Following the development of high-throughput sequencing, the field of evolutionary genomics has undergone an unprecedented boom, but the limitations may now lie in the association of genomic variation with detailed phenotypic information. With the development of geometric morphometrics, a revolution has occurred in the field of morphometrics and phenotypic analyses. Geometric morphometrics offer powerful tools to dissect phenotypic variation and is often used to address questions in evolutionary biology. By focussing on research on the domestication of animals, we will reveal the advantages of combining genomic approaches with top-of-the art morphometric analyses.
Starting with the examples of pig and dog domestication, we will show why and how morphometric analyses have enabled to resolve questions that cannot be answered yet with genomic approaches. Especially when studying archaeological remains, the combined use of both approaches appears to be the best way forward.