View source for Archaeology of religion and ritual

The '''archaeology of religion and ritual''' is a growing field of study within [[archaeology]] that applies ideas from [[religious studies]],  theory and methods, anthropological theory, and archaeological and [[historical method]]s and theories to the study of [[religion]] and [[ritual]] in past human societies from a material perspective.

==Definitions==

Religion may be defined as "a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs," <ref name=dict>Dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Religion) Based on the Random House Dictionary, Random House, Inc. 2010</ref> whereas ritual is "an established or prescribed procedure for a religious or other rite."<ref>Dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ritual) Based on the Random House Dictionary, Random House, Inc. 2010</ref> Archaeologists may study the material traces of religious ritual (for example, the ritual destruction of ceramic vessels during the [[Aztec]] [[New Fire ceremony]]<ref>Elson, Christina and Michael E. Smith (2001) Archaeological Deposits from the Aztec New Fire Ceremony.  ''Ancient Mesoamerica'', Vol. 12, Issue 2, pp. 157–174</ref>) or the material correlates of religion as a totalized worldview (for example, Elizabeth Kyder-Reid's study of the Southern [[Redemptorist]]s’ reconfiguration of landscape and artifacts to reflect their ideals of community and poverty in material form <ref name="Kyder-Reid, Elizabeth 1996">Kyder-Reid, Elizabeth (1996)  The Construction of Sanctity: Landscape and Ritual in a Religious Community.  In ''Landscape Archaeology: Reading and Interpreting the American Historical Landscape.''  Rebecca Yamin and Karen Bescherer Metheny, eds.  University of Tennessee Press.</ref>).

As in [[religious studies]] and the [[Anthropology of religion]], many archaeologists differentiate between "[[world religions]]," and "traditional" or "[[indigenous religions]]."  "World religions" are defined by Bowie (2000: 26) <ref name="Bowie">Bowie, F.  (2000) The Anthropology of religion.  Oxford: Blackwell.  Quoted in Insoll, Timothy (2004) ''Archaeology, Religion, Ritual.''  New York: Routeledge, page 8</ref> as:

# Based on written scriptures.
# Has a notion of salvation, often from outside.
# Universal, or potentially universal.
# Can subsume or supplant primal religions.
# Often forms a separate sphere of activity.

while [[indigenous religions]] are defined as:

# Oral, or if literate, lacks written/formal scriptures and creeds.
# ‘This worldly’.
#  Confined to a single language or ethnic group.
#  Form basis from which world religions have developed.
#  Religious and social life are inseparable.<ref name="Bowie"/>

However, Timothy Insoll (2004: 9) <ref>Insoll, Timothy (2004) ''Archaeology, Religion, Ritual.''  New York: Routeledge</ref> has argued that these categorizations arise from a much-critiqued [[neo-evolutionism|neo-evolutionary]] perspective.  Strict dichotomies of religious forms may also contribute to skewing research toward state religions, leaving [[household]] religious practice, and the relationships between these, under-investigated (a trend noted by Elson and Smith, 2001 <ref>Elson, Christina and Michael E. Smith (2001:157) Archaeological Deposits from the Aztec New Fire Ceremony.  Ancient Mesoamerica, Vol. 12, Issue 2, pp. 157–174</ref>).  Insoll (2004:9) argues that archaeologists may contribute to blurring the boundaries of world and indigenous religions.

The archaeology of religion also incorporates related anthropological or religious concepts and terms such as [[magic (paranormal)|magic]], [[tradition]], [[religious symbolism|symbolism]], and the [[sacred]].

