Pub Date : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/1751696X.2021.1918390
R. Weiner, E. Smith
ABSTRACT This paper offers a new interpretation of Chacoan Great Houses, multistoried masonry structures of the 9th-12th century U.S. Southwest, using insights from animist ontologies, cognitive science, cross-cultural analysis, and ethnohistory. Throughout time and space, societies have constructed buildings to serve as dwelling places for animate, divine entities immanent in material objects. We call these structures god houses and briefly review examples from numerous societies across the ancient/extramodern worlds and indigenous U.S. Southwest. We then apply this understanding to argue that the architectural logic and material assemblages of Chacoan Great Houses, and especially Pueblo Bonito, suggest identification as god houses, a notion that rephrases the usual distinction between ‘domestic’ and ‘ritual’ interpretations of Great Houses to consider the nature of the beings that dwelled within them. Our argument enriches investigations of the Chaco world by highlighting the role of religion and relations with non-human beings in the development of monumental architecture, regional organization, and inequality in the precontact U.S. Southwest.
本文运用万物有灵论本体论、认知科学、跨文化分析和民族历史的见解，对美国西南部9 -12世纪的多层砖石结构——查科人大房子(Chacoan Great Houses)进行了新的解读。在整个时间和空间中，社会已经建造了建筑物，作为内在物质物体中有生命的、神圣的实体的住所。我们称这些结构为上帝的房子，并简要回顾了古代/现代世界和美国西南部原住民的许多社会的例子。然后，我们运用这一理解来论证查科恩大宅的建筑逻辑和材料组合，特别是普韦布洛博尼托，表明了作为神宅的身份，这一概念重新表述了大宅的“家庭”和“仪式”解释之间的通常区别，以考虑居住在其中的生物的本质。我们的论点通过强调宗教的作用以及与非人类在纪念性建筑、区域组织和未接触美国西南部的不平等发展中的关系，丰富了对查科世界的调查。
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Pub Date : 2021-04-01DOI: 10.1080/1751696X.2021.1903179
T. Huffman, F. Earley
ABSTRACT The Sopris archaeological culture in southeastern Colorado was first identified as Puebloan and then later as local hunter-gatherers influenced by trade with the Northern Rio Grande area. By applying Eastern Pueblo ethnography, we show that the earlier interpretation is better. Physical emphases on such profound cultural features as dualism, cardinal directions, and kiva equivalents cannot be explained by trade, but instead point to Eastern Pueblo origins. Furthermore, a Tanoan model, incorporating a Tewa origin myth as well as Tiwa ethnography, provides a framework for understanding associated rock art. Concentric activity zones essential to a Tanoan worldview help to explain an agricultural shrine near fields (zone 2), hunting shrines in surrounding hills (zone 3), and a rain shrine in the headwaters of the Purgatoire valley (zone 4). The rain shrine included unusual and unique images.
{"title":"Pueblo ethnography, Sopris archaeology, and the sacred geography of sopris rock art","authors":"T. Huffman, F. Earley","doi":"10.1080/1751696X.2021.1903179","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2021.1903179","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Sopris archaeological culture in southeastern Colorado was first identified as Puebloan and then later as local hunter-gatherers influenced by trade with the Northern Rio Grande area. By applying Eastern Pueblo ethnography, we show that the earlier interpretation is better. Physical emphases on such profound cultural features as dualism, cardinal directions, and kiva equivalents cannot be explained by trade, but instead point to Eastern Pueblo origins. Furthermore, a Tanoan model, incorporating a Tewa origin myth as well as Tiwa ethnography, provides a framework for understanding associated rock art. Concentric activity zones essential to a Tanoan worldview help to explain an agricultural shrine near fields (zone 2), hunting shrines in surrounding hills (zone 3), and a rain shrine in the headwaters of the Purgatoire valley (zone 4). The rain shrine included unusual and unique images.","PeriodicalId":43900,"journal":{"name":"Time & Mind-The Journal of Archaeology Consciousness and Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90394535","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-03-31DOI: 10.1080/1751696X.2021.1903177
Yafit Kedar, Gil Kedar, R. Barkai
ABSTRACT In this paper, we present a novel hypothesis as to what led humans in the Upper Paleolithic to penetrate and decorate deep, dark caves. Many of the depictions in these caves are located in halls or narrow passages deep in the interior, navigable only with artificial light. We simulated the effect of torches on oxygen concentrations in structures similar to Paleolithic decorated caves and showed that the oxygen quickly decreased to levels known to induce a state of hypoxia. Hypoxia increases the release of dopamine in the brain, resulting in hallucinations and out-of-body experiences. We discuss the significance of caves in indigenous world views and contend that entering these deep, dark environments was a conscious choice, motivated by an understanding of the transformative nature of an underground, oxygen-depleted space. The cave environment was conceived as both a liminal space and an ontological arena, allowing early humans to maintain their connectedness with the cosmos. It was not the decoration that rendered the caves significant; rather, the significance of the chosen caves was the reason for their decoration.
