TAG2019-UCL

Archaeologists generally discuss religion via two paths: the tangible material manifestations of religious practice and intangible theory based upon modern reconstructions. This session aims to unite material and theory to present a holistic view of religion. The focus will be on the theoretical and methodological problems at the foundation of archaeologies of religion, including definitions of religion in archaeology, the application of concepts and methods from the study of religion to archaeology, and the archaeological contribution to knowledge about religion(s). Historically, religious practices were integrated into all other practices within almost all culture groups, and our theoretical discussions need to begin to address the entanglements within the material culture we uncover and the cultures we reconstruct. Furthermore, the session will ask how archaeological knowledge of religion(s) is produced and involved in broader discourses in academia and beyond. This session aims to bring together a wide range of research, both geographically and temporally, to provide a rounded conversation that ultimately addresses how archaeologists can reconstruct religion.

Organisers: Brooke Creager; University of Minnesota • Peter Kahlke Olesen; University of Copenhagen

14:00 | Session organisers | Introduction

14:10 | Sophia Marques, University College London | When is it useful to do an archaeology of religion?

14:25 | Ross McIntire, University of York | In the Footsteps of the Saints: Buildings, Sacred Landscapes, and the Pilgrims’ Experience beyond the Shrine

14:40 | Simon Kaner, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures; Andrew Hutcheson, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures | Nara to Norvic: the Arrival of Belief, religion and archaeology at the extremities of the Silk Roads AD 500-1000

14:55 | Peter Kahlke Olesen, University of Copenhagen | Rock Art and Ritual Drama in Bronze Age Scandinavia: Image, Myth, and Ritual in Comparative Religion

15:10 | - | BREAK

15:40 | Tõnno Jonuks, Estonian Literary Museum | The problem of analogies – East-European perspective to the archaeology of religion

15:55 | Zenta Broka-Lāce, Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia | Ancient Latvian Religion: Attempts to Reconstruct ''Pagan'' Religious Praxes in 20s and 30s of the 20th Century

16:10 | John Soderberg, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Denison University | Why does the archaeology of religion need a biology of religion?

16:25 | Brooke Creager, University of Minnesota | Identifying Religious Meaning

16:40 | Peter Kahlke Olesen, University of Copenhagen; Brooke Creager, University of Minnesota | Discussion

17:30 | - | END