==Theory==

===Anthropology of religion===

Theory within the archaeology of religion borrows heavily from the [[Anthropology of religion]], which encompasses a broad range of perspectives.  These include: [[Émile Durkheim]]'s functionalist understanding of religion as serving to separate the [[Sacred-profane dichotomy|sacred and the profane]];<ref>Durkheim, Émile. (1998)  ''The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.''  Oxford University Press</ref> [[Karl Marx]]'s idea of religion as "[[the opium of the people|the opium of the masses]]" or a [[false consciousness]],<ref>Marx, Karl (1992) ''Early Writings.''  Penguin Classics.</ref> [[Clifford Geertz]]'s loose definition of religion as a "system of symbols" that orders the world,<ref>Geertz, Clifford (1973:90) ''The Interpretation of Cultures.''  New York: Basic Books.  P. 90</ref> [[Victor Turner]]'s work on ritual, including [[rites of passage]] and [[liminality]],<ref>Turner, Victor (1995) ''The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure.''  Aldine Transaction.</ref> [[Max Weber]]'s religious types <ref>Heydebrand, Wolf (1994) ''Sociological Writings: Max Weber.''  Continuum Press.</ref> and thoughts on the relationship between economics and religion;<ref>Weber, Max (2002) ''The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: and Other Writings.''  Trans. Peter Baehr.  Penguin Classics.</ref> [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]]’ structuralist understandings of [[totemism]] and [[myth]];<ref>Tremlett, Paul-François (2008) ''Lévi-Strauss on Religion: The Structuring Mind (Key Thinkers in the Study of Religion'').  Equionox Publishing.</ref> and [[Mary Douglas]]’ idea of the division of "[[Purity and Danger|purity and danger]]".<ref>Douglas, Mary (2003 [1966]) ''Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concept of Pullution and Taboo.''  Routledge Classics</ref>

===Religion, identity, and practice===

Archaeological studies of religion increasingly recognize religion as an organizing principle in social life, rather than as a separate sphere of activity.  They include religion as an axis of [[Identity (social science)|identity]] that structures social life and personal experience.  Therefore, entire artifact assemblages (rather than specifically "religious" artifacts, such as rosary beads) can be interpreted according to the ways that they simultaneously create, display, and constrain notions of self according to religious ideas.  For example, John Chenoweth (2009) <ref name="Chenoweth, John M. 2009">Chenoweth, John M.  (2009)  Social identity, material culture, and the archaeology of religion: Quaker practices in context.  ''Journal of Social Archaeology'' 9: 319</ref> interpreted ceramic assemblages and burials according to [[Quaker]] ideals of plainness and modesty.

Because social identity is both imposed and negotiated through social practice, including material practice, archaeologies of religion increasingly incorporate practice-based theory.  Building upon [[Anthony Giddens]]’ idea of structuration <ref>Giddens, Anthony (1986) ''The Constitution of Society: Outline of A Theory of Structuration.''  Berkeley: University of California Press.</ref> and [[Pierre Bourdieu]]'s ideas of both practice <ref>Bourdieu, Pierre (1977) ''Outline of a Theory of Practice.''  Cambridge University Press.</ref> and cultural capital,<ref>Bourdieu, Pierre (1987) ''Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste.''  Harvard University Press.</ref> theories of material practice posit that people use material goods to negotiate their places within social structures.  Examples of the archaeological interpretation of religion and ritual as part of social negotiation, transformation or reinforcement include Chenoweth's work on [[Quaker]] religious practice,<ref name="Chenoweth, John M. 2009"/> Kyder-Reid's work on the Southern Redemptorists,<ref name="Kyder-Reid, Elizabeth 1996"/> and Timothy Pauketat's work on feasting in [[Cahokia]] (Pauketat et al., 2002 <ref>Pauketat, Timothy, Lucretia S. Kelly, Gayle J. Fritz, Neal H. Lopinot, Scott Elias, and Eve Hargrave (2002) The Residues of Feasting and Public Ritual at Cahokia.  ''American Antiquity,'' Vol. 67, No. 2, pp. 257–279</ref>).

