Zooarchaelogists have been trying for a long time to document the early step of animal domestication in the archaeological record but this has been proven a difficult task. Zooarchaeologists use morphological markers based on experiments focused on behavioural selection that led to the genetic divergence of the domestic stock. However, during the very first steps of the domestication process, it is unlikely that such processes already acted to build an observable phenotypic divergence. Another, most often neglected process may nevertheless have played a role in these early steps of domestication: namely plastic, non heritable phenotypic modifications due to changes in life style. How this kind of early response to domestication may have play a role in favouring, and possibly orienting the later genetic differentiation of domestic stocks, is an important issue for both understanding the pace and processes of the domestication process in ancient societies and the evolutionary role of plasticity. The geometry and inner architecture of limb bones will reflect the biomechanical changes in loading regimes associated with changes in lifestyle and physical activities. Therefore, the reduction of mobility associated with captivity at the onset of domestication should be detectable in the animal bone micro and macrostructure and used as proxy for the early stage of the domestication that can be traced in the archaeological record. Biomechanical analysis has been widely used in the field of physical anthropology to assess the lifestyle of past population but theses have rarely and only partially been investigated with respect to animal domestication. With the rapid advances in high resolution 3D images acquisition, and morphometric techniques to analyse these 3D objects, time has come for zooarchaeology to pursue this promising research avenue in order to identify new anatomical indicators of human control over animals directly applicable to its biological archives. To investigate the biomechanical consequences on internal and external structure of the skeleton imposed by the captive environment, DOMEXP will use an experimental approach through the creation of the first wild boar (Sus scrofa) farm experiment dedicated to the simulation of the domestication process. Using different experimental treatments and functional constraints (free range, outdoor limited mobility and indoor reduced mobility) morphometric investigation will rely on skeleton markers apt to investigate functional changes caused by a reduction in mobility: limb long bones (femur, tibia, humerus), and tarsal bones (calacaneus, talus), both strongly involved in locomotion and often found complete in archaeological record. The muscular and skeleton changes during the growth of the animals will be captured with in vivo longitudinal 3D CT and MRI scans. The latest advances in 3D biomechanical and geometric morphometric analysis will then capture and decode the signature of lifestyle variation imprinted in the external and internal structural morphology. The experimental characterization of this phenotypic signature will then be used as proxy to infer the life style/behaviour of Neolithic series of Sus scrofa. This research action will rely on a real multidisciplinary interaction between fields of functional ecology, evolutionary biology, functional skeletal anatomy, and bioarchaology to achieve an original approach towards a better understanding of the early steps of domestication. The results will also contribute to ongoing discussions about the role of developmental plasticity in the evolution of new phenotypes and will provide unique insights into the cause, pace and amount of phenotypic variation that can be achieved when facing radically new environmental conditions.