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Archaeology and Animal Persons: Toward a Prehistory of Human-Animal Relations

The latest Environment and Society featured article is now available! This month’s article—”Archaeology and Animal Persons: Toward a Prehistory of Human-Animal Relations”—comes from Volume 4 (2013). In his article, Erica Hill describes some of the ways in which archaeologists are reconstructing human engagements with animals in the past, focusing on relational modes of interaction documented in many hunting and gathering societies.

Visit the featured article page to download your copy of the article today before it’s gone! A new article is featured every month.

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Toxic Ecologies of Occupation

Brian Boyd: In June 2012, with a small group of Palestinian colleagues, I entered the Wadi en-Natuf in Palestine for the first time since 2000. In June 2000, it looked like this:

Boyd Fig 1

Since 2000, I have been involved in an archaeological project centered in and around the small (population 4,500) Palestinian town of Shuqba in the West Bank (Ramallah and Al-Bireh district). Shuqba gives its name to a large cave in the nearby Wadi en-Natuf, a river valley that runs close to the town. This cave was excavated by the British archaeologist Dorothy Garrod in 1928, during the turbulent early years of the British Mandate. Garrod is a central figure for women’s involvement in the history and practice of archaeology.