===Religion, power, and inequality===

Because religion and political power are often intertwined<ref>Firth, Raymond (1981) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/676754 Spiritual Aroma: Religion and Politics].  ''American Anthropologist'', New Series, Vol. 83, No. 3, pp. 582–601</ref><ref>Wolf, Eric (1991) ''Religious Regimes and State Formation: Perspectives From European Ethnography.''  State University of New York Press (August 13, 1991) {{ISBN|978-0791406519}}</ref> particularly in early states, the archaeology of religion may also engage theories of [[power (philosophy)|power]] and [[Social inequality|inequality]].   John Janusek's study of [[Tiwanaku]] religion, for example, explored the ways that religion served to integrate societies within the Andean state.<ref name="Janusek, John Wayne 2006">Janusek, John Wayne (2006) The changing ‘nature’ of Tiwanaku religion and the rise of the Andean state.  ''World Archaeology'' Vol. 38(3): 469–492</ref>  [[Colonialism|Colonial]] regimes frequently justified expansion through a commitment to religious conversion; archaeologies of coloniality may therefore intersect with the archaeology of religion.  James Delle's 2001 article on [[Mission (Christianity)|missions]] and landscape in [[Jamaica]]<ref>Delle, James (2001) Race, Missionaries, and the Struggle to Free Jamaica.  In ''Race and the Archaeology of Identity.''  Charles E. Orser, Jr., ed.  Pp. 177–195.  Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press</ref> and Barbara Voss’ work on missions, [[human sexuality|sexuality]] and [[empire]]<ref>Voss, Barbara (2008) Domesticating Imperialism: Sexual Politics and the Archaeology of Empire.  ''American Anthropologist'' 110(2): 191–203</ref> demonstrate how religion has intersected with colonial regimes.

===Historical method and theory===

Historical archaeologists have made major contributions to the understanding of the religion and ritual of peoples who have remained underrepresented (or misrepresented) in the historical record, such as colonized peoples, indigenous peoples, and enslaved peoples.  Mandatory religious conversion was common in many colonial situations (e.g. the Spanish colonization of the Americas), which led to syncretic religious practice, rejection or resistance to new religions, covert practice of indigenous religions, and/or misunderstandings and misinterpretations of both indigenous and colonizer religions (Hanks 2010 <ref>William F. Hanks, ''Converting Words: Maya in the Age of the Cross'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010).</ref> Klor de Alva 1982,<ref>[[Jorge Klor de Alva|J. Jorge Klor de Alva]], "Spiritual Conflict and Accommodation in New Spain: Toward a Typology of Aztec Responses to Christianity", in ''The Inca and Aztec States, 1400–1800: Anthropology and History'', eds. George A. Collier, Renato Rosaldo, & John D. Wirth (New York: Academic Press, 1982).</ref> Wernke 2007<ref name="Wernke, Steven 2007">Steven Wernke, "Analogy or Erasure?  Dialectics of Religious Transformation in the Early Doctrinas of the Colca Valley, Peru", ''International Journal of Historical Archaeology'', vol. 11, no. 2 (June 2007).</ref>).

This research combines archaeological and anthropological method and theory with historical method and theory.  In addition to recovering, recording, and analyzing material culture, historical archaeologists use archives, oral histories, ethnohistorical accounts.  Researchers read texts critically, emphasizing the historical context of the documents (especially regarding underrepresented peoples whose voices may be distorted or missing) in order to better understand religious practices that may have been discouraged or even severely punished.  Combined archaeological, historical, and anthropological data sets may contradict each other, or the material record may illuminate the details of covert or syncretic religious practice, as well as resistance to dominant religious forms. For example, our understanding of the religious practice of enslaved peoples in the United States (e.g. Leone and Frye 2001,<ref name="Leone, Mark P 2001">Mark P. Leone & Gladys Marie Frye, "A Coherent Religion among African Slaves," in ''Race and the Archaeology of Identity'', ed. By C. Orser (University of Utah Press, 2001).</ref> Fennell 2007 <ref name="Fennell, Christopher 2007">Christopher Fennell, ''Crossroads and Cosmologies: Diasporas and Ethnogenesis in the New World''  (University of Florida Press, 2007).</ref>) has increased dramatically thanks to research in historical archaeology.

