The Archaeological Study of Sacrifice

Schwartz, Glenn M.

doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-102116-041434

Cited by 28 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 102 publications

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“…A sacrifice without a recipient: defining retainer sacrifice The death of the slave girl forms a more or less obligatory part of any discussion of the reality of human sacrifice in Viking Age funerary rituals (Duczko 2004;Hraundal 2013;McLeod 2018;Näsström 2001;Price 2008;Steinsland 2005), and yet it is not without its challenges. In theory, sacrificial schema tend to be directed towards a higher power, designed to alleviate, obtain or avoid certain outcomes (Bourdillon 1980;Green 1999;Hubert & Mauss 1964;Schwartz 2017). The killing of a companion in a burial ritual falls under a slightly different heading which does not immediately fit with the classical definition of making sacred that the word sacrifice literally means (Hubert & Mauss 1964).…”

Section: Gendered Biases and Academic Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agents of Death: Reassessing Social Agency and Gendered Narratives of Human Sacrifice in the Viking Age

Moen¹,

Walsh²

2021

CAJ

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This article seeks to approach the famous tenth-century account of the burial of a chieftain of the Rus, narrated by the Arab traveller Ibn Fadlan, in a new light. Placing focus on how gendered expectations have coloured the interpretation and subsequent archaeological use of this source, we argue that a new focus on the social agency of some of the central actors can open up alternative interpretations. Viewing the source in light of theories of human sacrifice in the Viking Age, we examine the promotion of culturally appropriate gendered roles, where women are often depicted as victims of male violence. In light of recent trends in theoretical approaches where gender is foregrounded, we perceive that a new focus on agency in such narratives can renew and rejuvenate important debates.

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Section: Gendered Biases and Academic Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agents of Death: Reassessing Social Agency and Gendered Narratives of Human Sacrifice in the Viking Age

Moen¹,

Walsh²

2021

CAJ

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“…There are multiple human-to-human reasons for performing rituals involving cattle, sheep, and goats. The assumed connection to divinities or “superhuman entities” is a cultural imposition (Schwartz 2017 ). Divine transcendence is not a universal cognitive category.…”

Section: Livestock Cattle In Ritual Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Dark Side Archaeology: Climate Change and Mid-Holocene Saharan Pastoral Adaptation

Holl

2020

Afr Archaeol Rev

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High-resolution paleoenvironmental research allows us to pinpoint the tempo and amplitude of past climate changes. Abrupt climate events have axiomatically triggered cascades of adjustments, in vegetation, fauna, humans, and pathogens. This essay focuses on the abrupt end of the African Humid Episode (9000-6000 cal BP), ca. 5000 cal BP in the Sahara. Neolithic pastoralists, practicing transhumance between sandy lowlands and Saharan mountains, adopted new cultural practices: cattle burials and livestock bone deposits in built installations. Their ritual nature is indisputable. But ritual for what? If considered from the perspective of livestock zoonoses, such practices may point to the "dark side" of cultural adjustments-strategies to counter human and livestock diseases. Livestock zoonoses are constant sources of emerging infectious diseases (EID) in the present, as they were in the past. Sustained research on livestock and human health are of paramount importance given the accelerating rate of world urbanization. Résumé La haute résolution des recherches paléoenvironnementales actuelles permet de préciser la chronologie et l'amplitude précises des changements climatiques passés. Axiomatiquement, de brusques changements climatiques ont déclenché des cascades d'ajustements, de la végétation, la faune, les humains et les agents pathogènes. Cet article porte sur la fin abrupte de l'Episode Humide Africain (9000-6000 Cal yr BP), autour de 5000 calBP dans le Sahara. Les pasteurs néolithiques, transhumant entre les basses terres sablonneuses et les montagnes sahariennes, ont adopté de nouvelles pratiques culturelles: enterrements de bétail et dépôts de leurs os dans des installations construites. Leur nature rituelle est incontestable. Mais rituel pour Quoi? Si elles sont prises en considération du point de vue des zoonoses du bétail, de telles pratiques peuvent indiquer le « côté obscur » des ajustements culturels, des stratégies de lutte contre les maladies humaines et du bétail. Les zoonoses sont des sources constantes de maladies infectieuses émergentes [EID] dans le présent, ainsi que dans le passé, en effet. En raison de l'urbanisation acceleree, les recherches soutenues sur la santé humaine et du bétail sont d'une importance capitale.

