93146 - Archaeology of Ritual (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will be familiar with the various ritual manifestations appearing in archaeological documentation, adopting a diachronic perspective and covering the different cultural and functional contexts in which ritual takes place (village, city, sanctuary, necropolis, trade). They will have learnt about anthropological, cultural and theoretical assumptions of ritual and its manifestations. They will know how to interpret a ritual phenomenon critically, placing it correctly in its proper context and analyzing it from the anthropological, cultural and social point of view.

Course contents

The course explores the archaeology of ritual from multiple perspectives, adopting a global and diachronic approach. It explores the social, cultural, and political roles that rituals played in past societies, examines how archaeologists identify, study, and interpret ritual practices and cults in the past, and reflects on the methodological challenges and interpretative pitfalls involved in the archaeological investigation of ritual.

The main topics addressed include:

• What is ritual?
  
• How do rituals work?
  
• Who makes rituals and why
  
• The materiality of ritual and cult
  
• Death, burial, and funerary ritual
• Ritual landscapes and sacred places
• Ritual, disaster, and resilience

The course adopts a theoretically informed perspective, drawing on recent developments in archaeology and anthropology, with particular attention to materiality, agency, embodiment, performance, and ritualisation.

Case studies range from prehistoric Europe and the classical Mediterranean to early and late medieval Europe, while also incorporating examples from world archaeology and ethnographic research to provide a broader comparative perspective.

Readings/Bibliography

The course includes one compulsory textbook and a minimum of three additional journal articles or book chapters, selected in consultation with the lecturer, according to the student’s interests.

All the references listed below are accessible via 'alma start'.

The compulsory textbook is:

• Insoll, T. 2004, Archaeology, Ritual, Religion, Routledge.

Optional radeagins include:

• Insoll, T. (ed) 2011, The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Ritual and Religion, Oxford University Press.
  
• Bradley, R. 2005, Ritual and Domestic Life in Prehistoric Europe, Routledge.
• Hodder, I. (ed) 2010, Religion in the Emergence of Civilization: Çatalhöyük as a Case Study, Cambridge University Press.
• Parker Pearson, M. 1999, The Archaeology of Death and Burial, Sutton.
• Tarlow, S. and Nilsson Stutz, L. (eds), 2013, The Oxford handbook of the archaeology of death and burial, Oxford University Press
• Hope, V.M. 2009, Roman Death: The Dying and the Dead in Ancient Rome, Continuum.
• Effros, B. 2003, Merovingian Mortuary Archaeology and the Making of the Early Middle Ages, University of California Press.
• Semple, S. 2013, Perceptions of the Prehistoric in Anglo-Saxon England: Religion, Ritual and Rulership in the Landscape, Oxford University Press
• Brück, J. 1999, 'Ritual and Rationality: Some Problems of Interpretation in European Archaeology',European Journal of Archaeology 2(3): 313–344. [https://doi.org/10.1179/eja.1999.2.3.313]
• Fogelin, L. 2007 'The Archaeology of Religious Ritual', Annual Review of Anthropology 36: 55–71. [https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.36.081406.094425]
• Fogelin L. and Schiffer M. B. 2015, 'Rites of Passage and Other Rituals in the Life Histories of Objects', Cambridge Archaeological Journal 25(4): 815–827. [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-archaeological-journal/article/rites-of-passage-and-other-rituals-in-the-life-histories-of-objects/EB6B7739709F87DF411E1F02375EE0EA]
• Driessen J. et al., 2021 'Revisiting the Minoan Palaces: Ritual Commensality at Sissi', Antiquity 95, [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/revisiting-the-minoan-palaces-ritual-commensality-at-sissi/273D82D32B3F132AA9D36F52724D5703]
• van Beek R. et al., 'Bogs, Bones and Bodies: The Deposition of Human Remains in Northern European Mires (9000 BC–AD 1900)', Antiquity 97 (2023). Publisher / DOI record [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/bogs-bones-and-bodies-the-deposition-of-human-remains-in-northern-european-mires-9000-bcad-1900/B90A16A211894CB87906A7BCFC0B2FC7]
• Bradley, R. 1991, 'Ritual, Time and History', World Archaeology23(2): 209–219.
• Bell, C, Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions, Oxford University Press, 1997.
• Rappaport, R. A., 1999 Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity, Cambridge University Press
  

Teaching methods

The course is designed around frontal lessons and seminars. Every few lectures, the class includes a 1-hour discussion slot on the topics covered (seminar). During those seminars, students will present and discuss selected scientific contributions listed above. Participation to such sessions is strongly recommended, as it is an integral part of teaching and assessment.

Assessment methods

Assessment will include: a) attendance and contribution to the course and the seminar sessions, b) a 10-min presentation agreed with the teacher during the course c) an oral exam and/or a final written essay to be agreed with the course organiser.

For non-attending students, the final exam will be previously agreed with the teacher.

Exams sessions will be held monthly from September to June.

USE OF AI:
AI may be used as a supportive tool for individual study, including for further exploration of course topics, summarisation, and self-assessment. With regard to assessment, limited, transparent, and non-substantive use of AI is permitted for support activities (e.g. summarisation and rephrasing). The substantive use of AI to complete any part of an assessed task is not permitted.

 

Teaching tools

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Forlin