Non-human Animals and People: Interactions, Agents and Materialities - An overview from southern South America

Animals are agency-bearing beings and are able to bond in emotional relationships with people. In these various associations, the boundary between human and nonhuman is permeable according to the degree of human-animal familiarity. Across time and space, humans and nonhuman animals have co-modelled their relationships in diverse interspecific interactions. Throughout human history, animals have been hunted, bred, domesticated, eaten, feared, and venerated. 
This book presents several papers from the symposium Animals and people: interactions, agents and materialities, held in the XXI Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Argentina, which took place in Corrientes city, Argentina in July of 2023. Through eight chapters, authors explore: human-camelid interactions, comprising hunting, pastoralism, domestication and current management; human-felids interaction; the role of animals in the construction of social identity; the configuration of spatial interaction networks at various scales; and theoretical issues from a relational approach. These topics are approached from many different materialities and perspectives, including zooarchaeological data, stable isotope information, rock and mobile art, current animal management, hides and fleece and ethnographic information. The contributions focus on southern South America, including northern Chile, northwestern Argentina and Argentine Central, Patagonia and Pampas regions. 
This book delves into the complexity of interactions between humans and nonhuman animals and the material derivatives of those relationships. The volume's interdisciplinary perspectives that integrate theoretical proposals and case studies will be references for archaeologists, anthropologists and ethnologists examining the interplay among people and nonhuman animals.

List of contents

Chapter 1: Non-Human Animals And People In Southern South America: An Overview.- Chapter 2: Uywaña and Sarawi. Relational Approach To Camelids And Humans (Tarapacá, Northern Chile).- Chapter 3: Dialogues Between Animals And People Over Time: An Interdisciplinary Perspective On The Sierras Of Córdoba, Argentina.- Chapter 4: Fleece and Leather Analysis In Human And Animal Archaeological Assemblages. Southern Puna Of Argentina (ca. 50 bc to ad 1800).

About the author

Romina Frontini. Archaeologist, Doctor in Archaeology, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina. Teaching Assistant of the undergraduate matter Prehistoria General in the Bachelor of History, Departamento de Humanidades, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Argentina. Researcher at the Equipo de Arqueología, Universidad Nacional del Sur. Her research interest focuses on the use of faunal resources by Holocene hunter-gatherers in different aquatic environments in the southwest Buenos Aires province. Other lines of research are linked to experimentation in the cooking processes and in taphonomic actualistic observations to analyze current processes affecting the remains
Paula Escosteguy. Archaeologist graduated from the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires. She has a PhD in Archaeology. She is currently a Professor in the Anthropology career at the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras (Universidad de Buenos Aires) and an Adjunct Researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET). Her institutional affiliation is the Institute of Archaeology of that university. She investigates past societies that once occupied the wetlands of the Salado River in Buenos Aires, with a primary focus on faunal remains. Additionally, her research encompasses the implementation of an actualistic taphonomy program.
Mónica Salemme Archaeologist, Dr in Natural Sciences, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo (FCNyM), Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Argentina. Senior Researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina. Professor of the undergraduate matter Cultural Anthropology in the Tourism career (Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego, UNTDF) at Ushuaia, Argentina. Head of the Working Group of Fuegian Steppe Archaeology at Laboratorio de Cuaternario y Geomorfología, at CADIC-CONICET, Ushuaia. Her research interest focuses on the study of archaeofaunal assemblages, in particular zooarchaeology and paleoenvironments from the Pampas, Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, linked to landforms and archaeological sites.

Summary

Animals are agency-bearing beings and are able to bond in emotional relationships with people. In these various associations, the boundary between human and nonhuman is permeable according to the degree of human-animal familiarity. Across time and space, humans and nonhuman animals have co-modelled their relationships in diverse interspecific interactions. Throughout human history, animals have been hunted, bred, domesticated, eaten, feared, and venerated. 
This book presents several papers from the symposium Animals and people: interactions, agents and materialities, held in the XXI Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Argentina, which took place in Corrientes city, Argentina in July of 2023. Through eight chapters, authors explore: human-camelid interactions, comprising hunting, pastoralism, domestication and current management; human-felids interaction; the role of animals in the construction of social identity; the configuration of spatial interaction networks at various scales; and theoretical issues from a relational approach. These topics are approached from many different materialities and perspectives, including zooarchaeological data, stable isotope information, rock and mobile art, current animal management, hides and fleece and ethnographic information. The contributions focus on southern South America, including northern Chile, northwestern Argentina and Argentine Central, Patagonia and Pampas regions. 
This book delves into the complexity of interactions between humans and nonhuman animals and the material derivatives of those relationships. The volume's interdisciplinary perspectives that integrate theoretical proposals and case studies will be references for archaeologists, anthropologists and ethnologists examining the interplay among people and nonhuman animals.

Product details

• Assisted by: Paula D Escosteguy (Editor), Paula Escosteguy (Editor), Paula D Escosteguy (Editor), Romina Frontini (Editor), Mónica Salemme (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 11.12.2025
• EAN: 9783031974946
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3197494-6
• No. of pages: 350
• Illustrations: Approx. 350 p. 50 illus. in color.
• Series: The Latin American Studies Book Series
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Agriculture, horticulture; forestry, fishing, food; Anthropologie, Kulturwissenschaften, South America, Humangeographie, Anthropology, Regional Cultural Studies, Animals and society, Human Geography, Animal Science, Zooarchaeology, Interdisciplinary approaches, human and non-human interactions