Archaeological Perspectives on Animal Welfare

Showcasing how archaeologists and cultural heritage practitioners can participate in current debates concerning animal welfare, this open access book looks at the moral, ethical and practical aspects of human-animal relationships in modern societies. Despite a long-term perspective on human-animal relationships, archaeological data and perspectives are underutilised in discussions on ecological and economic issues such as sustainable animal husbandry, biodiversity and rewilding. The chapters of this edited volume examine different aspects of thousands of years of history, from the Stone Age to the modern era, and focus their attention on our problematic relationships with wild and domesticated animals. The topics covered include horse husbandry and cattle welfare; the relationships between humans and wild animals, such as big cats, beavers, and Eurasian elk; as well as a variety of multispecies interactions in the past and present. The chapters are theoretical and practical in nature, and they introduce case studies that focus on specific species. Case studies focus on issues that can be universally applied in all geographic regions and communities. The diversity of the case studies allows readers to gain insight into historical animal welfare practices, and to understand how these lessons can inform contemporary human-animal relationships. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the University of Helsinki.