Index


Abob, 190

actor-network theory (ANT), 273

adoption ceremonies, Plains, 111, 115

affordances, 201

afterworld/afterlife, Mi’kmaq, 15, 52, 60, 61, 62, 64–65

agency, 4, 12, 76, 78, 139, 140; of birds, 15–16; of canoes, 190–91; in Cleveland conch plaque, 134–38; Eskimo beings with, 34, 40–41; as generative action, 266–69; of images, 128–29; nonhuman, 5–6, 19, 126–27, 148–49; non-person, 40–41, 264–66; of objects, 3, 5, 129–30, 169–70; and personhood, 14–15; and social norms, 42–43; as social phenomenon, 29–30

agentic qualities, 76–77

Alaska, 14, 30, 36, 37, 43. See also Eskimo

Alberta, eagle-trapping pits, 110

Alberti, Benjamin, 265, 268–69, 271–72

Alberti, Giambattista, De picture, 139

alienable-inalienable divide, 266

alterity, 52, 55, 65; ontological, 271–72

Altun Ha, personified drum at, 132, 134

Amatenango del Valle, creation stories, 157

Amazonian groups, 6, 264, 265

amber, Bronze Age use of, 243, 245, 256

Amerindian perspectivism, 36

Amesbury Barrow G6Ia, 24243, 247

ammonites, in Bronze Age burials, 245, 249

amulets, 197, 206

ancestors, Maya links to, 137, 138

animacy, 4, 6, 12, 15, 77, 78, 148, 188, 272; of objects, 126, 140–41, 170

animals, 10, 76, 126; archaeological patterning of, 37–39; Banda spirit, 214–16; Eskimo treatment of, 34–35; Melanesian canoes, 173, 174; predatory relationships, 264–65; preferences and behaviors of, 35–36

animating forces, animation, 80–81, 169

animic predation, 264

animism, 29, 33, 128, 265

ANT. See actor-network theory

anthropocentrism, 72

anthropology of techniques, 200

anthropomorphism, anthropomorphization, 139, 189; of canoes, 169, 172, 174–75, 178–82

anthroseds, 82

anthrozoology, 32

Antibes, phallic stone from, 126

archaeology, 37, 113; Banda Research Project, 208, 228(n3); defining Personhood in, 158–59, 198–99; of mortuary practices, 237–38; ontological multiplicities, 269–70

Arikara, birds and, 105, 109, 117

Arreton Down (Isle of Wight), burials at, 242

art historians, on agency of images, 128–29

Asante empire, 206, 226

asocial entities, 13, 264

assemblage converter, Cahokia as, 91

Assiniboine, birds and, 105, 109, 113, 114

Astor-Aguilera, Miguel Angel, 127, 150, 151, 152, 158, 159

Atlantic trade, and West Africa, 204, 205, 208

Augustine, Stephen, 63

Aurignacian period, 253

autonomous action, autonomy, of canoes, 169, 171–72

Aztecs: children becoming persons, 153–54, 267; souls, 152

Baikal, Lake, dog and wolf burials at, 31

Bakongo, 139, 140, 141

Banda, 227(n1); glass bead trade, 205–6; ornaments, 17, 197, 20815; ritual contexts and objects, 216–25; serpentine symbolism in, 225–26

Banda Research Project (BRP), 207–9

bangles, Banda, 208, 209–11, 217, 221–23, 226, 267

Barad, Karen, 5

barrows: as bundled assemblages, 254–55; grave goods in, 24243, 247, 250; pond, 248, 249, 253

Basques, 51, 52, 53–54, 57

Basse-Pyrénées, Grotte de, 253

beads: in Early Bronze Age burials, 242, 249; in Ngre Kataa shrines, 224–25; St. Cuthbert’s, 250–51; stalactite, 248; West African trade in, 205–6, 220

bears, heads of, 37

bear-trapping pits, 110

Beaver Bundle, 113, 117

Beech Hill House (Perthshire), Bronze Age burials in, 248

beings, 4; agential, 34, 266; agential non-person, 40–41; animacy of, 152–53

Belize, speaking objects at, 132

belugas, as animal persons, 35

Bering Sea, 14; hunter-gatherers on, 32–33

betelnut, 173

big men, canoes as, 174–75

binding, 127

Bird-David, Nurit, 10

bird knowledge, 100, 108; rights and practices, 109–10

bird parts/objects: in ceremonial paraphernalia, 106, 109; as commodities, 113–15; ceremonial use of, 111–13

birds, 108; agency of, 15–16; characteristics of, 105–6; as gods and spirits, 106–7; personhood, 104–5; social roles, 100, 101; trade in, 114–15, 117

Black Elk, on sweat baths, 81

Blackfeet Indian Reservation, eagle-trapping pits on, 110

Blackfoot, 11, 12, 107, 108, 109, 119; birds and, 105, 116, 117, 118; eagle feathers used by, 111–15; eagle trapping, 110–11

