Chien Opératoire: Dogs as Technological Systems in the Northern Great Plains

Summary

In the past, like today, dogs (Canis familiaris) were not only human companions, they were also tools, beasts of burden, alarm systems, sources of food, and ritual elements. Since first domesticated, humans have shaped dogs physically and behaviorally, and they have, in turn, shaped our societies. As such, domesticated canines can be treated as a form of technology, regardless of their own forms of agency. By technology we refer to objects (i.e., dogs and linked artifacts), related practices, and associated knowledge. In this paper, we use concepts developed in technological theory to explore canid technological systems of the Northern Plains over time. Using data derived from ethnohistory, early ethnographies, and archaeology, we situate human-canine relationships within the context of other technological systems embedded in Plains cultures.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Beyond Domestication: Investigations into the Human-Canine Connection

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16888