== Material correlates==

Because archaeology studies human history through objects, buildings, bodies, and spaces, archaeologists must engage theories that connect anthropological and sociological theories of religion to [[material culture]] and landscapes. Theories of materiality <ref>[[Lynn Meskell|Meskell, Lynn]] (2005) ''Archaeologies of Materiality.''  Wiley-Blackwell.</ref> and landscape <ref>Johnson, Matthew (2006) ''Ideas of Landscape.'' Wiley-Blackwell</ref> serve to connect human activities, experiences, and behaviors to social practices, including religion.  Theories of [[:wikt:embody|embodiment]]<ref>Hammelkis, Yannis, Mark Pluciennik, and [[Sarah Tarlow]] (eds) (2001) ''Thinking Through the Body: Archaeologies of Corporeality.''  Springer.</ref> also serve to interpret human remains as they relate to religion and ritual.

The archaeology of religion makes use of the same material evidence as other branches of archaeology, but certain artifact classes are particularly emphasized in studying religion and ritual in the past:

*'''Human remains and [[burial]] assemblages''' can offer many clues to religious and ritual activity.<ref>Carr, Christopher (1995) Mortuary Practices: Their Social, Philosophical-Religious, Circumstantial, and Physical Determinants.  ''Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory'', Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 105–200</ref>  Human remains themselves are used in all branches of archaeology for information on sex, age, occupation, and disease.  Methods of interment (including burial position, cremation, burial location, primary and secondary burials, etc.) contribute to understanding changing religious practice, as well as social difference within groups (e.g. Lohmann 2005 <ref>Lohmann, Roger Ivar (2005) The Afterlife of Asabano Corpses: Relationships with the Deceased in Papua New Guinea.  ''Ethnology,'' Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 189–206</ref>).  Total burial contexts, i.e., the setting, [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]], [[ecofacts]], and human remains themselves, may provide evidence of religious beliefs about [[death]] and the afterworld.
*'''Religious buildings''', such as [[temple]] complexes, [[kivas]], and missions, are often used to examine communal religious and ritual activity (e.g. Barnes 1995,<ref>Barnes, Gina L. (1995) An Introduction to Buddhist Archaeology.  ''World Archaeology,'' Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 165–182</ref> Graham 1998,<ref>Graham, Elizabeth (1998) Mission Archaeology.  ''Annual Review of Anthropology'', Vol. 27, pp. 25–62</ref> Reid ''et al.'' 1997 <ref>Reid, Andrew, Paul Lane, Alinah Segobye, Lowe Borjeson, Nonofo Mathibidi, and Princess Sekgarametso (1997) Tswana Architecture and Responses to Colonialism.  ''World Archaeology,'' Vol. 28, No. 3, pp. 370–392</ref> ).  Part of [[archaeoastronomy]] is the investigation of how buildings are aligned to astral bodies and events, such as solstices, which often coincide with religious or ritual activities.  Archaeological examinations of religious buildings can reveal unequal access to religious knowledge and ritual.  Religious buildings frequently contain religious iconography that provides insight into the symbolic dimensions of religious life.
*Within landscape archaeology, '''sacred [[landscapes]]''' are an increasingly important focus of study (e.g. Clendinnen 1980 <ref name="Clendinnen, Inga 1980 pp. 374">Clendinnen, Inga  (1980) Landscape and Worldview: The Survival of Yucatec Maya Culture under Spanish Conquest.  ''Comparative Studies in Society and History,'' Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 374–393</ref>). Landscapes are imbued with sacred meaning throughout the world; [[aboriginal Australian]] [[songlines]], and the related belief that mythical events are marked on the landscape, are one example.  Human modifications to landscapes, such as Kyder-Reid's study of the Redemptorists’ modifications of their estate to emphasize communality,<ref>Kyder-Reid, Elizabeth (1996)  The Construction of Sanctity: Landscape and Ritual in a Religious Community.  In ''Landscape Archaeology: Reading and Interpreting the American Historical Landscape. '' Rebecca Yamin and Karen Bescherer Metheny, eds.  University of Tennessee Press.</ref> may point to the enactment of religious views.
*'''Religious iconography, [[symbols]]''',<ref>Robb, John E. (1998) The Archaeology of Symbols.  ''Annual Review of Anthropology'', Vol. 27, pp. 329–346</ref> '''ethnographic texts and ethnographic analogy''' are important tools that archaeologists use to compare with the material record to examine religions in the past (e.g. Clendinnen 1980,<ref>Clendinnen, Inga  (1980) Landscape and Worldview: The Survival of Yucatec Maya Culture under Spanish Conquest. '' Comparative Studies in Society and History,'' Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 374–393</ref> Elson and Smith 2001 <ref>Elson, Christina and Michael E. Smith (2001:157) Archaeological Deposits from the Aztec New Fire Ceremony.  ''Ancient Mesoamerica,'' Vol. 12, Issue 2, pp. 157–174</ref>). Though texts are not direct "windows to the past," particularly for societies with few or no written records, they are valuable lines of evidence that may be contradicted or supported by the material record.
*'''Common artifact classes''' such as [[ceramic art|ceramics]] have been increasingly reinterpreted within a religious framework. According to the idea of religion as a form of social practice and a total worldview, any artifact may potentially be used to embody religious ideas and ideals in material form.  Patterns of artifact and [[ecofact]] use within ritual contexts may expose preferences or sacred meanings of certain materials; the ritual use of [[pine]] among the ancient Maya is one example (Morehart, Lentz, and Prufer 2005 <ref>Morehart, Christopher T., David L. Lentz, and Keith M. Prufer (2005)  Wood of the Gods: The Ritual Use of Pine (PINUS SPP.) by the Ancient Lowland Maya.  ''Latin American Antiquity'', 16(3), pp. 255–274</ref>).