Bladder Festival, 37

Blake’s Firs (Easton Down, Wiltshire), Bronze Age cremation burials, 249–50

Blaser, Mario, 269

blood, sap as, 177

boat houses, Melanesian canoes in, 175

bodies, 17, 174

bodily modification, West Africa, 204

Boigu, 178

Bomai, 189, 190

bones, eagle, 109, 113

Borgia Codex, 153–54, 156

Bourdieu, Pierre, 275

Bowdich, T. Edward, 206

bows, canoe, 178–81

breath, breathing, 134, 140; ensouled, 137–38

Brill de Ramírez, Susan Berry, 7, 12, 263

Brings-down-the-Sun, eagle feather trade and, 114–15

British, 18; in Maritime provinces, 52, 54

Bronze Age, 237; fossils in, 255–56; mortuary practices, 238, 239–50; object bundles, 244–45

Brown, Bill, 12

Brown, Linda, 19

Brown Old Man, 115

BRP. See Banda Research Project

Bruwan (canoe), 183, 184

Budden, Sandy, 275

bullroarers, and waking up canoes, 178, 186

bundle holders, eagle trapping by, 110

bundles, 13, 204; bird materials in, 16, 108, 117, 118; Bronze Age barrows as, 254–55; and eagle feathers, 111, 112–13; ritual treatment of, 11–12; sacred Bronze Age, 244–45; as social persons, 77–78

bundling, 7, 8, 77, 200–201, 202; Banda ornaments, 17–18; Banda shrines, 221–25; Bronze Age barrows, 254–55

burials, burial practices, 30, 31, 81; British Bronze Age, 18, 237–38, 239–50, 265; copper kettles in, 56–61; Mi’kmaq, 15, 66–67; seal, 38

Burkina Faso, glass beads in, 205

Cabot, John, 53

caches: Eskimo hunting, 37, 39; in Maya sites, 159

Caddoans, 85

Cahokia, 15, 73, 79; maize cultivation at, 85–86; mortuary ritual, 90–91; mound construction at, 81–82; pottery at, 82–83; rebuilding of, 79–80; shell use, 8889; sweat baths, 80–81; water symbolism at, 89–90

Cahokia grid, 80

calumet pipes, 111

cannibalism, 41; by agential non-persons, 34, 40, 42; in mutual predatory relationships, 264–65

canoes, 17, 268; anthropomorphization and zoomorphization of, 178–82; dismemberment and dispersal of, 186–87; Melanesian, 171–75; naming, 185–86; as object-beings, 168–69, 187–88; predatorization of, 182–85; sentience of, 188–89; Torres Strait, 167–69, 176–78

caribou, as persons, 36

carnelian beads, in Banda sites, 224–25, 226

castaways, in Torres Straits, 188, 189, 190

Caste War, 127

casts, fossils as, 253, 255–56

caves, fossils from, 253

Catlin, George, paintings by, 107

Ceibal, 131, 140

cemeteries, organization of, 30

ceremonial paraphernalia, bird parts as, 109

Cerro Palenque, termination deposits, 158–59

Ch’a Chaak (Thunderstorm), 156

Chalk, fossils from, 245–46

Chalmers, James, 177

charms: Islamic, 206; hunting magic, 183–85

Chiapas, animate objects in, 157

chieftancy, Banda, 205

Chilcompton (Somerset), Early Bronze Age burials in, 248

childbirth, Mesoamerican concepts, 153, 154

children: agency of, 30; becoming persons, 153–54, 267; burial practices and, 31, 62; personhood of, 270–71

Chimaltenango/Chimbal, 149

Christianity, in Maritime Provinces, 66

Chukotka, 31, 35–36, 37, 43

circular buildings, at Cahokia, 80, 81

Cleveland shell plaque, imagery and inscriptions on, 134–38, 140, 141

Codex Mendoza, 154

codices, Maya, 16–17

co-essences, 151, 152

cognitive science, 270

Colonial period, in Maritime provinces, 15, 51–54, 55

colonization, colonialism, 149; French, 54, 66–67

color symbolism, 55

Comalapa, 139

commodities, 118; bird feathers as, 113–15; and personhood, 102–5

communication: by birds, 105–6; inalienable goods, 103–4; Maya visual, 16–17; object-human, 11–12

compositional practices, 200–201; Banda shrines, 217, 221–22

conchs (Strombus spp.), 140; inscriptions and, 134–38; as musical instruments, 132–33

consciousness, of objects, 13–14

conservation, of inalienable possessions, 103

Contact period, 16; Maritime provinces, 51–52

cooking pots, in Maya creation stories, 156–57

Copán, speech inscriptions at, 131–32

Copán valley, household archaeology in, 158–59

copper, symbolic power of, 55

copper alloys: Banda ornaments, 211, 212, 214, 27, 220, 222, 226; Saharan trade in, 204–5

copper kettles, 15, 51, 55; as grave goods, 56–61, 266; life forces of, 61–62; as relations, 66, 67

corn. See maize

cosmogenesis, faience production and, 251

cosmography, Early Bronze Age, 247

cosmology: Cahokia, 80; hunter-gatherer, 32–33; Mesoamerican, 150–51; Mi’kmaq, 57, 63; Missouri River groups, 117–18

cowrie shells, Banda ornaments, 208

crafted objects, fossils as, 253

crafting, 7; fossil skeuomorphs, 240, 248–49; implements used in, 148–49, 155–58; in Mesoamerica, 268, 269

