Defining the sacred : approaches to the archaeology of religion in the Near East PDF
Preview Defining the sacred : approaches to the archaeology of religion in the Near East
Defining the Sacred In memory of Tino and Sheila Defining the Sacred Approaches to the Archaeology of Religion in the Near East Edited by Nicola Laneri Oxbow Books Oxford & Philadelphia Published in the United Kingdom in 2015 by OXBOW BOOKS 10 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford OX1 2EW and in the United States by OXBOW BOOKS 908 Darby Road, Havertown, PA 19083 © Oxbow Books and the individual authors 2015 Paperback Edition: ISBN 978-1-78297-679-0 Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78297-683-7 A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Defining the sacred : approaches to the archaeology of religion in the Near East / edited by Nicola Laneri. -- 1st [edition]. 1 online resource. Includes bibliographical references. Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed. ISBN 978-1-78297-849-7 (epub) -- ISBN 978-1-78297-850-3 (prc) -- ISBN 978-1-78297-851-0 ( pdf) -- ISBN 978-1-78297-679-0 1. Middle East--Religion. 2. Archaeology and religion--Middle East. 3. Excavations (Archaeology)--Middle East. 4. Middle East--Antiquities. I. Laneri, Nicola, editor. BL1060 200.9394--dc23 2015009796 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher in writing. Printed in the United Kingdom by Hobbs the Printers, Totton, Hampshire For a complete list of Oxbow titles, please contact: UNITED KINGDOM Oxbow Books Telephone (01865) 241249, Fax (01865) 794449 Email: [email protected] www.oxbowbooks.com UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Oxbow Books Telephone (800) 791-9354, Fax (610) 853-9146 Email: [email protected] www.casemateacademic.com/oxbow Oxbow Books is part of the Casemate Group Front cover: Arms, hands and elements of clothing reveal the anthropomorphic character of Göbekli Tepe’s pillars (Pillar 31 in the centre of Enclosure D) (photo: N. Becker, © DAI). Back cover: Detail of Ur-Nammu’s stele (Börker Klähn 1982, pl. 39) CONTENTS List of Contributors ....................................................................................................................................................vii Preface ........................................................................................................................................................................ix 1. Introduction: Investigating archaeological approaches to the study of religious practices and beliefs ................1 Nicola Laneri Part I Sacred Nature 2. Animal burials and their cults in Margiana ...........................................................................................................13 Nadezhda Dubova 3. Identifying sacrifice in Bronze Age Near Eastern iconography ............................................................................24 Laerke Recht 4. Cult and the rise of desert pastoralism: a case study from the Negev ..................................................................38 Steve A. Rosen 5. Thoughts on material expressions of cultic practice. Standing stone monuments of the Early Bronze Age in the southern Levant ...........................................................................................................................................48 Ann Andersson 6. Late Chalcolithic Mesopotamia: towards a definition of sacred space and its evolution .....................................60 Pascal Butterlin Part II Housing the god 7. A sanctuary, or so fair a house? In defense of an archaeology of cult at Pre-Pottery Neolithic göbekli Tepe ..........................................................................................................................................75 Olivier Dietrich and Jens Notroff 8. Where to worship? Religion in Iron II Israel and Judah .......................................................................................90 Beth Alpert Nakhai 9. Communal places of worship: Ritual activities and ritualised ideology during the Early Bronze Age Jezirah ..............................................................................................................................102 Stefano Valentini vi Contents 10. Open spaces around the temples and their ritual use: archaeological evidence from the Bronze and Iron Age Levant .........................................................................................................................................118 Stefania Mazzoni 11. Ritual circumambulations in the Syro-Mesopotamian cuneiform texts ...........................................................134 Amalia Catagnoti 12. A temple lifecycle: rituals of construction, restoration, and destruction of some ED Mesopotamian and Syrian sacred buildings ..............................................................................................................................142 