Between trust and domination: social contracts between humans and animals

Tim Ingold's seminal article ‘From trust to domination’ introduces a hypothesis in which there is a shift from hunter-gatherer cultures to agro-pastoral cultures regarding perceptions of, and engagements with, animals. Whereas hunters regard prey as kindred brothers, farmers regard, and treat, their domestic livestock as slaves. On the basis of this hypothesis, archaeologists frequently take this to be a universal given. In this article, Ingold's hypothesis is critiqued via an in-depth discussion of the concepts of trust, reciprocity and intimacy. The author suggests an alternative model to the dualism of either trust or domination, namely the notion of a social contract between humans and animals. The uses of this model are explored through Bronze Age case studies from southern Scandinavia.