creation stories: Kluskap in, 63–64; Mandan, 111; Maya, 156–57

crinoids, 248; mimics of, 250–51

crosses, with souls, 127

Crow, birds and, 105, 109, 117

Crow-Has-Water Society Bundle, 113

cults, Torres Strait, 188–89

cultural relativism, 198

Dalles, the, eagle feather trade, 114

Dauan, 187

Dauar, 187

dead, in Torres Straits, 190

deaths, of Melanesian canoes, 174

decision-making, conscious, 275

decommissioning, of Cahokia structures, 81

deer, in Maya art, 134

deities. See gods

Deleuze, Gilles, 73, 76

Denys, Nicolas, 60, 66

depositional practices, Maya, 158–59

Descola, Philippe, 264; socialized naturalism, 6

design, 202; and response, 201

destiny, in Mesoamerica, 150–51

dialogue, 12, 16, 36

Dibi (Dibiri Island), 177

disabled, care for, 31

diseases, European, 62

dismemberment, of Torres Strait canoes, 186–87

dispersal, of Torres Strait canoes, 186–87

display, of icons, 103–4

dividual, dividuality, 9, 271

divination, 7, 214, 222

divine, and objects, 141

dogai, 181

dogs, 31; at Banda sites, 203–4, 211, 220, 222; as sacrificial animals, 215–16, 223

Dorset, jet and shale from, 245

Down Farm (Dorset), pond barrow, 248, 249, 253

Dresden Codex, 156

dress, and personhood, 204

Driffield (East Yorkshire), Barrow C44, 248

drums, speaking, 132, 134

dugongs: Torres Straits relationships with, 42, 175, 178, 182–83; Upper Palaeolithic use of, 253

Dunstable Downs (Bedfordshire), Early Bronze Age burials, 240–42

dyes, in Plains bundles, 16, 117

eagle feathers: as commodities, 113–15; gifts of, 111–13; valuation system, 119–20

eagle lodges, 106

eagle medicine, 110

Eagle Protection act, 110

eagle rights, 109–10

eagle tipi lodge, 111

eagle trapping, 106; and horse trade, 114–15; techniques, 110–11

Early Bronze Age, 18; fossil-human relationships, 253–55, 268; fossil skeuomorphs in, 250–53; magical powers in, 243–44; mortuary practices, 238, 239–50; personhood, 265–66

ear spools, 138

echinoids: in Early Bronze Age burials, 241–42; skeuomorphs of, 251–53

ecological psychology, 201

ecology, visual, 201, 203, 205

effigies, Kaqchikel Maya use of, 139–40

elites, Maya, 138

embodied cognition, 264, 274

embodiment, 174, 275

Emerald Acropolis, 80

empathy, 34, 35

enchantment, 11, 201

Endangered Species Act, 110

England, Early Bronze Age burials in, 240–50

entanglement, 15, 76; in hunter-gatherer cosmology, 32–33; of maize farming, 87–88

epistemology, postmodern, 20

Erub, 189

Eskimo, 31, 33; agency and personhood, 14–15, 43; agential nonpersons, 39–41, 264, 265; persons, 34–39; reciprocity, 41–42

Europeans, in Maritime Provinces, 51, 52–54

exchange networks, 35, 100, 108, 168; bird feathers, 15–16; European-Mi’kmaq, 55, 57; in Melanesia, 168, 172, 200; as transfer of power and knowledge, 118–19

faience, cosmogenic symbolism of, 250–51

fans, feather, 111

farming, implements used in, 155

fasting, bird knowledge, 108

Fausto, Carlos, 264–65

feasting, 88, 111

feathers, 117; ceremonial use and exchange of, 109, 111–13; as commodities, 113–15; exchange of, 15–16; valuation system, 119–20

fetishism, 128, 198

figureheads, Torres Strait canoe, 181, 182

figurines, in Maya life-cycle events, 154–55

fire, 81; as mediated power, 76, 79; and pottery making, 87, 88

fire drills, in conveying personhood, 153

fish, as canoe decorations, 183, 184

fishing, Torres Strait Islanders, 175

flint, fossils incorporated into, 248

Florentine Codex, 153, 154, 159(n2)

Fly River (Papua New Guinea), 178; canoe trees in, 176, 177

folk traditions, power of fossils, 249

fossils: alteration of, 249–50; in British Bronze Age burials, 18, 238, 239–47, 268; Bronze Age acquisition and use of, 255–56; as crafted objects, 248–49; echinoid skeuomorph, 250–53; Mississippian use of, 81–82, 85; as spirit animals, 253–54

Fowler, Chris, 275–76; on dividual, 9, 271

Fowles, Severin, 7, 10

framing, 201

France, Upper Palaeolithic fossil use, 253

Freedberg, David, 128

French, 57; in Maritime Provinces, 51, 52, 54; and Mi’kmaq burial customs, 66–67

furnaces, iron-smelting, 267, 268

fur trade, Maritime Provinces, 54

Gaspe Peninsula, 60

Gaspesiens. See Mi’kmaq

Gawa Islands, 172, 186, 200

Gebar, 190

Gell, Alfred, 11, 13; agency of things, 128, 169

gender, gender roles, 267; in Melanesian canoes, 172, 174, 175, 268

gendered body, social relationships, 35

generative processes, agency and, 266–69

Ghana, 17, 197, 199; Banda Research Project in, 207–9; glass bead trade, 205–6

Ghost Bundle, 113

gifts, gift exchange, 37, 102, 108, 109, 118; bird feathers, 111–13; and personhood, 36, 102–5; as transfer, 118–19

