Tangled worlds – The Swedish, the Sámi and the reindeer Anna-Kaisa Salmi1 & Matti T. Heino2 1 History, Culture and Communication Studies, P.O. Box 1000, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland email
[email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0745-385X 2 Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, P.O. Box 3000, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland email
[email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3812-3543 Abstract Reindeer pastoralism developed among the indigenous Sámi of northern Fennoscandia, but the established colonial relationship with Sweden brought on an expanded use of reindeer. Tradesmen, priests, and officials of Swedish origin benefited from domesticated reindeer in many ways – trading reindeer products and using reindeer as transport during winter trips to marketplaces. Reindeer were, therefore, in many ways focal in the encounters between the Sámi and the Swedish. In this paper, we use zooarchaeology, stable isotope analysis, and ancient DNA analysis to interpret reindeer remains from towns, marketplaces, and agrarian settlements in medieval and early modern northern Fennoscandia. We argue that reindeer played important roles in contacts and encounters. The Sámi, the Swedish, and the reindeer formed a multispecies community. The exploration of the relationships in this multispecies community captures the complexity of human and human-animal relationships in colonial encounters. Moreover, it emphasizes the importance and agency of animals in colonial histories. Key words Sámi archaeology, Fennoscandia, Reindeer, Zooarchaeology, Stable isotope analysis, Ancient DNA analysis Acknowledgements This research was funded by the Academy of Finland (Project numbers 275635 and 308322) and the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant 756431).