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“…Prominent foci for studies of ritual were feasting (Anderson and Cook ; Dietrich, Notroff, and Schmidt ; Gamble ; Hansen ) and sacrifice (Cheung et al. ; Schwartz ). Many archaeologists in 2017 explored alternate concepts of time and the role of memory in past societies (Hamilakis ; Haskell and Stawski ; Mixter ; Mixter and Henry ; Morehart ; Overholtzer and Bolnick ; Pool and Loughlin ; Sinamai ; Van Dyke ; VanValkenburgh ; Yao ).…”

Section: Individuals and Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding Archaeology in 2017: What Is Archaeology and Why Are We Doing It? Why Should We Be Doing It?

Lewis

2018

American Anthropologist

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These annual review essays focus on what we as archaeologists are doing year by year. Many themes continue on from review to review, waxing and waning, not unlike the bell curves of a traditional pottery seriation.Each year, themes are highlighted and presented in varied ways according to the orientation and aims of the reviewer. All do a masterful job of curating the vast range of what archaeologists were, in each annual period, currently producing. My review follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, summarizing an array of new and exciting research, and describing how agendas presented in 2017 cluster around sets of related questions and aims. It will also look at the growing literature that asks, in one way or another, fundamental questions about what archaeology really is and why we pursue it. In this time when the value of academic pursuits and scientific perspectives are being highly scrutinized in politics and popular culture, archaeologists are faced with the uncomfortable question of "What is it, really, that we should be doing?" [archaeology, current issues, public archaeology, digital archaeology] RESUMEN Estos ensayos de revisión anual se enfocan en lo que como arqueólogos estamos haciendo año tras año. Muchos temas continúan de revisión en revisión, creciendo o menguando, no muy diferente de las curvas en forma de campana de la seriación de la cerámica tradicional. Cada año, temas son enfatizados y presentados de varias maneras de acuerdo a la orientación y metas del crítico. Todos hacen un trabajo magistral de organizar un rango vasto de lo que los arqueólogos estaban, en cada período anual, realmente produciendo. Mi revisión sigue los pasos de sus predecesores, resumiendo una colección de nueva y emocionante investigación, y describiendo cómo las agendas presentadas en el 2017 se agrupan alrededor de juegos de cuestiones y metas relacionadas.También examina la creciente literatura que pregunta, de una manera u otra, cuestiones fundamentales acerca de lo que la arqueología realmente es y por qué nos dedicamos a ella. En este tiempo cuando el valor de los empeños académicos y las perspectivas científicas están siendo altamente escrutados en política y cultura popular, los arqueólogos se enfrentan a la pregunta incomoda de "¿Qué es lo que realmente deberíamos estar haciendo?"[arqueología, cuestiones actuales, arqueología pública, arqueología digital] ARCHAEOLOGICAL FRAGMENTATION?While the theme of what such a diverse discipline should be subtly undergirds much of the literature, a number of 2017 articles, each in a very different way, directly address the very nature of what archaeology is and why we practice it. In the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Assaf Nativ (2017, 55) asks us to reconsider our notions of the

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The Archaeological Study of Sacrifice

Cited by 28 publications

References 102 publications

Agents of Death: Reassessing Social Agency and Gendered Narratives of Human Sacrifice in the Viking Age

Agents of Death: Reassessing Social Agency and Gendered Narratives of Human Sacrifice in the Viking Age

Dark Side Archaeology: Climate Change and Mid-Holocene Saharan Pastoral Adaptation

Finding Archaeology in 2017: What Is Archaeology and Why Are We Doing It? Why Should We Be Doing It?

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