Girone, Grotte de, 253

glass beads, in West African sites, 205, 220, 224–25

goat, care for injured, 31

gods, 156, 158; birds as, 106–7; and objects, 132–33; speeches of, 131–32

good(s): interactive disposition of, 103–4; as persons, 104–5

Grand Plaza (Cahokia), 80, 89

grape cups, as skeuomorphs, 251, 252, 253

Grass Dance, 111

grave goods, 247; British Early Bronze Age, 18, 238, 239–50, 265; Cahokia, 89; copper kettles as, 56–61; fossil skeuomorphs and, 250–53; with magical powers, 243–44

graves, portable, 140

Great Britain, Bronze Age, 237

Greece, objects as actors, 126

griddles, in Maya creation stories, 156–57

grinding stones, as active agents, 157

Gryphaea arcuata, in Bronze Age burials, 245–46

Guanajuato, silver production, 103

Guattari, Felix, 73, 76

habitus, 8, 275

Haddon, Alfred, on Torres Straits canoes, 167, 176–77, 184

Halitherium, worked, 253

Hall, Robert, 81

Halliday site, 88

Hallowell, A. Irving, 6, 36, 147

hands, disembodied, 41

Harper, J. Russell, Hopps site burials, 58–59

Harris, Oliver, 275–76

Haynes Farm (Eyethorne, Kent), Bronze Age burials in, 248

heads, disembodied, 41

healing, healers, 157; effigies used by, 139–40

hearth fires, with souls, 127

Hidatsa, birds and, 105, 107, 109, 110, 117

hieroglyphic inscriptions: Maya, 16, 190, 134–38; speeches of gods and, 131–32

Hodder, Ian, 8

hoes, agency of, 157

Holbraad, Martin, 13

Holmesfield, Brown Edge (Derbyshire), ring cairn at, 247–48

Hopps (Pictou) site, 53; copper kettles in, 57–59

horses: burial of, 31; and eagle feather trade, 114–15

households, depositional contexts, 158–59

houses, with souls, 127

Hudson Bay Company, bird use and trade, 113–14, 117

hulls, canoe, 181–82

Hummingbird Vase (Tikal), 131, 132

hunter-gatherers, 10, 265; personhood and agency, 31

hunting, 7, 10, 137, 265; Eskimo, 14, 34–35, 42; reciprocity in, 35–36; Torres Strait Islanders, 175, 178, 182–86

hunting magic, Torres Strait, 183–85

iconography, agency and, 130

icons, display of, 103–4

identities, identity, 7, 9; formation of, 55, 105; social, 152, 256

illusionism, power of, 139

images, agency of, 128–29

implements, 154; crafting, 155–58; household, 158–59; personhood of, 148–49

inalienable goods/possessions, 118, 119; commoditization of, 100–101; communication of, 103–4; reciprocity and, 102–3

Incas, 139

India, carnelian beads from, 224

infants, agency of, 30, 153

Ingold, Timothy: on agency and animacy, 4, 129, 272; on meshwork, 8, 75–76

Iniskim Bundle, 113

injured, care for, 31

inorganic substances, 75, 77

inscription, 170

intentionalization, intentionality, 170; of canoes, 169, 171–72, 190–91

interactive dispositions, 103

interdependency, of relationships, 10, 14

interpretive theory, 265

inua, 36, 37

Inuit, Greenland, 43

Inupiaq Eskimo, 14, 37; hunting behavior, 34–35; wild babies, 30, 40

Inupiat, 36, 40, 41, 43

inversion, death as, 62

invocations, Banda, 197

Ipisia, 177

Ipiutak site, on Cape Krusenstern, 39

iron, 267, 268; in Banda culture, 208, 209–11, 212, 217, 220; in Ngre Kataa shrines, 221–22

Islam, and West African amulets, 206

isolation, social, 43

Isturitz, Grotte de, 253

itineraries, object-based, 3

Itqiirpak, 41

Ixoc Ahaua deities, 158

jade, jadite, 130, 137, 140

Jaurias, Grotte de, 253

jet, Bronze Age use, 243, 245, 256

Jewel Jaguar, Lord, 134

Johnson, Mark, 274–76

Kachina masks, as transformative objects, 104

Kaqchikel Maya, 127; effigy use, 139–40

Kaurareg, canoes, 183, 185–86

Kent, Early Bronze Age burials, 242

kettles: copper trade, 15, 51, 55; as grave goods, 56–60, 266; life forces of, 61–62; mutilation of, 60–61; in mythology, 63–65; as relations, 66, 67

K’iche’ Maya, 157

Kipp, Darrell, 117

Kiriwina Island, 171

Kissi sites, 205

Kiwai, 176, 178

KK. See Kuulo Kataa

Kluskap, 63–64, 65

Kluskap’s Kettle. See Ooteomul

knowledge, 8, 36, 109; of ritual behaviors, 14–15; transfer of, 108, 118–19

Krusenstern, Cape, seal skull cache, 37, 39

kula canoes, 186; life histories of, 171–73

kula exchange, 200

Kulkalgal, 188–89

Kuulo Kataa (KK), 208; compositional contexts at, 217–20; objects from, 212, 215; python remains at, 216–17, 220–25

