“This paper examines the concept of animals as social actors in the ancient Near East through a case study of human‐equid relations. In particular, examples where equids may be seen as expressing resistance, as depicted in the iconography of the third and second millennia BC, are analysed.
The first part of the paper discusses how animals have been perceived in scholarly debates in philosophy, archaeology and human‐animal studies. It is argued that an acknowledgement of animals as social actors can improve our understanding of the human past, and the relation of humans to their broader environment.
The second part of the paper presents three examples from the ancient Near East where equids may be interpreted as pushing back or resisting the boundaries placed by humans, resulting in a renegotiation of the relationship” (author's abstract, on p. 1).
After an introduction, the author analyses the relationship between humans and other animals, the 'danger of animal', the concept of a 'social actor'; afterwards, she investigates the presence of equids in the Bronze Age Near East, pushing back in time their encounter with human beings [in this section, terracotta equid figurines from Tell Mozan are specifically mentioned: A10.415, picture J1q377.1 (fig. 6 on p. 8), together with other figurines (or depictions) from Mary, Ur, Nippur and Egypt].
Here the conclusions: “Animal actors are seen as having the capacity to attempt actively to shape their lives through interaction with their surroundings, in particular in their relations to humans. [...] The small changes that equid resistance and continued social negotiations may have caused are important for individual or specific encounters, but they also have greater and long-term implications. [...] Ultimately, and whatever their origin, these new devices heralded great changes in warfare; understanding equids as social actors is thus revealing of even large and long-term processes. [...] The specific study of animals as social actors is then part of the understanding of how animals actively negotiate, assert or resist their place in relations to humans, and how this affects human behaviour and lifeways” (p. 11).
[M. De Pietri – November 2019]