{"title":"Hypoxia in Paleolithic decorated caves: the use of artificial light in deep caves reduces oxygen concentration and induces altered states of consciousness","authors":"Yafit Kedar, Gil Kedar, R. Barkai","doi":"10.1080/1751696X.2021.1903177","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2021.1903177","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this paper, we present a novel hypothesis as to what led humans in the Upper Paleolithic to penetrate and decorate deep, dark caves. Many of the depictions in these caves are located in halls or narrow passages deep in the interior, navigable only with artificial light. We simulated the effect of torches on oxygen concentrations in structures similar to Paleolithic decorated caves and showed that the oxygen quickly decreased to levels known to induce a state of hypoxia. Hypoxia increases the release of dopamine in the brain, resulting in hallucinations and out-of-body experiences. We discuss the significance of caves in indigenous world views and contend that entering these deep, dark environments was a conscious choice, motivated by an understanding of the transformative nature of an underground, oxygen-depleted space. The cave environment was conceived as both a liminal space and an ontological arena, allowing early humans to maintain their connectedness with the cosmos. It was not the decoration that rendered the caves significant; rather, the significance of the chosen caves was the reason for their decoration.","PeriodicalId":43900,"journal":{"name":"Time & Mind-The Journal of Archaeology Consciousness and Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74554556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-03-25DOI: 10.1080/1751696X.2021.1903176
Michael Freikman, S. Marco
ABSTRACT The literary corpus found in Ugarit/Ras Shamra includes some 1500 administrative and religious texts found so far. One of the most famous texts is the myth of Aqhat, who was murdered by an assassin, and whose death was avenged by his family. Many literary and grammatical aspects of this text have been widely discussed during the last decades. They mostly treat it as a purely fictional story, which may not be studied in a real historical or geographical context. However, the mythological motives and imaginary stories of gods and heroes were created by real people, who lived in the real world. They grew up and lived in a physical landscape which must have had a profound influence on their personality and perception of the surrounding world, and it should not surprise us to find traces of this landscape in the mythology. We try to explain these discrepancies and propose the general historical and cultural background for this story and the way the Aqhat myth has roots in landscape of the Lower Galilee and Sea of Galilee.
