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Human–Deer Relations during Late Prehistory: The Zooarchaeological Data from Central and Southern Portugal in Perspective

Authors :
Nelson J. Almeida
Catarina Guinot
Inês Ribeiro
João Barreira
Ana Catarina Basílio
Source :
Animals, Vol 14, Iss 10, p 1424 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2024.

Abstract

Human–animal relations have been a fruitful research topic worldwide. The importance of deer in hunter–gatherer societies is undeniable, with cervids being commonly found in archaeological and past artistic records, with a notable amount of information recovered in the Iberian Peninsula. This relevance continues during Late Prehistory, but the attempt to discuss cervids under broader perspectives and based on different types of data is not as common. We intend to approach human–deer relations in Central and Southern Portuguese Late Prehistory by considering the zooarchaeological records, both deer abundance in faunal spectra and their presence in “meaningful” assemblages and structured depositions, as well as the use of deer and deer body parts in other socio–cultural and ideological practices. The synthesis of available data shows that human–deer relations changed through time and space, with different abundances related to hunting depending on chronology and geography. The use of deer or their body parts as a resource of symbolic nature also varied, being included in food-sharing events, offerings, structured depositions, and graphic representations. Changeability is part of the different relationships, ontologies, and cosmogonies that humans and deer developed in the Late Prehistoric relational world.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
14101424 and 20762615
Volume :
14
Issue :
10
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Animals
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.8d81ce2ee7047e383be83641a116f5e
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14101424