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Book Review: The Ritual Killing and Burial of Animals

1 min read

Ed. Aleksander Pluskowski
Oxbow, £48.00
ISBN 978-1842174449

Animals have been interred with humans in prehistoric and historic societies worldwide. This collection of 16 papers provides a thorough overview of these practices in Europe, spanning a broad chronological period – including Neolithic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Viking sites – as well as a wide geographical area, from Iceland to Italy. Neatly divided between Central/Eastern and Western Europe, they raise interesting questions, including identifying ritually killed animals, how far we can reconstruct these rites, changing ideas of sacred animals, and human-animal relationships throughout history.


This article is an extract from the full article published in World Archaeology Issue 54. Click here to subscribe

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