== Examples of research by area ==

===Africa===

*Evolving religious structure in Egypt (Baines 1987) <ref>Baines, John (1987) Practical Religion and Piety.  ''The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology,'' Vol. 73, pp. 79–98</ref>
*Ritual and political process in Tanzania (Hakansson 1998) <ref>Hakansson, N. Thomas (1998) Rulers and Rainmakers in Pre-colonial South Pare, Tanzania: Exchange and Ritual Experts in Political Centralization.  ''Ethnology'', Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 263–283</ref>
*Tswana religion and Christianity in Botswana and South Africa (Reid et al. 1997) <ref>Reid, Andrew, Paul Lane, Alinah Segobye, Lowe Borjeson, Nonofo Mathibidi, and Princess Sekgarametso (1997) Tswana Architecture and Responses to Colonialism.  ''World Archaeology,'' Vol. 28, No. 3, pp. 370–392
</ref>

===Americas===

*Contemporary Maya shrines (Brown 2004) <ref>Brown, Linda A.  (2004) Dangerous Places and Wild Spaces: Creating Meaning with Materials at Contemporary Maya Shrines on El Duende Mountain</ref>
*Landscape and Yucatec Maya religious practice (Clendinnen 1980) <ref name="Clendinnen, Inga 1980 pp. 374"/>
*Christian missions in the Americas (Graham 1998) <ref>Graham, Elizabeth (1998) Mission Archaeology.  ''Annual Review of Anthropology,'' Vol. 27, pp. 25–62</ref>
*Religion and the State in the Andes (Janusek 2006) <ref name="Janusek, John Wayne 2006"/>
*Religious architecture and religious transformation in colonial Peru (Wernke 2007)<ref name="Wernke, Steven 2007"/>
*Early American slavery and African American religion (Leone and Frye 2001),<ref name="Leone, Mark P 2001"/> Fennell (2007)<ref name="Fennell, Christopher 2007"/>