{"title":"Myth written in stone. The submerged monument in the kinneret sea in the light of the ugaritic myth of aqhat","authors":"Michael Freikman, S. Marco","doi":"10.1080/1751696X.2021.1903176","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2021.1903176","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The literary corpus found in Ugarit/Ras Shamra includes some 1500 administrative and religious texts found so far. One of the most famous texts is the myth of Aqhat, who was murdered by an assassin, and whose death was avenged by his family. Many literary and grammatical aspects of this text have been widely discussed during the last decades. They mostly treat it as a purely fictional story, which may not be studied in a real historical or geographical context. However, the mythological motives and imaginary stories of gods and heroes were created by real people, who lived in the real world. They grew up and lived in a physical landscape which must have had a profound influence on their personality and perception of the surrounding world, and it should not surprise us to find traces of this landscape in the mythology. We try to explain these discrepancies and propose the general historical and cultural background for this story and the way the Aqhat myth has roots in landscape of the Lower Galilee and Sea of Galilee.","PeriodicalId":43900,"journal":{"name":"Time & Mind-The Journal of Archaeology Consciousness and Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88263533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/1751696X.2021.1880823
Laura Slack
{"title":"Design and connectivity: the case of Atlantic rock art","authors":"Laura Slack","doi":"10.1080/1751696X.2021.1880823","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2021.1880823","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43900,"journal":{"name":"Time & Mind-The Journal of Archaeology Consciousness and Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81577791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/1751696X.2021.1891367
Natalie M. Susmann
ABSTRACT This paper explores reciprocal relationships between landscape, human attention, and time. I present two sacred landscapes: Epidaurus and Nemea, located in Greece's northeastern Peloponnese. In both landscapes, worshipers created sanctuaries on prominent mountains. Eventually, their attention shifted downhill where they built larger, monumental sanctuaries on the flat ground. I trace each mountain’s role as a sacred landmark; I question what other social functions they had – if at all – after the new sanctuaries were built. I consider a wide range of evidence. I begin with a comparative example from Mount Fuji in Japan, and move on to archaeological excavation and survey data, ancient testimonials, and modern tourist reviews about the Greek sanctuaries. I also use Geographic Information Systems to quantify each Greek sanctuary’s visual impact in comparison to the surrounding topography. Woven together, these data reveal generations of sacral continuity. The Sanctuary of Asklepios and the Sanctuary of Zeus encircled new sacred temenoi, but worshipers’ collective memory guided their pathways and vision; through human senses, these mountains retained their role as sacred landmarks.
{"title":"Moving down the mountain: pathways for sacred landscape transformation at ancient Epidaurus and Nemea","authors":"Natalie M. Susmann","doi":"10.1080/1751696X.2021.1891367","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2021.1891367","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper explores reciprocal relationships between landscape, human attention, and time. I present two sacred landscapes: Epidaurus and Nemea, located in Greece's northeastern Peloponnese. In both landscapes, worshipers created sanctuaries on prominent mountains. Eventually, their attention shifted downhill where they built larger, monumental sanctuaries on the flat ground. I trace each mountain’s role as a sacred landmark; I question what other social functions they had – if at all – after the new sanctuaries were built. I consider a wide range of evidence. I begin with a comparative example from Mount Fuji in Japan, and move on to archaeological excavation and survey data, ancient testimonials, and modern tourist reviews about the Greek sanctuaries. I also use Geographic Information Systems to quantify each Greek sanctuary’s visual impact in comparison to the surrounding topography. Woven together, these data reveal generations of sacral continuity. The Sanctuary of Asklepios and the Sanctuary of Zeus encircled new sacred temenoi, but worshipers’ collective memory guided their pathways and vision; through human senses, these mountains retained their role as sacred landmarks.","PeriodicalId":43900,"journal":{"name":"Time & Mind-The Journal of Archaeology Consciousness and Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87736491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/1751696X.2021.1880825
R. Hutton
Old Thiess was a peasant and magical healer from Livonia, a region which overlaps the modern states of Estonia and Lithuania. In his spare time he was also a werewolf, who went with others of his k...
{"title":"Old Thiess, a Livonian werewolf: a classic case in historical perspective","authors":"R. Hutton","doi":"10.1080/1751696X.2021.1880825","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2021.1880825","url":null,"abstract":"Old Thiess was a peasant and magical healer from Livonia, a region which overlaps the modern states of Estonia and Lithuania. In his spare time he was also a werewolf, who went with others of his k...","PeriodicalId":43900,"journal":{"name":"Time & Mind-The Journal of Archaeology Consciousness and Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72656889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/1751696X.2021.1880824
Jenny Wallensten
{"title":"Myth, literature, and the creation of the topography of Thebes","authors":"Jenny Wallensten","doi":"10.1080/1751696X.2021.1880824","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2021.1880824","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43900,"journal":{"name":"Time & Mind-The Journal of Archaeology Consciousness and Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76498464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/1751696X.2021.1865641
U. Sen, R. Bhakat
ABSTRACT Sacred groves are generally considered as socio-culturally preserved patches of plants primarily managed by tribal groups. Such groves are usually believed to be as the abodes of gods, goddesses, spirits or supernatural artefacts. Generally, they are predominantly worshipped, managed and protected by the tribal groups with religious zeal. Such groves mainly serve as the benchmarks of less disturbed vegetation. Taboos and social prohibitions shield the sacred groves from the destruction caused by human activity. Several relicts, endemic and endangered species have been reported from sacred groves. Depending on such assumption, this paper highlights the conservation and cultural values of the Santal community surrounding the sacred groves of Binpur II block under Jhargram District in West Bengal. The study shows that, in addition to the conservation of 191 species of angiosperms, these groves have certain direct and indirect socio-economic impacts. Therefore, there is an urgent need not only preserve the sacred forest but also revive and reinvent some traditional form of plant conservation.