Kuulo phase, 208; dog sacrifices, 215–16; serpentine symbolism in, 225–26

Kuyam, 190

labor, and Cahokia pyramids, 80

labrets, in West Africa, 204

Landa, Diego de, 154

Langton (Yorkshire), Early Bronze Age burial, 244, 250

Latour, Bruno, 3, 5, 75; NET-PRE model, 273, 276

launching rites, canoe, 174

Lazzari, Marissa, 7

leadership, Eskimo, 34

Le Clercq, Father, 60

life cycle/life history, 267; of Melanesian canoes, 168–69, 171–73, 175–78

life forces, 77; of kettles, 61–62

light, copper as representing, 55

liminality, 12, 65, 190

looms, personhood in, 157–58

Mabuyag, canoes from, 181, 183, 184, 186, 187

Madrid Codex, tools illustrated in, 156

Magdalenian period, 253

magic, 11, 189, 200, 214; in canoe life-cycle, 17, 171, 172; grave goods and, 243–44

maize, 115, 126, 152; in Mississippian culture, 73, 78, 79, 84–86; water and, 87–88, 90

Makala Kataa (MK), 208, 212, 215–16

Makala phase, 220, 223, 225, 226

Malafouris, Lambros, 275

Malinowski, Bronislaw, on kula canoes, 171–72

Maliseet, 51, 52

Malo, 190

Mam-speaking Maya, 149

Mandan, birds and, 105, 107, 109, 110, 111, 113, 115, 117

Manitou, 77

Manton barrow (Preshute GIa) (Wiltshire), 242, 250

marine transport canoes, 17, 167–68

Maritime Provinces: European contact, 51, 52–54; kettle burials in, 56–57

marking, and bundling, 202

material culture, materials, 29, 75, 77, 267; in Mississippian mounds, 81–82

Material Engagement Theory (MET), 275

materiality, 16, 137, 201; cultural significance of, 127–28

materialization, 191, 276

Mauss, Marcel, 41

Mawatta, 186

Maximilian, on bird trade, 115

Maximon figures, 126

Maya, 129, 269; animate objects, 126–27; breath symbols, 137–38; creation stories, 156–57; objects and agency in, 134–37, 154–55, 157–58; persons in, 151–52; power of speech, 131–33; visual communication in, 16–17

Maya Daykeepers, 12

meadowlarks, Mandan and, 115, 117

mediation: of power and relations, 75, 76–77, 78

medicine bundles. See bundles

Medicine Lodge (Blackfoot), 109; bundle, 113

medicine lodges, 80

Melanesia, canoe object-beings, 171–75

men, Eskimo hunting behavior, 34–35

Mendip Hills, stalactite beads, 248

Mer, 187, 190

Meriam, 181, 189

meriiq, 41

Meskell, Lynn, 8, 11

meshworks, meshes, 8, 12, 33, 75–76, 79

Mesoamerica, 16, 82, 148, 149; children becoming persons in, 153–54; crafting in, 268, 269; destiny and cosmology, 150–51

MET. See Material Engagement Theory

metallurgy: Early Bronze Age, 253; at Ngre Kataa, 220–22

metaphorical thinking, 274

metaphors, of canoe’s life cycle, 172

Micraster coraginium, skeuomorphs of, 251, 252, 253

Middle Ages, powers of fossils, 249

middlemen, Mi’kmaq as, 54

Midéwiwin, 80

Mi’kmaq, 54, 266; afterworld, 64–65; burials, 15, 56, 57–60, 66–67; European contact, 52–53; mythology, 63–64; other-than-human relations, 51–52, 65–66; transformative powers, 61–62

minkisi, 140

Mississippian culture, 73, 74; at Cahokia, 79–80; shell in, 88–89; Varney tradition and, 91–92; water in, 89–90

Mississipianization, 15, 75; raw materials of, 78–86

Mississippi Valley, maize growing in, 86–88

Missouri River Basin, bird use in, 101, 104–5

Missouri River tribes, 109; cosmology, 117–18; value systems, 119–20

Mitchell, W.J.T., on representations, 128–29

MK. See Makala Kataa

mntu, 15, 51, 57

Modern Objectivists, 273

mollusks, in pottery temper, 87

Molesky-Poz, Jean, 11–12

Monaghan, John, 149

Monks Mound (Cahokia), 80, 82

Montana, eagle-trapping pits, 110

moral status, personhood and, 152

mortality rates, Mi’kmaq, 62

mortuary practices: archaeology of, 237–38; at Cahokia, 90–91; Early Bronze Age, 18, 239–50

mounds, mound building, construction materials in, 81–82; in Mississippian sites, 73, 78, 79

mouths, disembodied, 41

Mowat (Mowatta), 176

Mua, mythical canoes, 190

muds, montmorillinitic, 82, 83, 84, 88

Murik, 174

musical instruments: with souls, 127; speaking/singing by, 131–32

mussel shells: in Mississippi Valley, 87, 88, 89

mythology: Mi’kmaq, 63–64, 65; Torres Straits, 190

naming, of canoes, 172, 185–86

naming ceremonies, eagle feathers in, 111

Natoas bundle, 112–13

naturalism, 6, 139

nature-culture divide, 266

Naukan, orca behavior, 35–36

negotiation: in Eskimo hunting practice, 35–36; and personhood, 34

NET-PRE model, 273, 276

networks, 75, 129. See also meshworks

neurosciences, embodied cognition and, 264, 274

New Brunswick, kettle burials in, 57, 59

New Georgia, inalienable goods in, 118

New Guinea, 118; canoe carving in, 168, 178–79; canoe owners in, 186

New World People, 54–55

Ngre Kataa (NK), 208; metallurgy and ritual in, 216, 220–21; ornaments from, 210, 212; shrine compositions at, 221–25

