An Archaeology of Religion

347 Pages·2016·6.35 MB·English

by  Kit W. Wesler

An Archaeology
of Religion
Kit W. Wesler
UNIVERSITY PRESS OF AMERICA,® INC.
Lanham (cid:129) Boulder (cid:129) New York (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK
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Cover image: Temple A in the Largo di Torre Argentina, Rome.
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Contents
Illustrations v
Preface ix
1 Introduction and Definitions 1
2 Grave Issues 30
3 Shamanism 44
4 Neolithic 64
5 Gods and Temples 89
6 Archaeology of Hinduism 159
7 Archaeology of Buddhism 168
8 Archaeology of Judaism 182
9 Archaeology of Christianity 211
10 Archaeology of Islam 248
11 Archaeology of Pilgrimage 260
12 Cults, Regional Cults, and World Religions 272
References 287
iii
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Illustrations
FIGURES
3.1. Cross and circle painted on floor of Mississippian house,
Wickliffe Mounds site, Kentucky 53
3.2. Medicine wheel petroglyph at Petroglyph National Monu-
ment, New Mexico 53
3.3. Cross and circle petroglyph at Petroglyph National Monu-
ment, New Mexico 54
5.1. Plan of early ‘Ubaid period temple at Gawra (foundation
level, doors not visible) 103
5.2. Plan of later ‘Ubaid period temple at Gawra (Level XIII) 104
5.3. Temple plans from Eridu 105
5.4. Temple plans from Eridu 105
5.5. Plan of the Anu temple, Uruk (Warka) 107
5.6. Plan of predynastic Sin Temples I and II at Khafaja, Iraq 107
5.7. Plan of predynastic to Dynastic Sin Temple V at Khafaja,
Iraq 108
5.8. Plans of early Abu Temple at Tell Asmar 108
5.9. Plan of Early Dynastic temple at Elephantine 112
5.10. Plan of Old Kingdom temple at Medamud 113
5.11. Plan of temple at Hierakonpolis, 3500 BC 113
5.12. Plan of Middle Kingdom temple of Montu at Tod 114
5.13. Plans of temple at Thoth Hill, Thebes 114
5.14. Plan of Middle Kingdom temple at Medinet Madi 115
5.15. Plan of Middle Kingdom temple at Buhen outpost, Lower
Nubia 115
5.16. Plans of temples at Paestum 118
5.17. Plans of Etruscan temples of the Archaic period 120
v
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vi Illustrations
5.18. Plans of Etruscan temples of the Classic period 120
5.19. Temple of Ceres at Ostia 121
5.20. Capitolium temple, dedicated to Jupiter, Juno and Mi-
nerva, at Ostia 121
5.21. Temple of Jupiter in Pompeii 122
5.22. Temple of Fortuna Augusta in Pompeii 122
5.23. Plan of the Temple of Mater Matuta, Rome, 570 BC 123
5.24. Plan of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, Rome 124
5.25. Lararia. Top, Ostia; bottom, Pompeii 124
5.26. Mithraeum of the Baths of Mithras at Ostia 127
5.27. Mithraeum of the Seven Spheres at Ostia 127
5.28. Plan of two-room Zapotec temple, Mound X, Monte Al-
ban 137
5.29. Two-room temple platform in the plaza of the Temple of
the Sun, Teotihuacan 137
5.30. Mississippian platform mound (Mound A) at Wickliffe,
Kentucky 143
5.31. Reconstructed Mississippian platform mound at Town
Creek, North Carolina 144
5.32. Clay “altars” on buried summit of Mound A at Wickliffe,
Kentucky 147
5.33. Circular openings of kivas in the plaza of Pueblo Bonito,
Chaco Canyon, New Mexico 150
5.34. Circular opening of kiva at Escalante Ruin, Colorado 150
5.35. Plan of the Great Kiva at Casa Rinconada, Chaco Canyon,
New Mexico 153
5.36. Plan of the Great Kiva at Chetro Ketl, Chaco Canyon,
New Mexico 153
5.37. Partly reconstructed great kiva at Wupatki National
Monument, Arizona 154
5.38. Bateys at Caguana, Puerto Rico 154
6.1. Plan of the Archaic Ladh Khan temple at Aihole 165
6.2. Plan of the Durga temple at Aihole 165
6.3. Plan of the Virupaksha Temple 166
6.4. Plan of the Brihadishvara or Rajareshvara Temple at
Thanjavur 166
7.1. Schematic plan of an open-air stupa complex 174
7.2. Schematic plan of a rock-cut stupa complex 175
