Love and Death: Theoretical and Practical Examination of Human-Animal Relations in Creating Wild Animal Osteobiography
Abstract Osteobiographies are a common form of presenting the archaeological analysis of the life history of an individual. This form of analysis, however, is usually reserved for human subjects. Writing an osteobiography of a nonhuman person is complicated by the lack of human understanding of anim...
| Published in: | Society & Animals |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
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Brill
2020
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15685306-bja10012 https://brill.com/view/journals/soan/31/1/article-p84_6.xml https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/soan/31/1/article-p84_6.xml |
| Summary: | Abstract Osteobiographies are a common form of presenting the archaeological analysis of the life history of an individual. This form of analysis, however, is usually reserved for human subjects. Writing an osteobiography of a nonhuman person is complicated by the lack of human understanding of animal thought and experience. Such analysis is further complicated when the subject is not a companion animal, and isolated from human funerary rituals which may shed light on the animal’s life. The skeletal remains of an injured wild caribou from Alberta who was collected as a museum specimen presents a unique opportunity to understand an individual animal’s life, as well presents an example of the complexities of human-animal relationships in an analytical setting. This study examines both the life of an extraordinary nonhuman person and the impact of reconstructing nonhuman life histories on the analyst. |
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