(Pre)History and Religion
100 Historical Things, Number 42
A while ago I briefly posted a link to a story about Neolithic 'matches' being misinterpreted as phallic symbols with a religious context. It's a fun story,[1] but I also found it interesting because when archaeologists explain an item by way of a religious function, I am always immediately suspicious.
It seems to me that it is pretty common for items whose function is obscure to be explained by means of religion. Today I saw another story about Neolithic figures that 'might have been used good-luck statues to ensure a successful hunt', to quote the article.
But why do I find this all a bit fishy? Well, maybe I'm misunderstanding the concept of religion. I have an understanding of the term that is based on historically documented practices, where we have a good idea what's going on. Before writing - so in prehistory rather than history - of course we can't understand the exact context of an object in the same way as we could if we had records relating to its usage. So in prehistory, I suppose religion is a catch-all term for any practice that seems to involve decorative items or particular kinds of spaces that have no other obvious purpose.
But then, niggling at the back of my mind, I have this feeling that there must be more to prehistoric life than hunting + family life + shelter + religion. That an object might not be religious, it might be a toy or an ornament or even a match, with no perceived mystical significance. Calling in the religious explanation seems a bit of a cop out...
What do you think?
[1] Let's face it, misinterpretations are amusing in themselves. I saw this story as well today.
A while ago I briefly posted a link to a story about Neolithic 'matches' being misinterpreted as phallic symbols with a religious context. It's a fun story,[1] but I also found it interesting because when archaeologists explain an item by way of a religious function, I am always immediately suspicious.
It seems to me that it is pretty common for items whose function is obscure to be explained by means of religion. Today I saw another story about Neolithic figures that 'might have been used good-luck statues to ensure a successful hunt', to quote the article.
But why do I find this all a bit fishy? Well, maybe I'm misunderstanding the concept of religion. I have an understanding of the term that is based on historically documented practices, where we have a good idea what's going on. Before writing - so in prehistory rather than history - of course we can't understand the exact context of an object in the same way as we could if we had records relating to its usage. So in prehistory, I suppose religion is a catch-all term for any practice that seems to involve decorative items or particular kinds of spaces that have no other obvious purpose.
But then, niggling at the back of my mind, I have this feeling that there must be more to prehistoric life than hunting + family life + shelter + religion. That an object might not be religious, it might be a toy or an ornament or even a match, with no perceived mystical significance. Calling in the religious explanation seems a bit of a cop out...
What do you think?
[1] Let's face it, misinterpretations are amusing in themselves. I saw this story as well today.