Abstract
This contribution draws mainly on images of dogs, humans and sheep from Nordic Bronze Age rock art sources, but living arrangements within the household and depositional patterns of dog bones on settlements are also considered to extrapolate an understanding of the physical reality and ontological role of sheepdogs within the social aspects of the practice of herding. I use theories from the interdisciplinary field of human-animal studies to understand how socialisation, habituation and trust create a seamless choreography between human, dog and sheep.
Highlights
This contribution draws mainly on images of dogs, humans and sheep from Nordic Bronze Age rock art sources, but living arrangements within the household and depositional patterns of dog bones on settlements are considered to extrapolate an understanding of the physical reality and ontological role of sheepdogs within the social aspects of the practice of herding
Researching herding – sheep, dogs and shepherds – in the early Bronze Age allowed me to conceptualise the different kinds of beings as players on the same field
How would particular human-animal practices be manifested in material culture and spatial set-ups? Clearly, different kinds of animals would contribute in different ways to joint practices, and the humans, sheep and dogs would have to respond to each other’s behavioural patterns and agency and through their responses, mutually become the action of herding
Summary
This contribution draws mainly on images of dogs, humans and sheep from Nordic Bronze Age rock art sources, but living arrangements within the household and depositional patterns of dog bones on settlements are considered to extrapolate an understanding of the physical reality and ontological role of sheepdogs within the social aspects of the practice of herding. A good sheepdog handler will socialise the dog to be a free agent, and even though the cognitive scaffolding of commands and communication are important in training (Keil 2015), the most important factor is the development of trust and intuitive understanding between human, dog and sheep (Scrimgeour 2002). In this contribution I will discuss the fringe position of herding dogs, and the specific kind of hybridity that working interspecies relationships entail. How would particular human-animal practices be manifested in material culture and spatial set-ups? Clearly, different kinds of animals would contribute in different ways to joint practices, and the humans, sheep and dogs would have to respond to each other’s behavioural patterns and agency and through their responses, mutually become the action of herding
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