Licia Romano Part III The materialisation of religious beliefs and practices 13. Religion as practice in Neolithic societies ......................................................................................................153 Trevor Watkins 14. Casting the sacred: Chalcolithic metallurgy and ritual in the southern Levant ................................................161 Milena Gosic and Isaac Gilead 15. How better understanding of ritual practices can help the comprehension of religious feelings ....................176 Laura Battini 16. Archaeological correlates of pious societies .....................................................................................................184 Daniel Snell CONTRIBUTORS Ann Andersson Beth Alpert Nakhai Department of Cross-cultural and Regional Studies, Arizona Centre for Judaic Studies, University of Copenhagen, The University of Arizona, 845 N. Park Ave, Suite 420, Karen Blixens vej 4, building 10, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark Tucson, AZ 85721-0158, USA Laura Battini Jens Notroff CNRS, University of Lyon, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Maison de l’Orient, UMR 5133 Archéorient- 7, Orient-Abteilung, Podbielskiallee 69–71, rue Raulin F- 69365 LYON Cedex 07 France 14195 Berlin, germany Pascal Butterlin Laerke Recht University of Paris 1, Pantheon-Sorbonne, International Institute for Mesopotamian Area Studies, Institut d’Art et d’Archéologie 1028 18th Street, #4, 3 rue Michelet, 75006 Paris Santa Monica CA 90403, USA Amalia Catagnoti Licia Romano Dipartimento di Storia, Archeologia, geografia, University of Rome La Sapienza, Arte e Spettacolo (S.A.g.A.S.), Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità Università di Firenze, Via San gallo 10, 50129 Firenze, Italy Ex Vetrerie Sciarra, Studio 121 Via dei Volsci, 122, 00185 Roma (Italia) Oliver Dietrich Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Steven A. Rosen Orient-Abteilung, Podbielskiallee 69-71 Archaeological Division, 14195 Berlin, germany Ben-gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel Nadezhda Dubova Anthropology of Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Daniel Snell Institute of Ethnology and Anthropoly University of Oklahoma, Department of History RAS Leninski prospect 32A, 455 West Lindsey Street, DAHT 403A Norman, 119991, Moscow, Russia OK 73019-2004 Isaac gilead Stefano Valentini Archaeological Division, CAMNES (Center for Ancient Mediterranean Ben-gurion University of the Negev, POB. 653, and Near Eastern Studies), Beer Sheva, 410501, Israel Via del giglio 15, 50123 Firenze, Italy Milena gošić Trevor Watkins Archaeological Division, University of Edinburgh, Ben-gurion University of the Negev, POB. 653, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Beer Sheva, 8410501, Israel William Robertson Wing, Old Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, Scotland EH8 9Ag Nicola Laneri United Kingdom Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche, University of Catania, Piazza Dante 32, 95100, Catania, Italy Stefania Mazzoni Dipartimento di Storia, Archeologia, geografia, Arte e Spettacolo (S.A.g.A.S.), Università di Firenze, Via San gallo 10, 50129 Firenze, Italy PREFACE Nicola Laneri This volume represents the partial outcome of a workshop passed away. In particular, the front cover of the volume organized by the author at the 8th International Congress on appears in honour of the great work done by Klaus Schmidt the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East held in Warsaw at göbekli Tepe. in 2012, and my warmest acknowledgments goes to all the I would also like to thank Oxbow Books and its editorial organizers, especially Piotr Bielinski and Zuzanna Wygnanska. board (Julie gardiner, Clare Litt, Lizzie Holiday, and Samantha In order to broaden the chronological and geographical topics McLeod) for their great work of assembling the volume, the covered at the initial workshop and to make the whole volume Fuller Theological Seminar of Pasadena and Christopher Hays more coherent, a few other contributions have been included for having hosted me as visiting scholar and allowed me to use along the way. I would also like to dedicate this volume to their facilities while working on the introduction to the volume the memory of three authors (Jean Daniel Forest, Sharon as well as Ernestine Elster and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati for Zuckerman and Klaus Schmidt) who were invited to participate their support in allowing me to use the UCLA library. in the workshop as leading figures in the investigation of Also, I would like to thank Sharon Steadman for her ancient religions in the ancient Near East and have since suggestions and my wife Karen for her support.
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