1999
DOI: 10.1179/eja.1999.2.3.313
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Ritual and Rationality: Some Problems of Interpretation in European Archaeology

Abstract: This paper argues that the conception of ritual employed in both archaeology and anthropology is a product of post-Enlightenment rationalism. Because it does not meet modern western criteria for practical action, ritual is frequently described as non-functional and irrational; furthermore, this designation is employed as the primary way of identifying ritual archaeologically. However, this evaluation of ritual action must be questioned. Contemporary modes of categorizing human practice are not untainted by soc… Show more

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Cited by 159 publications
(155 citation statements)
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“…All remains associated with them tend to be a priori associated with subsistence, and if this explanation does not fit, one resorts to ritual and religion (cf. Brück 1999). War-one of the defining phenomena of recorded human history-is not considered to have been a part of their experience.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…All remains associated with them tend to be a priori associated with subsistence, and if this explanation does not fit, one resorts to ritual and religion (cf. Brück 1999). War-one of the defining phenomena of recorded human history-is not considered to have been a part of their experience.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In the past few decades, however, many archaeologists have come to hold a much more optimistic view concerning the possibility of learning about ancient ritual and religion, probably in part because they have come to recognize a much more fluid boundary (if boundary at all) between the sacred and the secular (Bradley 2005;Brück 1999;Insoll 2004). If ritual pervades all aspects of life {Bnjck 1999 ;Hodder 1982a;Moore 1986), from social encounters to garbage deposition, then it is hard not to study it.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Without dwelling on this issue, we con- tend that a 'religious' interpretation of the otherwise incomprehensible archaeological evidence has little to say about how prehistoric people engaged with the world. Such terms as 'religion' and 'ritual' primarily represent a modern western tendency to make sense of artifacts and actions in terms of mechanical causality (Brück 1999). It is misleading to think that the modern religious/profane or symbolic/practical categories were of any significance in the Iron Age.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Thus, the Palokangas mound needs to be seen not as an expression of abstract beliefs but a means of 'living with the world'. In other words, it is illusory to think that the activities clustering around the Palokangas mound were 'symbolic' and 'expressive' as opposed to 'practical' and 'efficient' activities such as farming or hunting (see further , Gell 1988;Brück 1999;Ingold 2000).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%