Reimagining Human–Animal Relations in the Circumpolar North

REVIEW BY GEORGE NASH When we think about the history and archaeology of the north, we are immediately drawn to the Inuit or Sami peoples. We forget the vastness of the polar region, which covers at least 20% of the surface of the globe but is inhabited only by around four million people. This population is divided into nine ethnolinguistic groups, which are subdivided into a further 41 distinct subcultures, each with their own subsistence strategies, dialects, languages, and traditions. These groups occupy the harsh environments of Alaska, Canada, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, northern Japan, northern Scandinavia, and Russia (Siberia).  Based on archaeological and ethnographic evide