<html>Systemic symbolization of <i>Loxodonta cyclotis </i>by Baka hunter-gatherers</html>

Author(s): Daou Véronique Joiris

Year: 2025

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Elephant Archaeology" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Baka hunter-gatherers of Central Africa have symbolically elaborated a “conceptual domestication” of the forest elephant Loxodonta cyclotis, yet an entirely wild species. That symbolic representation is strongly rooted in Baka naturalist knowledge of interspecific relationships between large mammals, acarids (tiks) and birds. These ethnographic materials provide an opportunity to explore two issues concerning archaeological materials with symbolic representations. The first concerns ethnographic sources on the symbolization of inter-species relations, which are not only graphic and tangible as are archaeological sources. The second concerns the lack of evidence in archaeological materials of any ancient account of inter-species links.

Cite this Record

Systemic symbolization of Loxodonta cyclotis by Baka hunter-gatherers. Daou Véronique Joiris. Presented at The 90th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2025 ( tDAR id: 509808)

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51053