Animal domestication is a profound change for human societies, economies, and worldviews. The shifting definitions of animal domestication reflect its varying and process-like nature. Reindeer is one of the species whose domestication is not easily pinned down using standard definitions and research methodologies of animal domestication. In recent years, advances in archaeological methodology and the conceptual understanding of animal domestication have opened new avenues for research on this topic. This review summarizes recent research on the archaeology of reindeer domestication among the Indigenous Sámi of northern Fennoscandia. It compiles a chronological framework of reindeer domestication with an emphasis on the development of reindeer-herding practices and human–reindeer relationships. I argue that while a major transition to reindeer herding occurred among the Sámi from the 15th century onward, small-scale reindeer herding characterized by interspecies sociality, cooperation, and care developed earlier during the Late Iron Age, with regional variations in the timing and details of the events. By focusing on reindeer-herding practices and the human–reindeer relationships embedded in them, I also argue that reindeer domestication, and animal domestication in general, is a relationship constructed and constantly renegotiated in everyday interactions with the animals.

动物驯化是人类社会、经济和世界观的深刻变化。动物驯化的不断变化的定义反映了其变化和类似过程的性质。驯鹿是使用动物驯化的标准定义和研究方法不容易确定其驯化的物种之一。近年来，考古学方法的进步和对动物驯化的概念理解为这一主题的研究开辟了新的途径。这篇综述总结了最近对芬诺斯坎迪亚北部土著萨米人的驯鹿驯化考古学的研究。它编制了一个按时间顺序排列的驯鹿驯化框架，重点放在驯鹿放牧实践和人类与驯鹿关系的发展上。我认为，虽然从 15 世纪开始，萨米人向驯鹿放牧发生了重大转变，但在铁器时代晚期早期，以种间社会性、合作和照料为特征的小规模驯鹿放牧在时间和细节方面有所不同的事件。通过关注驯鹿放牧实践和其中嵌入的人与驯鹿关系，我还认为驯鹿驯化和一般的动物驯化是一种在与动物的日常互动中构建并不断重新协商的关系。