Ngre phase, 208, 220, 225

Niger River, trade, 208

NK. See Ngre Kataa

nkisi, 139

nonpersons, agential, 33, 34, 39–40

Northport site, kettle burials in, 59–60

Nova Scotia, kettle burials in, 57–60

Nunivak Island, treatment of seal remains on, 37, 38

objects/object-beings, 11, 126, 141, 201, 202, 247, 276; agency of, 17, 31, 129–30, 169–70; autonomy of, 13–14; canoes as, 168–76, 187–88; personhood of, 147–48, 151–52, 154; signification of, 127–28; speaking, 131–33; as social actors, 6–7

obsidian, in Maya sites, 158–59

offerings, 17, 108, 111, 126

Ojibwa, 6, 104

Okan, 109; and eagle feathers, 112, 113

Okipa Ceremony, 109, 115

Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies, birds and, 115, 117

ontological multiplicities, 269–70

ontological realism, 3, 18–19, 263–64, 272–74

ontological theory, 265

ontology, 6, 7, 8; personal, 270–71; relational, 4–5, 10–11, 29, 30, 65–66

Ooteomul (Kluskap’s Kettle; Spencer’s Island), 53, 6364, 65

orcas, negotiation and exchange with, 35–36

Orenda, 77

organic substances, 75

organisms, agentic qualities of, 76–77

origin stories, Thunderbird and, 106–7

ornaments, ornamentation, 17, 138, 201, 203–4; Banda, 17, 197, 205–6, 20815, 217–20; Early Bronze Age, 243–44

osteology, evidence of personhood in, 30–31

ownership, of Torres Straits canoes, 186

Pacific Islands, shell exchange, 102

Pacific Northwest, potlatch in, 102

Pack’s Antelope, 107

Painsthorpe Wold, inhumation grave goods in, 245, 246

painting, power in, 139

Palaeolithic, fossils as spirit animals in, 253–54

Paneak, Simon, 40

Papua New Guinea: canoes as bodies, 174; canoe trees from, 176–77

parakeets, Carolina, 116, 118

pastoralism, 33

patrimony, 103, 108

Pauketat, Timothy, 12

Pazyryk, horse burials, 31

Pearlman conch, speaking image on, 132–33

Pedersen, Morten, 6, 13, 264

performative dispositions, 103

personhood, 3, 4, 7, 29–30, 33, 100, 101, 150, 197, 200, 204; and agency, 14–15, 43, 264; construction/creation of, 5, 8; of copper kettles, 51, 57, 60, 66; craft implements, 148–49; in Early Bronze Age, 239, 240, 265–66; Eskimo construction of, 34–39, 42; figurines and, 154–55; gifts and commodities, 102–5; Maya beliefs in, 127, 157–59; negotiating/obtaining, 198–99, 267; of objects, 13, 127, 147–48; ontological multiplicities of, 269–70; relational, 6, 9–10, 18, 270–71; of sacred bundles, 77–78; of sacred objects, 11–12; souls and, 152–53

persons, 19; animal, 34–36; becoming, 153–54; Eskimo, 34–39; goods as, 102–5

perspectivism, 6, 36, 271

physical form, Eskimo personhood, 35

physical world, interaction with, 274–75

pictorial art, Maya, 16

Pictou (Hopps) site, 53; copper kettles in, 57–59

Picture, De (Alberti), 139

Piikani (Blackfeet), eagle feather-horse trade, 114

Place Royale, copper kettle from, 56

Plains tribes, 104; feather exchange, 15–16. See also various tribes

plants, with souls, 126. See also trees

plaques, Maya shell, 134–38

polar bears, as persons, 35

pond barrow, at Down Farm, 248, 249

Popol Vuh, creative actions in, 156–57

Poqomam Maya, 157

Porcupine Hills (Alberta), 110

Porosphaera globularis, 242, 248

possessions, as representations of self, 152

Postclassic period, Maya codices, 16

postmodern theory, 270

posts, ensoulment of, 77

Pot-King, The (Warnier), 200

Potlatch, 102

pottery: in Maya creation stories, 156–57; shell-tempered, 73, 78, 79, 82–84, 86, 87, 88

power(s), 13, 16, 78, 139, 238; agency and, 128–29; mediations, 76–77; of relations, 72–73; of speech, 131–33; transfer of, 118–19

predation, predatory behavior, mutual relationships, 264–65

predatorization, of canoes, 169, 188, 190–91

Preshute GIa (Manton barrow, Wiltshire), 242, 250

prestige, British Bronze Age, 238

prey animals, as persons, 34, 35–36

Protohistoric period, Mi’kmaq, 57, 62

prows: on Melanesian canoes, 172, 173, 174, 178–81

Pueblo, 10

Pueblos, Kachina masks and, 104

pyramids, Mississippian, 80, 82

pythons: Banda symbolism, 203–4, 211, 214–15; in Ngre Kataa mounds, 223, 224; in ritual contexts, 216–20

