|
Showing 1 - 3 of
3 matches in All Departments
Caves and rockshelters in Europe have traditionally been associated
with prehistory, and in some regions cave archaeology has become
synonymous with the Palaeolithic. However, there is abundant
evidence that caves and rockshelters were important foci for
activities in historic times. During the medieval period (here
taken as AD 500–1500), caves were used for short-term shelter,
habitation, specialised craft activities, storage, as hideaways and
for tending animals, and also for religious purposes. Caves and
Ritual in Medieval Europe, AD 500–1500 focuses on this neglected
field of research face=Calibri>– the ritual and religious use
of caves. It draws together interdisciplinary studies by leading
specialists from across Europe: from Iberia to Crimea, and from
Malta to northern Norway. The different religions and rituals in
this vast area are unified by the use of caves and rockshelters,
indicating that the beliefs in these natural places
face=Calibri>– and in the power of the underworld – were
deeply embedded in many different religious practices. Christianity
was widespread and firmly established in most of Europe at this
time, and many of the contributions deal with different types of
Christian practices, such as the use of rock-cut churches,
unmodified caves for spiritual retreat, caves reputedly visited by
saints, and caves as places for burials. But parallel to this, some
caves were associated with localised popular religious practices,
which sometimes had pre-Christian origins. Muslims in Iberia used
caves for spiritual retreat, and outside the Christian domain in
northern Europe, caves and rockshelters were places for carving
symbols among Pictish groups, places for human burial, for bear
burials amongst the Sámi, and places for crafting and votive
deposition for Norse populations.
Caves in Context provides the thriving inter-disciplinary field of
cave studies with a European-scale survey of current research in
cave archaeology. It is unified by a contemporary theoretical
emphasis on the cultural significance and diversity of caves over
space and time. Caves and rockshelters are found all over Europe,
and have frequently been occupied by human groups, from prehistory
right up to the present day. Some appear to have only traces of
short occupations, while others contain deep cultural deposits,
indicating longer and multiple occupations. Above all, there is
great variability in their human use, both secular and sacred. The
aim of this book is to explore the multiple significances of these
natural places in a range of chronological, spatial, and cultural
contexts across Europe. The volume demonstrates, through a
diversity of archaeological approaches and examples, that cave
studies, whist necessarily focussed, can also be of significance to
wider, contemporary, archaeological research agendas, particularly
when a contextual approach is adopted. The book is also of
relevance to other scholars working in the related fields of
speleology, earth sciences, landscape studies, and anthropology,
which together comprise the inter-disciplinary field of cave
studies.
During the transition to the early Neolithic, a number of changes
took place among the hunter-fishers of southern Norway. One of the
most important social changes may have been the development of more
marked ethnic boundaries, which were related to increasing social
inequality among the local groups. In this study, the main theme is
the investigation of whether such ethnic boundaries can be
delineated. The author identifies them archaeologically, and
discusses how and why they were established and maintained.
|
You may like...
Catan
(16)
R1,150
R889
Discovery Miles 8 890
|