Coastal Cosmologies: Long-Term Perspectives on the Perception and Understanding of Dynamic Coastal Landscapes in the Northern Baltic Sea Region

Herva, Vesa-Pekka; Ylimaunu, Timo

doi:10.1080/1751696x.2014.891915

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The deeper history and regional context of Shell Mound point to a cosmological significance that overshadowed ecological constraints. As outlined earlier, a history of shoreline retreat going back millennia contributed to a horizontal temporality (sensu Herva and Ylimaunu 2014) that was experienced in repeated abandonment and resettlement but also indexed to solar cycles. Because the most prominent landforms of the region were parabolic dunes with solstitial orientations, it may have been inevitable that dune arms would garner attention as materialized solar standstills.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…This same overstep event is likely to have separated Palmetto Mound from the landward portion of a dune arm, where Shell Mound arose two centuries later as a locus of summer solstice gatherings. The convergence of a history of rising sea with a landscape of solstice-oriented dunes led to what Herva and Ylimaunu (2014) call “horizontal temporality,” where a changing shoreline was indexed to cycles of renewal. In this regard, the siting of Palmetto Mound, and in turn Shell Mound, was influenced by a worldview that ascribed ritual value to landforms that materialized the cycles of the sun.…”

Section: Civic-ceremonial Centers and World Renewalmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Maritime Ritual Economies of Cosmic Synchronicity: Summer Solstice Events at a Civic-Ceremonial Center on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida

Sassaman

Blessing

Goodwin³

et al. 2019

Am. Antiq.

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Places such as Poverty Point, Mound City, and Chaco Canyon remind us that the siting of ritual infrastructure in ancient North America was a matter of cosmological precedent. The cosmic gravity of these places gathered persons periodically in numbers that challenged routine production. Ritual economies intensified, but beyond the material demands of hosting people, the siting of these places and the timing of gatherings were cosmic work that preconfigured these outcomes. A first millennium AD civic-ceremonial center on the northern Gulf Coast of Florida illustrates the rationale for holding feasts on the end of a parabolic dune that it shared with an existing mortuary facility. Archaeofauna from large pits at Shell Mound support the inference that feasts were timed to summer solstices. Gatherings were large, judging from the infrastructure in support of feasts and efforts to intensify production through oyster mariculture and the construction of a large tidal fish trap. The 250-year history of summer solstice feasts at Shell Mound reinforces the premise that ritual economies were not simply the amplification of routine production. It also suggests that the ecological potential for intensification was secondary to the cosmic significance of solstice-oriented dunes and their connection to mortuary and world-renewal ceremonialism.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Civic-ceremonial Centers and World Renewalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maritime Ritual Economies of Cosmic Synchronicity: Summer Solstice Events at a Civic-Ceremonial Center on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida

Sassaman

Blessing

Goodwin³

et al. 2019

Am. Antiq.

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“…There can be little doubt that the continuous transformation of northern Baltic coastal landscapes was recognized in prehistory just as it was recognized in historical times, and there are some indications that non-coastal landscapes were understood to represent ancient coastal landscapes (Holmblad 2010: 104). The instability or dynamism of the coastal and lacustrine environments must have had a significant impact on the how people perceived and related with their environments, but this aspect of shore displacement has so far mostly been ignored (but see Herva and Ylimaunu 2014;Ling 2014).…”

Section: The Temporality Of Baltic Coastal Landscapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Northern Archaeology and Cosmology

Herva¹,

Lahelma²

2019

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In its analysis of the archaeologies and histories of the northern fringe of Europe, this book provides a focus on animistic-shamanistic cosmologies and the associated humanenvironment relations from the Neolithic to modern times. The North has fascinated Europeans throughout history, as an enchanted world of natural and supernatural marvels: a land of light and dark, of northern lights and the midnight sun, of witches and magic and of riches ranging from amber to oil. Northern lands conflate fantasies and realities. Rich archaeological, historical, ethnographic and folkloric materials combine in this book with cutting-edge theoretical perspectives drawn from relational ontologies and epistemologies, producing a fresh approach to the prehistory and history of a region that is pivotal to understanding Europe-wide processes, such as Neolithization and modernization. This book examines the mythical and actual northern worlds, with northern relational modes of perceiving and engaging with the world on the one hand, and the 'place' of the North in European culture on the other. This book is an indispensable read for scholars of archaeology, anthropology, cultural studies and folklore in northern Europe, as well as researchers interested in how the North is intertwined with developments in the broader European and Eurasian world. It provides a deep-time understanding of globally topical issues and conflicting interests, as expressed by debates and controversies around Arctic resources, nature preservation and indigenous rights.

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“…These alterations were particularly prominent in coastal regions where new land was emerging from the sea, and although the speed of landscape changes varied, they were observable in many regions over a human lifespan. Dwelling in such dynamic landscapes conceivably shaped the ways people perceived and understood the world around them, with potential resonances with animistic–shamanistic cosmologies (see Herva and Ylimaunu for discussion).…”

Section: Clay Use Cosmology and The Lived Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

A northern Neolithic? Clay work, cultivation and cultural transformations in the boreal zone of north‐eastern Europe, c.5300–3000 bc

Herva

Mökkönen

Nordqvist

2017

Oxford J Archaeology

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Summary The adoption of pottery in eastern Fennoscandia in the later sixth millennium BC has traditionally been understood in straightforward technological and practical terms, and as a development that did not mark other significant changes in local culture or ways of life. Recent research in the region, combined with new ideas about Neolithization in Eurasia more generally, nonetheless suggests that the adoption of pottery was associated with more fundamental cultural and environmental transformations than has previously been thought. This article brings together diverse old and new data from north‐eastern Europe and discusses the character and dynamics of cultural and human‐induced environmental change following the adoption of pottery. The aim is to provide a scenario of long‐term cultural changes and, in particular, to consider the significance and broader implications of the very practices of clay use and cultivation, as well as their links to wider cultural and environmental phenomena.

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Coastal Cosmologies: Long-Term Perspectives on the Perception and Understanding of Dynamic Coastal Landscapes in the Northern Baltic Sea Region

Cited by 9 publications

References 24 publications

Maritime Ritual Economies of Cosmic Synchronicity: Summer Solstice Events at a Civic-Ceremonial Center on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida

Maritime Ritual Economies of Cosmic Synchronicity: Summer Solstice Events at a Civic-Ceremonial Center on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida

Northern Archaeology and Cosmology

A northern Neolithic? Clay work, cultivation and cultural transformations in the boreal zone of north‐eastern Europe, c.5300–3000 bc

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