Humans, Animals, and the Craft of Slaughter in Archaeo-Historic Societies

This book conceptualizes butchery as an expression of technological knowledge and culture embedded in action, defining the human-animal relationship.

Krish Seetah (Author)

9781108428804, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 October 2018

276 pages
26.1 x 18.4 x 1.8 cm, 0.77 kg

In this book, Krish Seetah uses butchery as a point of departure for exploring the changing historical relationships between animal utility, symbolism, and meat consumption. Seetah brings together several bodies of literature - on meat, cut marks, craftspeople, and the role of craft in production - that have heretofore been considered in isolation from one another. Focusing on the activity inherent in butcher, he describes the history of knowledge that typifies the craft. He also provides anthropological and archaeological case studies which showcase examples of butchery practices in varied contexts that are seldom identified with zooarchaeological research. Situating the relationship between practice, practitioner, material and commodity, this imaginative study offers new insights into food production, consumption, and the craft of cuisine.

Part I. Butchery as Craft and Social Praxis: 1. Animal bodies, human technology
2. Conceptualising 'butchery'
3. Thinking practically
4. Craft, practice, and social boundaries
5. Intellectualizing practice: bridging analogy and technology
6. The materiality of butchery
Part II. The Butchers' Practice in Archaeo-Historic Societies: 7. Studying cut marks in historic archaeological contexts
8. Problematising butchery studies
9. Harnessing the power of the cut mark record
10. Humans, animals, and the butchers' craft in Roman and medieval Britain
11. Connecting complex butchering to complexity in society
12. Beyond butchery.

Subject Areas: Zoology & animal sciences [PSV], Prehistoric archaeology [HDDA], Archaeology by period / region [HDD], Archaeology [HD]