New Book Chronicle

UckelmannBirds, animals and creatures-'fantastic beasts' and where to find them in the pastThe role of animals in past societies is a long-standing topic in archaeological scholarship.Zooarchaeology has grown to be an independent research field and animal representations are studied extensively in archaeology as well as in art history.In the past 20 years, some research has taken an 'animal turn', whereby the animals are considered in their own right, not only perceived as part of the human story as food, transport or a category within the domestication process.Now, more and more research is investigating the relationship between humans and animals.Projects aim to go beyond the identification of species in bones and images with the goals of outlining the impact that animals had on human societies and challenging the anthropocentric view of history.The animals are now understood as agents rather than objects, and personal connections between humans and animals are explored.For instance, two recent book reviews in Antiquity describe this: 'Animal encounters in the Near East' (Collins 2023); and, in this issue, the relationship between horse and human (Klontza-Jaklova 2025).Many recent projects can also be found, for instance the ongoing Dublin-based ERC project 'Animals and Society in the Bronze Age' (https://ansoc.net/).The four books in this New Book Chronicle explore the relationships between humans and animals expressed in the representations and symbolism of animals.The first book Minoan zoomorphic culture: between bodies and things looks at examples of animals and fabricated creatures on different media from material known from Bronze Age Crete.Birds in Roman life and myth combines work by Roman writers with the archaeological material and delivers a vivid account of how Romans perceived and interacted with birds.Animals and animated objects in the Early Middle Ages is a compilation of works that centre on animal remains in burials and animal representations.The combined essays in Birds and beasts of ancient Mesoamerica: animal symbolism in the Postclassic period illuminate the backgrounds to many animal symbols through textual evidence and detailed studies of imagery.The research presented looks, in most cases, at well-known material but illuminates it from new angles.Three of the volumes draw additionally on textual sources, showing how they help to explain some perspectives but not everything.The four books all deliver intrinsic studies of the details and apply a multidisciplinary research approach, which is needed to identify the often subtle and hidden meanings behind the images.Animal representations were widely used to describe or symbolise social, political or religious entities.Most animalistic symbols would have been easily understood by the contemporaneous living people but seem quite removed from our modern world view.