How is archaeology of religion possible?

The text discusses the epistemological problems and dilemmas of the attempts to study religious life in prehistory by archaeological means. Among numerous difficulties, theoretical as well as practical, hindering these attempts, a general problem is discussed here: is archaeology of religion possib...

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Autor principal:	Zorica Kuzmanović
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN FR SR
Publicado:	University of Belgrade 2021
Materias:	prehistory religion ritual funerary rite holism practice Anthropology GN1-890
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/5db02057461648e4868183e5b6bf00c6
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:5db02057461648e4868183e5b6bf00c6
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:5db02057461648e4868183e5b6bf00c62021-12-02T19:33:42ZHow is archaeology of religion possible?0353-15892334-8801https://doaj.org/article/5db02057461648e4868183e5b6bf00c62021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.eap-iea.org/index.php/eap/article/view/48https://doaj.org/toc/0353-1589https://doaj.org/toc/2334-8801 The text discusses the epistemological problems and dilemmas of the attempts to study religious life in prehistory by archaeological means. Among numerous difficulties, theoretical as well as practical, hindering these attempts, a general problem is discussed here: is archaeology of religion possible and on what grounds? This dilemma raised a series of discussions over the last decades of the 20th century, primarily among the English-speaking archaeologists. However, in the tradition of regional archaeology of Yugoslavian and post-Yugoslavian lands this discussion has not been initiated, and the religious life of the prehistoric communities has not been the subject of particular research interest. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to bring attention to the possibilities and limitations of research into religion in prehistory, referring to the recent discussions in wider archaeological community. Two questions are discussed: firstly, how religion is conceptualized and defined in prehistoric contexts, and secondly, how it is possible to make inferences on religion on the grounds of material remains, if religion is understood in general sense, as belief in supernatural, non-material principles. The text concludes by the suggestion that the holistic approach, advocating that the religious phenomena should be regarded in structural relationship to all other aspects of social life, is productive if this proposition is taken to imply the scrutiny of numerous correlations between religion and other social domains. However, it is not acceptable to deny heuristic and analytic value of the very concept of religion. The importance of research into religious rituals is stressed, i.e. religious behaviour and practices, that are accessible through archaeological record, as opposed to religious principles, beliefs and dogmas. The orientation of archaeological research towards the field of ritual practices presupposes the effort to discern the purpose of a ritual and its outcomes, i.e. to consider the structural intertwining of ritual behaviour with all other aspects of social life, in accordance with the holistic approach. Zorica KuzmanovićUniversity of Belgradearticleprehistoryreligionritualfunerary riteholismpracticeAnthropologyGN1-890ENFRSREtnoantropološki Problemi, Vol 15, Iss 3 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN FR SR
topic	prehistory religion ritual funerary rite holism practice Anthropology GN1-890
spellingShingle	prehistory religion ritual funerary rite holism practice Anthropology GN1-890 Zorica Kuzmanović How is archaeology of religion possible?
description	The text discusses the epistemological problems and dilemmas of the attempts to study religious life in prehistory by archaeological means. Among numerous difficulties, theoretical as well as practical, hindering these attempts, a general problem is discussed here: is archaeology of religion possible and on what grounds? This dilemma raised a series of discussions over the last decades of the 20th century, primarily among the English-speaking archaeologists. However, in the tradition of regional archaeology of Yugoslavian and post-Yugoslavian lands this discussion has not been initiated, and the religious life of the prehistoric communities has not been the subject of particular research interest. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to bring attention to the possibilities and limitations of research into religion in prehistory, referring to the recent discussions in wider archaeological community. Two questions are discussed: firstly, how religion is conceptualized and defined in prehistoric contexts, and secondly, how it is possible to make inferences on religion on the grounds of material remains, if religion is understood in general sense, as belief in supernatural, non-material principles. The text concludes by the suggestion that the holistic approach, advocating that the religious phenomena should be regarded in structural relationship to all other aspects of social life, is productive if this proposition is taken to imply the scrutiny of numerous correlations between religion and other social domains. However, it is not acceptable to deny heuristic and analytic value of the very concept of religion. The importance of research into religious rituals is stressed, i.e. religious behaviour and practices, that are accessible through archaeological record, as opposed to religious principles, beliefs and dogmas. The orientation of archaeological research towards the field of ritual practices presupposes the effort to discern the purpose of a ritual and its outcomes, i.e. to consider the structural intertwining of ritual behaviour with all other aspects of social life, in accordance with the holistic approach.
format	article
author	Zorica Kuzmanović
author_facet	Zorica Kuzmanović
author_sort	Zorica Kuzmanović
title	How is archaeology of religion possible?
title_short	How is archaeology of religion possible?
title_full	How is archaeology of religion possible?
title_fullStr	How is archaeology of religion possible?
title_full_unstemmed	How is archaeology of religion possible?
title_sort	how is archaeology of religion possible?
publisher	University of Belgrade
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/5db02057461648e4868183e5b6bf00c6
work_keys_str_mv	AT zoricakuzmanovic howisarchaeologyofreligionpossible
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How is archaeology of religion possible?

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