7.3. Haein temple, South Korea 177
7.4. Donghwasa temple, South Korea 180
8.1. Plan of First Temple period Arad sanctuary 194
8.2. Plans of Second Temple period synagogues 198
8.3. First to fourth-century AD synagogue at Ostia 199
8.4. Columned niche with menorah in the synagogue at Ostia 200
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Illustrations vii
8.5. Jewish headstone set in wall in Regensburg, Germany 205
8.6. Sculpture of Jews on the side of the Dom St. Peter, Re-
gensburg, Germany 205
8.7. Crowded grave markers at Jewish cemetery in Prague,
Czech Republic 206
8.8. Jewish headstone reset in wall at Neveh Shalom syna-
gogue, Spanish Town, Jamaica 208
9.1. Cross-like symbols at Petroglyph National Monument,
New Mexico 215
9.2. Open-air church or Capilla Abierta, Templo de Soldedad,
Tzinztuntzan, Michoacan, Mexico 240
9.3. Open-air altar set in the wall of the Templo de San Fran-
cisco, Tzinztuntzan, Michoacan, Mexico 241
9.4. St. Luke’s Church, Isle of Wight County, Virginia 243
10.1. Iraqi prayer rug 251
10.2. Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey 251
10.3. Full-sized reconstruction of the Grand Mosque of Zaria
at the Museum of Traditional Nigerian Architecture, Jos,
Nigeria 252
10.4. Plan of Bhambore mosque 254
10.5. Schematic plan of Qsar-es Seghir, Morocco 257
11.1. Plans of Dom St. Peter and St. Emmeram’s church, Re-
gensburg, Germany 263
12.1. Verekete shrine, site of Lander’s ordeal, commemorating
the site where Richard Lander underwent trial by poison
ca. 1830 285
12.2. Shrine of unknown meaning on the Jos plateau, Nigeria 285
12.3. Pottery shrine on hilltop, Jos Plateau, Nigeria 286
TABLE
8.1. Archaeological chronology and historical events in the 185
Levant
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Preface
This book grew out of a frustration that there was not already a primer on
the Archaeology of Religion that could be used to structure a class. I would
have thought that such a volume existed: after all, religion is a fertile field
for scholarship, and books on the anthropology of religion are widely avail-
able. At the time I began teaching my class, there was not one for archaeol-
ogy. Since then, Bryan Hayden published Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints
(2003), and Sharon Steadman came out with Archaeology of Religion (2009),
which was specifically designed to be a textbook. Both books are useful and
interesting. But neither has quite the comprehensive scope I envisioned for
my class: an account that began with identifying the earliest indications of
something we could call religion and surveyed the evidence up to the modern
world.
It was my colleague at Murray State University, historian Chris Bierwirth,
who asked me to teach a class that would contribute to a revival of our aca-
demic minor in Religious Studies. My first reaction was that I would not be
the right person to prepare that class, because I had no relevant background.
But then I had to think about why I was so reluctant to approach the subject.
I had been directing a museum and research program that focused on the
Mississippian (late prehistoric Native American) site of Wickliffe Mounds,
in Ballard County, Kentucky, for about twenty years (Wesler 2001). One
of the common questions from visitors to Wickliffe Mounds was: what was
their religion like? I would reply that we cannot dig up a religion; we cannot
excavate what people think and believe.
When Chris Bierwirth asked me to teach this class, I had the same reaction.
I ducked the question. And then I thought, maybe it’s time I stopped ducking
the question. Maybe it’s time for me to think about what we can learn of re-
ligion through archaeology. If archaeology is the study of people and culture,
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