TY - JOUR
T1 - Rites of Passage and Other Rituals in the Life Histories of Objects
AU - Fogelin, Lars
AU - Schiffer, Michael Brian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
PY - 2015/5/12
Y1 - 2015/5/12
N2 - In the last few decades, archaeologists have increasingly studied the material expression of religion. At the same time, they have recognized that some objects are animate in ways similar to people. Building on previous research that combines studies of religion, object agency and behavioural perspectives, we present an approach that focuses on the variety of rituals, especially rites of passage, in which objects participate over the course of their life histories. Occurring in societies at all levels of organizational complexity, rites of passage offer archaeologists an opportunity to contribute to the anthropology of ritual and an understanding of the ways that some objects take on, or are given, attributes of life. More subtly, by comparing the rites of passage of objects and the people who interact with them, we can assess differences in the specific qualities of object and human agency. These approaches may help us to orient the search for archaeological evidence of rites of passage as well as to interpret enigmatic deposits such as caches, hoards and offerings.
AB - In the last few decades, archaeologists have increasingly studied the material expression of religion. At the same time, they have recognized that some objects are animate in ways similar to people. Building on previous research that combines studies of religion, object agency and behavioural perspectives, we present an approach that focuses on the variety of rituals, especially rites of passage, in which objects participate over the course of their life histories. Occurring in societies at all levels of organizational complexity, rites of passage offer archaeologists an opportunity to contribute to the anthropology of ritual and an understanding of the ways that some objects take on, or are given, attributes of life. More subtly, by comparing the rites of passage of objects and the people who interact with them, we can assess differences in the specific qualities of object and human agency. These approaches may help us to orient the search for archaeological evidence of rites of passage as well as to interpret enigmatic deposits such as caches, hoards and offerings.
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U2 - 10.1017/S0959774315000153
DO - 10.1017/S0959774315000153
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84944441074
SN - 0959-7743
VL - 25
SP - 815
EP - 827
JO - Cambridge Archaeological Journal
JF - Cambridge Archaeological Journal
IS - 4
ER -