This book pushes the boundaries of classic archaeology to venture beyond the human. A few archaeologists have been drawing upon the anthropology literature and other disciplines to take animal agency into account, for example, Gala Argent’s (2010) work with regard to Pazyryk horse burials; or Robert Losey’s et al.’s (2011) work relating to dog burials in Siberia. The Sheep People (2018) is a groundbreaking book for seriously taking the ontological status and agency of sheep and sheepdogs into account. As it is likely that there will be some opposition to a less economic-oriented approach towards animals, the author has been careful to foreground the burgeoning Human-Animal Studies literature within this book. Indeed, the first three chapters are a means of carefully laying the groundwork for how anthropology, ethology and animal psychology can be drawn upon to provide insights for archaeological research with a focus on humans and other animals. I am writing this review from an anthropological perspective, based on extensive field experience with herders co-existing with herd animals in Mongolia (see Fijn 2011). A particular strength of the book is how the author has drawn on the human-animal studies literature and applied the findings to a particular place and a particular period of time. Chapter 4 outlines the empirical evidence for the significance of sheep and dogs in the lives of people inhabiting the Rogaland region in Early Bronze Age Norway. One setback in relation to the research was that the evidence from faunal remains within the three-aisled longhouses was scant with only a few sheep (or goat) bones and no dog bones. The author admits that it is hard to tell the difference between sheep and goat bones, while it is unlikely that dogs were consumed at all. For her book, instead of the faunal remains, Armstrong Oma relies heavily on one particular piece of rock art (featured within the book as Figure 1.1). She interprets the scene as a dog with its tail tucked low to the ground, signifying that it is a sheepdog. She also perceives the herd animal figures as sheep with horns, but they could also feasibly be interpreted as goats, cattle, or even wild deer, while an Early Bronze Age dog is unlikely to have occupied a specific role herding sheep alone. The English sheepdog has developed specific herding traits that have been influenced by human selective breeding within the past few centuries. I suspect the dog depicted in the rock art could have held a number of different roles, including hunting and guarding the home, similar to the native Buhund breed found in Norway today. From my ethnographic experience with Mongolian herders and from the work of Tani (2017), analysing herding practices in the Ancient Near East, the herd could have feasibly been comprised of both sheep and goats, or as a mixed herd. The structure of the household is likely to have not been as specialized as farmers’ lives are now, where there is a focus on just one species: the sheep. The scenario could have been similar to some other cultures found throughout Central Asia, where there are multiple species cohabiting with humans, including horses, cattle, sheep, goats and dogs. The author is upfront about making some assumptions to form the narrative of how life may have been in the Early Bronze Age, where she states: ‘I will take a leap of faith and consider my hypothesis, that sheep became household members of the three-aisled longhouse – as

中文翻译：

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羊人。挪威青铜时代早期的生活、建造房屋和锻造牛群的本体论

这本书突破了经典考古学的界限，超越了人类。一些考古学家一直在利用人类学文献和其他学科来考虑动物能动性，例如，Gala Argent (2010) 关于 Pazyryk 马墓的工作；或 Robert Losey 等人 (2011) 与西伯利亚狗葬相关的工作。The Sheep People (2018) 是一本开创性的书，认真考虑了绵羊和牧羊犬的本体地位和能动性。由于可能会有一些人反对以经济为导向的动物研究方法，因此作者一直小心翼翼地在本书中突出新兴的人类-动物研究文献。的确，前三章是为人类学如何，可以利用行为学和动物心理学来为以人类和其他动物为重点的考古研究提供见解。我正在从人类学的角度撰写这篇评论，基于蒙古牧民与畜群共存的广泛实地经验（见 Fijn 2011）。这本书的一个特殊优势在于作者如何借鉴人类-动物研究文献并将研究结果应用于特定地点和特定时间段。第 4 章概述了有关羊和狗在挪威青铜时代早期罗加兰地区居民生活中的重要性的经验证据。与研究有关的一个挫折是，来自三通道长屋内动物群遗骸的证据很少，只有几块绵羊（或山羊）骨头，没有狗骨头。作者承认，很难区分绵羊和山羊的骨头，而狗被吃掉的可能性很小。在她的书中，Armstrong Oma 严重依赖于一件特定的岩石艺术，而不是动物群遗骸（书中的图 1.1）。她将这个场景解释为一只尾巴低垂在地上的狗，表示它是一只牧羊犬。她还将群居动物形象视为长着角的绵羊，但也可以将它们解释为山羊、牛，甚至野鹿，而青铜时代早期的狗不太可能单独扮演特定的放羊角色。英国牧羊犬在过去几个世纪中受到人类选择性育种的影响，已经发展出特定的放牧特征。我怀疑岩石艺术中描绘的狗可能扮演着许多不同的角色，包括狩猎和守卫家园，类似于今天在挪威发现的本土布哈德犬。根据我对蒙古牧民的人种学经验和 Tani (2017) 的工作，分析古代近东的放牧实践，牧群可能由绵羊和山羊组成，或者作为混合牧群。家庭的结构可能不像现在农民的生活那样专业，那里只关注一个物种：绵羊。这种情况可能与在整个中亚发现的其他一些文化相似，那里有多种物种与人类共存，包括马、牛、绵羊、山羊和狗。