{"title":"Conservation of resources by religious and social prohibitions by Santal communities in South West Bengal, India","authors":"U. Sen, R. Bhakat","doi":"10.1080/1751696X.2021.1865641","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2021.1865641","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Sacred groves are generally considered as socio-culturally preserved patches of plants primarily managed by tribal groups. Such groves are usually believed to be as the abodes of gods, goddesses, spirits or supernatural artefacts. Generally, they are predominantly worshipped, managed and protected by the tribal groups with religious zeal. Such groves mainly serve as the benchmarks of less disturbed vegetation. Taboos and social prohibitions shield the sacred groves from the destruction caused by human activity. Several relicts, endemic and endangered species have been reported from sacred groves. Depending on such assumption, this paper highlights the conservation and cultural values of the Santal community surrounding the sacred groves of Binpur II block under Jhargram District in West Bengal. The study shows that, in addition to the conservation of 191 species of angiosperms, these groves have certain direct and indirect socio-economic impacts. Therefore, there is an urgent need not only preserve the sacred forest but also revive and reinvent some traditional form of plant conservation.","PeriodicalId":43900,"journal":{"name":"Time & Mind-The Journal of Archaeology Consciousness and Culture","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90624398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/1751696x.2021.1880826
R. Ixer
and postmodernist deconstruction all being proposed as frameworks for thought. The division between the discussants is however clear. Both face the huge problem of the lack of evidence for pre-modern popular behaviour and belief, but they differ over how to use the small and scattered scraps that we possess. Ginzburg is prepared to take more risks in stitching them together speculatively than Lincoln. As part of this, the former is more inclined to see Thiess’s testimony as embedded in a community rooted in ancient culture, and the latter as the imaginative and anomalous product of an unrepresentative individual. Ginzburg prioritises archaic myth and ritual in explaining the whole Livonian werewolf trope, while Lincoln sees it as developing more out of the relations between the German conquerors and their native subordinates. Ginzburg’s own thought is itself embedded in a more archaic stratum, still heavily influenced by the method of comparing cultural traits worldwide to arrive at general theories which was exemplified by Sir James Frazer and Mircea Eliade, and by the structuralism preached by Claude Lévi-Strauss. In this sense he remains very much a mid-twentieth-century scholar. Lincoln, Eliade’s pupil, began very much in this tradition as well, which is why he emerged as a famed scholar of the Indo-Europeans. One of the revelations of the debate is how completely he has rejected it now (and above all the work of the most famous theorist of Indo-European culture, Dumézil), believing that the reconstruction of ancient prototypes works well for historic languages, but not for prehistoric equivalents, let alone for the cultures that spoke them. Instead he has shed an interest in origins for one in the power dynamics of historic societies, driven by what is ultimately Marxism, reborn after 1990 as post-colonial theory. The debate of course ends in friendly and respectful disagreement. Readers will agree with one or the other, or neither, depending likewise on personal and ideological predispositions. I am in both camps, as I see value in comparisons across time and structures, but Carlo Ginzburg’s leaps are too long for me, much as I admire him. The publication of the discussion takes up the final quarter of the book, following a translation of the original trial records and then a reprinting of Höfler’s, Ginzburg’s and Lincoln’s earlier reflections on the case. It is not really about Livonian werewolves, as it ignores the work of other scholars of the subject, and it is accordingly limited as a study of the Thiess case itself. It is essentially a discussion of the comparative method in cultural studies and history, between two giants of those disciplines, and a guide to their current thought; and valuable as such.
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