Human-animal Relationships from a Long-Term Perspective

• Published in: Current Swedish archaeology Vol. 28; no. 1
• Main Authors: Kristin Armstrong Oma, Joakim Goldhahn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Svenska Arkeologiska Samfundet 20.12.2020
• ISSN: 1102-7355; 2002-3901
• DOI: 10.37718/CSA.2020.01

Humans, like other animals, are inextricably bound to their local complex web-of-life and cannot exist outside of relationally interwoven ecosystems. Humans are, as such, rooted in a multispecies universe. Human and non-human animals in their variety of forms and abilities have been commensal, companions, prey, and hunters, and archaeology must take this fundamental fact – the cohabiting of the world – to heart. Human societies are, therefore, not so much human as web-of-species societies. Recently, anthropological theory has explored non-modern societies from the perspective of an anthropology of life which incorporates relationality of local humans and non-human animals (Kohn 2013), a pursuit that is significant for the diverse contributions in this special section of Current Swedish Archaeology (CSA): a themed section which deals with past multispecies intra-actions in a long-term perspective.