Archaeology, Ritual, Religion

Front Cover
Routledge, Apr 1, 2004 - Social Science - 200 pages
The archaeology of religion is a much neglected area, yet religious sites and artefacts constitute a major area of archaeological evidence. Timothy Insoll presents an introductory statement on the archaeology of religion, examining what archaeology can tell us about religion, the problems of defining and theorizing religion in archaeology, and the methodology, or how to 'do', the archaeology of religion.

This volume assesses religion and ritual through a range of examples from around the world and across time, including prehistoric religions, shamanism, African religions, death, landscape and even food. Insoll also discusses the history of research and varying theories in this field before looking to future research directions. This book will be a valuable guide for students and archaeologists, and initiate a major area of debate.
 

Contents

Introduction to the theme
1
History of research
33
Contemporary approaches
65
The case studies
101
Prospects and conclusion
146
Bibliography
157
Index
178
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2004)

Timothy Insoll is Lecturer in Archaeology at the School of Art History and Archaeology at the University of Manchester. His previous publications include The Archaeology of Islam (1999), Archaeology and World Religion (2001) and THe Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africal (2003)

Bibliographic information