===Asia===

*Buddhism in India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia (Barnes 1995) <ref>Barnes, Gina L. (1995) An Introduction to Buddhist Archaeology.  ''World Archaeology'', Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 165–182</ref>
*Early Hinduism in Rajasthan (Hooja 2004) <ref>Hooja, Rima.  Icons, Artifacts, and Interpretations of the Past: Early Hinduism in Rejasthan.  ''World Archaeology,'' Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 360–377</ref>

===Europe===

*Christianity and Anglo-Saxon burial practices (Crawford 2004) <ref>Crawford, Sally (2004) Votive Deposition, Religion, and the Anglo-Saxon Furnished Burial Ritual.  ''World Archaeology'', Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 87–102</ref>
*Religion in Minoan Crete (Herva 2006) <ref>Herva, Vesa-Pekka (2006) Flower Lovers, after all?  Rethinking Religion and Human-Environment Relations in Minoan Crete.  ''World Archaeology'', Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 568–598</ref>
*Women and medieval burials (Gilchrist 2008) <ref>Gilchrist, Roberta (2008) Nurturing the dead: Medieval women as family undertakers.  In Monton-subias, S. and Sanchez-Romero, M. (eds) ''Engendering Social Dynamics: the Archaeology of Maintenance Activities.''  British Archaeological Report International Series, Oxford, pp. 41–47.</ref>

===Australia/South Pacific===

*Burials and religious practice in Papua New Guinea (Lohmann 2005) <ref>Lohmann, Roger Ivar (2005) The Afterlife of Asabano Corpses: Relationships with the Deceased in Papua New Guinea.  ''Ethnology'', Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 189–206
</ref>
*Dreaming cosmology and Australian seascapes (McNiven 2003) <ref>McNiven, Ian J. (2003) Saltwater People: Spiritscapes, Maritime Rituals and the Archaeology of Australian Indigenous Seascapes.  ''World Archaeology'', Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 329–349</ref>

== Modern debates ==

===Modern religious use of archaeological sites===
Contemporary religious groups often claim archaeological sites as part of their heritage, and make use of archaeological sites and artifacts in their religious practice (e.g. Wallis 2003 <ref>Wallis, Robert J. and Jenny Blain (2003) Sites, Sacredness, and Stories: Interactions of Archaeology and Contemporary Paganism.  ''Folklore'', Vol. 114, No. 3, pp. 307–321</ref>).  These practices and religious interpretations of sites may clash with archaeological interpretations, leading to disputes about heritage, preservation, use of sites, and the "ownership" of history (Bender 1999 <ref>Bender, Barbara (1999) ''Stonehenge: Making Space''.  Berg Publishers</ref>).

===Biblical archaeology===
{{Main|Biblical archaeology}}
Biblical archaeology is a field of archaeology that seeks to correlate events in the Bible with concrete archaeological sites and artifacts (Meyers 1984,<ref>Meyers, Eric M. (1984) The Bible and Archaeology.  ''The Biblical Archaeologist,'' Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 36–40</ref> Richardson 1916<ref>Richardson, G.H. (1916) The Value of Biblical Archaeology.  ''The Biblical World,'' Vol. 47, No. 6, pp. 381–387</ref>).

==See also==
{{Portal|Religion}}
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* {{Annotated link |Landscape Archaeology}}
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* {{Annotated link |Poles in mythology}}
* {{Annotated link |Superburial}}
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== References ==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.sha.org/ Society for Historical Archaeology]
*[http://www.saa.org/ Society for American Archaeology]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Archaeology Of Religion And Ritual}}
[[Category:Archaeological sub-disciplines]]
[[Category:Anthropology of religion]]
[[Category:Ritual]]