Q’eqchi’ Maya, 157

qivittut, 43

quartz pebbles, in Early Bronze Age burials, 247–48, 256

Ramey Incised pottery, 8283, 88

Ramey scroll, 82

Rattlesnake Mound (Cahokia), 80, 82

Raven, and Thunderbird, 107

raw materials, engagement of, 15

realism, ontological, 3, 18–19, 263–64, 272–73

reciprocity: Eskimo, 35–36, 37, 41–42; human-bird, 106, 107; of relational personhood, 10, 15, 34; Trobriand Islands, 102–3

Red Bird, 115

red birds, Plains trade in, 115

reincarnation, 106

relational ontologies, 29, 30, 73, 78; Eskimo, 42; Mi’kmaq, 65–66

relationships, 15, 75; conversive, 7–8; Eskimo, 34–35; mutual predatory, 264–65; subject-object, 12–13; interdependency of, 10, 14; power of, 72–73

relatives, relations: copper kettles as, 15, 57, 62; Mi’kmaq, 65–66; other-than-human, 51–52, 67

religion, 200

remora, as canoe decoration, 183, 184

respect, in Eskimo relationships, 34, 37

response, design and, 201

restraint, in Eskimo Social relationships, 34

rhizome, rhizomization, 76; in Mississippian culture, 73, 75, 90

ring cairns, Bronze Age burials in, 247–48

rings: Banda, 208, 209–11, 212, 213(table), 214, 217, 222, 226, 267

ritual contexts, Banda, 216–25

ritualization, of canoe parts, 186–87

rituals, 200, 267; Banda ornamentation and, 205–6; canoe life cycle, 171–73, 174, 175, 177–78, 185–86; Eskimo hunting, 34–35; metallurgy and, 220–22; of sacred objects, 11–12; at West African shrines, 207, 223

Rudston (Yorkshire), Bronze Age burials at, 245, 247

sacred bundles, as social persons, 77–78. See also bundles

sacrifices, dog, 215–16, 223

Saguane, 177

Sahara, and West African trade, 204–5

Sahlins, Marshall, 9

saints, images of, 126

Salmon River (Nova Scotia), copper-kettle burial in, 59

salt, with souls, 127

Santa Rita Murals, musical instruments on, 132, 133

Santee Sioux, eagle feather use in, 111

Santiago Atitlan, weaving in, 157–58

Santiago Chimaltenango, 149

sap, as blood, 177

sarup, 188, 189, 190

Saskatchewan, eagle-trapping pits in, 110

Scandinavia, in Bronze Age burials, 244

scarification, West African, 204

sculptural materials, with divine essences, 130

sculpture, West African, 204

sea, as liminal, 190; as spiritscape, 189

seals: as persons, 34, 35, 36; treatment of remains, 3739

sea urchin (Micraster coraginium), skeuomorphs of, 251, 252, 253

Selawik, 41

self, selfhood, in Mesoamerica, 150, 151

self-sacrifice, of animals, 10, 34

semiotic forms, pythons as, 225

semiotic processes, 202

sentience, 170; of Torres Strait canoes, 169, 188–89

Senufo, 203, 214, 228(n5)

serpents: African symbolism, 214–15, 225–26; speech scrolls, 138

Seven Blind Brothers, canoe of, 190

sewing, Eskimo hunting and, 34

sexual divisions, 267

shaking tents, 80

shale, Bronze Age objects of, 245

shallop, Mi’kmaq use of, 54

shamans, Eskimo, 34

sharing, Eskimo, 34, 35–36

shells, 102; in Banda contexts, 220; as canoe decorations, 173, 178; Mississippian use of, 73, 8189; speaking, 132–33, 134–38, 140

shipwrecks, Torres Straits, 189

shrines, 80; Banda, 17, 197, 217–20; as compositions/bundles, 201, 204; Mississippian, 81–82; West African, 207, 221–25, 228(n5)

Sigai, 188–89

signification, of objects, 127–28

silver production, in Guanajuato, 103

Sisilha, 131

skeuomorphs, fossil, 240, 248–49, 250–53

slaving, 204

social actors, social action, 6, 126, 149, 167, 170, 202

social hierarchy, inalienable possessions and, 119

sociality, 8, 42

social relations, 75, 100, 128, 130, 169, 189; gifts and commodities, 102–5; with things, 199–200; Torres Straits canoes, 187–88

Sofaer, Joanna, 275

solar cycle, interaction with, 274–75

song, Maya depiction of, 131

souls: in Mesoamerica, 151, 152–53; in other-than-human beings, 57, 126–27, 129, 149

sound, of copper kettles, 60–61

Souriquois. See Mi’kmaq

speech(es): by nonhuman entities, 131, 132, 134–38; to transform children into persons, 153–54

spindle whorls, Maya symbols of, 156

spirit canoes, 190

spirit lodges, 80

spirits, spirit beings: Banda, 197–98, 214–15; animating, 51–52; birds as, 106–7; fossils as, 253–54; metallurgy and, 220–22; sound and, 60, 61

