In this book, Hannah Chazin challenges the established teleological domestication ‘ontostory’, or the idea that the modern objectification of animals has its roots in past human–animal relations. Combining zooarchaeology and anthropology, she reconsiders the role of domesticated herd animals in the Bronze Age South Caucasus, revealing the complexities of human–animal interaction and the ways in which living and working with animals shaped human society, economy, ritual and politics.

The book’s two halves complement each other effectively and result in a clear narrative flow. In the first half, Chazin critiques the idea that modern human–animal relations have their origin in past domestication (Introduction & Chapter 1) and offers an alternative approach, looking at different relations of use (Chapter 2) and the role of herd animals in shaping ideas about power, authority and value (Chapter 3). The second half of the book presents a case study based on animal bones from two Late Bronze Age sites on the Tsaghkahovit Plain in Armenia (introduced in Chapter 4). Here, Chazin evaluates established interpretive habits, focusing on animal labour (Chapter 5), pre- and postmortem value (Chapter 6) and the social and political significance of human–animal relations (Chapter 7). A concluding chapter (‘New stories, new questions’) summarises the book’s content, highlighting the need to rethink past human–animal relations to address “contemporary issues and future concerns” (p.205). The careful and critical evaluation of the domestication ontostory and outline of alternative approaches in the first half of the book is matched by an equally meticulous approach to the archaeological data in the second half.

Most chapters, such as 4 and 6, include thoughtful critical reflections on the (zoo)archaeological data, methods and the interpretative assumptions that can prevent archaeologists from asking the right questions. Chazin also weaves in personal notes and anecdotes (e.g. in the Introduction and Chapters 4 & 5) and presents a vivid, realistic image of daily life on the Late Bronze Age Tsaghkahovit Plain (Chapter 4), describing not just the archaeology but also the people and animals who inhabited this landscape. Such passages, rare in archaeological literature, make the book a pleasure to read.

In addition to its strong narrative and critical insight, the book stands out for its interdisciplinary character, combining traditional zooarchaeology with anthropological theory. Chazin demonstrates how different disciplines can be integrated to shed light on archaeological data, and vice versa. The book covers a wide range of themes, from relations of use to zoopolitics, value and performativity, which will be of interest to readers across disciplines. Chazin ensures the book remains accessible to both archaeologists and wider audiences by clearly explaining the archaeological data, methods, interpretations and their limitations, for example through detailed information presented in boxed sections within the main text.

The book makes several important theoretical contributions, most notably its focus on animals as active agents in shaping past social and political life. Moving beyond the traditional view of domestic herd animals as passive economic resources, Chazin draws on anthropological theory to ask much-needed new questions of the archaeological data and to explore how living and working with animals structured human relations. Her performative approach to politics highlights the practices through which social groups and authority were constructed, and convincingly demonstrates that animals, too, were active participants in these processes. For instance, she shows how the extended birth seasonality of sheep on the Tsaghkahovit Plain—made possible by foddering—resulted in shared human–animal labour that shaped both human labour and social organisation.

Chazin also introduces the concept of ‘value in action’, shifting attention from dead animals to the political and social significance of living herds (pp.144–48). She contrasts the role of meat, which sustains relationships through its distribution, with the capacity of using milk from livestock to extend social ties across time and space. Age and sex profiles of animal remains from the Tsaghkahovit Plain show that both kinds of value mattered, underlining the importance of attending to live animals—the live stock of her title—in archaeological interpretation.

The book provides novel insights into human–animal relations and zoopolitics in Late Bronze Age Armenia, but Chazin frequently draws on examples from other times and places to further dispute the domestication ontostory. She connects archaeological patterns in the Bronze Age data to present-day examples, including the modern milk industry (Chapter 5), industrial pig farming (Chapter 6) and goat sacrifice in India (Chapter 7). This clearly illustrates how deeply human–animal relations impact all areas of society, both in the past and present. It also reinforces the originality of her approach and demonstrates the strength and relevance of archaeology and archaeological data, which can contribute to current debates about industrial animal farming and help to “remap the relationships between the future and the past” (p.204).

While the book’s arguments are compelling, a few aspects deserve additional comment. Some of the theoretical background may feel dense to archaeologists unfamiliar with this literature, and while the many footnotes are informative, they can occasionally pull attention away from the main narrative. However, the clarity of writing and the well-chosen examples more than compensate for this. In the second half of the book, the limitations of the data—which Chazin acknowledges from the start—mean that detailed interpretation is not always possible. Although this may at times leave the reader questioning what conclusions can reasonably be drawn, Chazin’s refusal to force the evidence into a single narrative is both thoughtful and refreshing. Instead, in the concluding chapter (‘New stories, new questions’), she draws various interpretative strands together and offers several possible readings, demonstrating the strength of her reflective and transparent analysis.

This is a well-researched, highly original and thought-provoking book that challenges readers to confront their own biases and interpretative habits. Rather than replacing old models with new ones, Chazin carefully dismantles the assumptions underlying the domestication ontostory, showing it to be untenable in light of the available evidence. By developing a new interdisciplinary framework, she not only reinterprets zooarchaeological data but also equips us to rethink human–animal relations in the present and future. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the social and political dimensions of human–animal interaction, both within archaeology and beyond.