please do not
publish, disseminate, or otherwise share these posts without my expressed
permission, and that applies to those of you who like to forward my
posts to other experts in efforts to catch me in a mistake (you would
be surprised how many academics contact me when my FML posts are sent
to them for review).  This is for the edification of FML people and for
their personal use only!  Do not copy, forward, repost, or otherwise
share this information without my expressed consent.  It represents my
intellectual property, it is copyrighted to me, and I do not release it
for any purpose whatsoever except for FML publication and archive uses
(and I owe that to Bill for his long support).  If you want to send the
posts to someone, just email me for permission and wait until I give it.
 
This is a story that has neither a beginning nor an end, and not much of
a middle part, either.  It is a story that at this time cannot be proved
or disproved.  And it is a story that is as much deduction as it is
induction.  That is three strikes, and yet, despite all these problems
with the story, I will be telling it anyway.  Here is the "What, When,
Who, Where, Why, and How of Ferret Domestication." It may be mostly
right, it may be sometimes wrong, but it represents the best that I
know at this time and place.
 
I must point out that any discussion of the domestication of an animal is
actually a discussion of human history.  For a long time history was the
domain of monarchs, where time was reckoned by the reign of individual
kings, and genealogy was only recorded for those with royal blood.  The
story of the everyday person was never recorded.  The history of the
domesticated ferret is not one of royalty, so it too was deemed too
unimportant to record, and early records are mostly those of efforts to
regulate the practice of ferreting, rather than recording how or why it
was done.  It is more than possible that a wealth of archaeology exists
that can help prove many aspects of ferret domestication, but since those
sites are largely left covered, that information will likely never come
to light.
 
Without archaeology, historians of domestication must rely on historic
records.  That brings up a wealth of trouble ranging from
misinterpretation to mistranslation and all the misses in-between.  For
example, the mistaken belief that the Egyptians domesticated ferrets is
principally based on only five historic records, three of which are
misinterpretations or mistranslations, and the other two do not discuss
Egypt at all.  Likewise, the idea that ferrets were domesticated from
the Berber polecat does not reflect current zoological opinion regarding
polecat subspecies (none are currently recognized), nor does it reflect
recent genetic studies (the specific polecat cannot be identified).
 
That makes the study of the domestication of the ferret quite difficult,
forcing the student to build careful arguments from multiple lines of
attack, such as linguistics, genetics, morphometrics, and yes, even
historic records.  The implications of historic records must be carefully
considered, perhaps more than the actual statements.  For example, if
almost eight hundred years ago Genghis Khan used ferrets when he hunted
in Afghanistan, it just doesn't mean that ferrets were in use, but it
also means he either obtained them from more western areas of Europe, or
his animals originated from steppe polecats.  Similarly, the report that
Rome was petitioned to supply Libyan ferrets to the Balearic Islands to
control a plague of rabbits carries its own set of implications: the
islands are off the coast of Spain, why not get ferrets from there, or
Morocco, or any other number of places if the domestication of the Berber
subspecies idea is true?  Or, why not get them from Egypt, if the
Egyptian domestication idea is true (especially considering the Romans
were occupying Egypt)?  It is a confusing reference until it is placed
in its historical context; the Libyan reference is probably more of a
mention of the Phoenicians rather than to a geographic location, and even
after the destruction of Carthage, their cities dotted the North African
coast.  The Phoenicians were the master traders of the Mediterranean for
centuries, and they could have been instrumental in the introduction of
an eastern domesticated steppe polecat to Western Europeans.  You have to
remember that the economics of the past are largely the same as today.
It is simply not sound economics to post a message to Rome to send Libyan
ferrets to the Balearic Islands, taking perhaps months of time, if
ferrets could be had from the coast of Spain or Morocco, just days or
weeks away.  The request implies ferrets were somewhat rare, were not in
Spain or Morocco, and had a rather limited distribution, and a request
to Rome was the fastest, most economical way to obtain them.  This is
assuming the term 'Libyan ferret' held more meaning than being just a
name, like Belgian rabbit or Spanish flu; the name could just be a
reference to the historical trade of ferrets from Phoenicians inhabiting
Libya.  As you can see, the implications of historic documents are as
important as what the documents actually say.  If it were easy, we'd
already have the answers.
 
I am not going to lie to you: current knowledge makes it impossible to
prove the domestication of the ferret any one particular way.  All you
can do is devise a scenario that fits the current facts, and hope to
heaven you are correct.  The chances are you won't be, at least not
totally.  However, until the ideas are put out for review and testing,
no progress can be made.  So, in the name of progress, enjoy!
 
Bob C  [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 4729]