spiritscapes, anthropomorphized, 189

spiritual community, birds and, 106

sponges (Porosphaera globularis), 242, 248

stalactites, in Bronze Age burials, 248

sterns, canoe, 181, 185

Stockbridge Down (Hampshire), 248

storytelling, 8, 104

Strathern, Marilyn, 9

status, British Bronze Age, 238

steam baths (sweat baths), 78, 79, 80–81

Strombus spp., 140; inscriptions and, 134–38; as musical instruments, 132–33

subject making, 200–201

subject-object relationships, 7, 12–13, 267

sun, and destiny, 151

Sun Dance, eagle-thunderbird in, 109

sweat baths (sweat lodges), 78, 79, 80–81

symbolism, symbols, 55, 202; of canoe decorations, 172, 173, 178–86; dog and python, 203–4, 211, 214–15, 222; of shell, 8283; water, 89–90

symmetrical process, principle of symmetry, 5, 267

taboos, 37, 40, 111, 177

Tabusintac River, kettle burials in, 59

Tagai, 190

Talking Crosses, 127

talons, eagle, 109

Tarentines. See Mi’kmaq

techniques, anthropology of, 199–200

teeth, drilled, 208, 223

temples, as animate speakers, 131–32

Terminal Late Woodland era, 84

termination deposits, in Maya houses, 158–59

territorialization, 73, 76, 78

tethering, 127, 150, 152

text acts, Maya, 136–37

theology of experience, 11

thing(s), 130; relations with, 199–200; spirit, 12–13

Thunderbird, 106–7, 109

Thunder Pipe, 107

Thunderstorm (Ch’a Chaak), 156

Tikal, 140; speaking vases at, 131, 132

time periods, as speakers, 131

Toltec site (Ark.), 84

tombs, Neolithic chambered, 275–76

tonalli, 153

tools, as other-than-human agents, 16–17. See also implements

Torres Strait Islander canoes, 17, 42, 167–69, 268; dismemberment and dispersal, 186–87; naming of, 185–86; as object-beings, 175–85, 187–88; sentience of, 188–89

torsos, canoe hulls as, 181–82

total social phenomenon, 41

trade, trade networks, 54, 100, 175; in bird parts, 113–15; West Africa, 203, 204–6, 208

transfer, of knowledge and power, 118–19

transformation, 36, 104, 190, 269; child into person, 153–54; of copper kettles, 62, 66; tree to canoe, 172–73, 174, 176–78

traveling, Eskimo, 14

trees, transformation into canoes, 17, 168, 172–73, 176–78, 188

Trempealeau (Wisc.), shrines/pyramids in, 81, 82

tribute, shell as, 135–36

Trilobite, Grotte de, 253

trilobites, Upper Palaeolithic use of, 253, 254

Trobriand Islands: kula canoes, 171–73; reciprocity in, 102–3

trumpets, shell, 132–33, 137

Tudu, canoe stern posts, 187

turtles, Torres Strait Islander hunting of, 175, 178, 182, 183

twins, twinning, in West Africa, 222

Tzotzil Maya, 152; phenomena with souls, 126–27, 129

Ulúa River valley (Lower), household archaeology in, 158–59

Upper Palaeolithic, fossil use, 253–54

Upton Lovell barrow, grape cup from, 252

Vakuta Island, canoe manufacture in, 172–73

value systems: inalienable goods in, 100–101; Missouri River tribes, 117, 119–20

Vanuatu, outrigger canoes, 174–75

Varney culture/tradition, 84; Maize growing, 85, 88; in Mississippi Valley, 86–87, 91–92

vases, speaking, 131, 132

vision quests, bird knowledge, 108

visual ecology, 201, 203, 205

Viveiros de Castro, Eduardo, on perspectivism, 6

Volta River basin, 199; dogs and pythons in, 203–4

Wabad (Wabuda) Island, canoe trees from, 176, 177

Wabanaki, 52, 53

waga (seagoing canoes), 171–72

Waiat spirit-beings, 187

Wakanda, 77

Wala Island, outrigger canoes, 174–75

Walker, William, 19

walrus, as persons, 34, 35, 36

war bonnets, feathers used in, 11112

Waruksti, 77

Watanabe, John, 149

water, 75, 76, 81; and maize growing, 87–88; in Mississippian culture, 73, 89–90

waterfowl, Plains tribes and, 117

water temples, at Cahokia, 80

ways of knowing, 11. See also knowledge

wealth: British Bronze Age, 238; shell as, 135–36

weaving, Maya concepts of, 154, 156, 157–58

well-being, 197, 199

West Africa, 197, 198, 267; shrines, 207, 221–23; trade networks, 204–6. See also Banda

West Kennett, Neolithic chambered tombs in, 275–76

whales, 189; as persons, 34, 35, 36

whistles, 113, 132

wild babies, 30, 34, 40, 42

Windmill Hill, grape cup from, 251

Witmore, Christopher, 5, 267

wolves, personhood of, 31

women, behavior during hunts, 34, 35

wood, in Maya culture, 130

wooden people, in Maya creation, 156–57

woodpeckers, trade in, 115

worldview, hunter-gatherer, 32–33

writing, Maya hieroglyphic, 16

Yonne (France), cave sites in, 253

York Factory, 114

Yorkshire, jet and shale in, 245

yua, 36

Yucatan, nonhuman agents in, 127, 131, 157

Yucatec Maya, 154

Yukaghir, 35

Yupiit, Central, 36, 40, 41, 43

Yup’ik, 14, 34, 35, 37

Zinacanteco Tzotzil Maya, souls, 126–27, 152

zoomorphism, zoomorphization, of canoes, 169, 173, 178–82