ABOUT THIS BOOK

Animals and Inequality in the Ancient World explores the current trends in the social archaeology of human-animal relationships, focusing on the ways in which animals are used to structure, create, support, and even deconstruct social inequalities.

The authors provide a global range of case studies from both New and Old World archaeology—a royal Aztec dog burial, the monumental horse tombs of Central Asia, and the ceremonial macaw cages of ancient Mexico among them. They explore the complex relationships between people and animals in social, economic, political, and ritual contexts, incorporating animal remains from archaeological sites with artifacts, texts, and iconography to develop their interpretations.

Animals and Inequality in the Ancient World presents new data and interpretations that reveal the role of animals, their products, and their symbolism in structuring social inequalities in the ancient world. The volume will be of interest to archaeologists, especially zooarchaeologists, and classical scholars of pre-modern civilizations and societies.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Benjamin S. Arbuckle is assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Sue Ann McCarty is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Virginia.

REVIEWS

“I know of no other edited volume in zooarchaeology that has this breadth of coverage, geographically, temporally, and topically. . . A very important contribution to the field.”
—Elizabeth Scott, Illinois State University

"Animals and Inequality makes a significant contribution to the discipline both as a scholarly interpretation of the social significance of animals and as a demonstration that it is possible to study that significance while remaining grounded in reliable data."
—American Antiquity

"[I] heartily recommend this volume to anyone who would like to read interesting and unusual case studies that have been unpacked by archaeologists from various corners of the globe and strata of human history. Those who study human-animal-environmental relationships or who are interested in acquiring a new lens through which to view social inequality will find it well worth their time and it will open up new challenges for their own research projects."
—Anthropology News

"[Animals and Inequality] will become a standard reference for those wishing to understand the contribution of zooarchaeology to the study of social inequality. . . . an excellent book, one which reads as a powerful statement about the potential of animal studies to illuminate past societies."
—Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies

"The chapters in this excellent volume demonstrate that our entanglement with nonhuman animals has a complex (pre)history that we’re only now beginning to unravel."
—Journal of Anthropological Research

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover

Contents

Figures

Tables

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Animals and the State

2. Entering the Underworld

3. The Luxury of Variety

4. Shifting Patterns of Maya Social Complexity through Time

5. Animals as Symbols, Animals as Resources

6. The Parrots of Paquimé

7. Ritual, Cuisine, and Commensal Politics at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

8. Pelts and Provisions

9. Animals and Social Change

10. Inequality and the Origins of Wool Production in Central Anatolia

11. Tracing Inequality from Assur to Kültepe/Kanesh

12. Animal, Human, God

13. Inequality on the Surface

14. Pythons, Pigs, and Political Process in the Hueda Kingdom, Benin, West Africa AD 1650–1727

15. “Tails” of Romanization

16. Wool Production, Wealth, and Trade in Middle Saxon England

17. The Rhetoric of Meat Apportionment

Contributors

Index

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