Animals as Agents: Hunting Ritual and Relational Ontologies in Prehistoric Alaska and Chukotka
In this article, I discuss the ways in which animals act as ontological subjects — as other-than-human persons and as agents in myth and ritual. First I outline how humans conceive of and behave with animals and their remains in indigenous cosmologies using ethnographic and ethnohistoric examples fr...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0959774311000448 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0959774311000448 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0959774311000448 2024-09-15T18:02:02+00:00 Animals as Agents: Hunting Ritual and Relational Ontologies in Prehistoric Alaska and Chukotka Hill, Erica 2011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0959774311000448 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0959774311000448 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Cambridge Archaeological Journal volume 21, issue 3, page 407-426 ISSN 0959-7743 1474-0540 journal-article 2011 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959774311000448 2024-08-14T04:03:37Z In this article, I discuss the ways in which animals act as ontological subjects — as other-than-human persons and as agents in myth and ritual. First I outline how humans conceive of and behave with animals and their remains in indigenous cosmologies using ethnographic and ethnohistoric examples from the Arctic, Subarctic and Amazonia. I then explore the archaeological evidence for indigenous ontologies along the coasts of Chukotka and Alaska, arguing that prehistoric hunters interacted with animals as agential persons, engaging in social practices intended to facilitate hunting success and avoid offending prey. Two forms of ritual activities are discussed: the use of hunting amulets and the caching of animal bones and antlers. I conclude that focusing on shamanism in the study of hunter-gatherer belief obscures the roles of hunters and their wives. Their thoughts and actions established and maintained relationships with prey animals and may be more productively conceptualized as dynamic social behaviours embedded within the context of daily life than as privileged ritual acts. Article in Journal/Newspaper Chukotka Subarctic Alaska Cambridge University Press Cambridge Archaeological Journal 21 3 407 426 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
In this article, I discuss the ways in which animals act as ontological subjects — as other-than-human persons and as agents in myth and ritual. First I outline how humans conceive of and behave with animals and their remains in indigenous cosmologies using ethnographic and ethnohistoric examples from the Arctic, Subarctic and Amazonia. I then explore the archaeological evidence for indigenous ontologies along the coasts of Chukotka and Alaska, arguing that prehistoric hunters interacted with animals as agential persons, engaging in social practices intended to facilitate hunting success and avoid offending prey. Two forms of ritual activities are discussed: the use of hunting amulets and the caching of animal bones and antlers. I conclude that focusing on shamanism in the study of hunter-gatherer belief obscures the roles of hunters and their wives. Their thoughts and actions established and maintained relationships with prey animals and may be more productively conceptualized as dynamic social behaviours embedded within the context of daily life than as privileged ritual acts. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hill, Erica |
spellingShingle |
Hill, Erica Animals as Agents: Hunting Ritual and Relational Ontologies in Prehistoric Alaska and Chukotka |
author_facet |
Hill, Erica |
author_sort |
Hill, Erica |
title |
Animals as Agents: Hunting Ritual and Relational Ontologies in Prehistoric Alaska and Chukotka |
title_short |
Animals as Agents: Hunting Ritual and Relational Ontologies in Prehistoric Alaska and Chukotka |
title_full |
Animals as Agents: Hunting Ritual and Relational Ontologies in Prehistoric Alaska and Chukotka |
title_fullStr |
Animals as Agents: Hunting Ritual and Relational Ontologies in Prehistoric Alaska and Chukotka |
title_full_unstemmed |
Animals as Agents: Hunting Ritual and Relational Ontologies in Prehistoric Alaska and Chukotka |
title_sort |
animals as agents: hunting ritual and relational ontologies in prehistoric alaska and chukotka |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0959774311000448 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0959774311000448 |
genre |
Chukotka Subarctic Alaska |
genre_facet |
Chukotka Subarctic Alaska |
op_source |
Cambridge Archaeological Journal volume 21, issue 3, page 407-426 ISSN 0959-7743 1474-0540 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959774311000448 |
container_title |
Cambridge Archaeological Journal |
container_volume |
21 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
407 |
op_container_end_page |
426 |
_version_ |
1810439107370811392 |