Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human and Animal Relationships
Date
Tue May 5th 2015, 5:15pm
Event Sponsor
Stanford Humanities Center
Location
Lecture Room, Stanford Archeology Center
"At the Interface of Agency, Social Order, and Ritual Action: Human-Animal Relationships in the
Eurasian Steppe Iron Age"
About this Talk:
This presentation focuses on dynamic shifts in pastoralist subsistence economies, mortuary ritual practice, and the materiality of animal symbolism in the first half of the first millennium BCE. Programs of field research in Western Siberia and the steppes of the Southern Ural Mountains, Russian Federation, have produced fascinating new archaeological discoveries over the past two decades. The exploration of habitation loci and new forms of mortuary ritual constructions provide a substantial material foundation for examining the shifting nature of human-animal relationships and the emergence of new forms of ritual practice and material symbolism. These important themes will be examined through a detailed discussion of field data and new trends of interpretation connected with a more nuanced social Zooarchaeology of the Eurasian Steppe Iron Age.
About the Speaker:
Bryan Hanks is Associate Professor and Chair within the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. His archaeological field research and publications have focused on the Bronze and Iron Ages of north central Eurasia. Since 1998, he has been collaborating with Russian archaeologists in Western Siberia and the steppes of the Southern Urals.
Bryan Hanks is Associate Professor and Chair within the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. His archaeological field research and publications have focused on the Bronze and Iron Ages of north central Eurasia. Since 1998, he has been collaborating with Russian archaeologists in Western Siberia and the steppes of the Southern Urals.
Contact Email
towlett [at] stanford.edu