Sacred Darkness: A Global Perspective on the Ritual Use of Caves - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1607323605 ISBN 13: 9781607323600

Verlag: University Press of Colorado, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

Caves have been used in various ways across human society, but despite the persistence within popular culture of the iconic caveman, deep caves were never used primarily as habitation sites for early humans. Rather, in both ancient and contemporary contexts, caves have served primarily as ritual spaces. In Sacred Darkness, contributors use archaeological evidence as well as ethnographic studies of modern ritual practices to envision the cave as place of spiritual and ideological power that emerges as a potent venue for ritual practice.

Covering the ritual use of caves in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, Mesoamerica, and the US Southwest and Eastern woodlands, this book brings together case studies by prominent scholars whose research spans from the Paleolithic period to the present day. These contributions demonstrate that cave sites are as fruitful as surface contexts in promoting the understanding of both ancient and modern religious beliefs and practices.

This state-of-the-art survey of ritual cave use will be one of the most valuable resources for understanding the role of caves in studies of religion, sacred landscape, or cosmology and a must-read for any archaeologist interested in caves.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Holley Moyes is an associate professor of anthropology and affiliate member of cognitive and information sciences at the University of California, Merced.

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Sacred Darkness

A Global Perspective on the Ritual Use of Caves

By Holley Moyes

University Press of Colorado

Copyright © 2012 University Press of Colorado
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-60732-360-0

Contents

List of Figures, 
List of Tables, 
Preface, 
Note on Radiocarbon Dating, 
Introduction Holley Moyes, 
Part I: Old World Ritual Cave Traditions, 
1. Ritual Cave Use in European Paleolithic Caves Jean Clottes, 
2. Constructed Caves: Transformations of the Underworld in Prehistoric Southeast Italy Robin Skeates, 
3. Caves of the Living, Caves of the Dead: Experiences Above and Below Ground in Prehistoric Malta Simon K.F. Stoddart and Caroline A.T. Malone, 
4. Landscapes of Ritual, Identity, and Memory: Reconsidering Neolithic and Bronze Age Cave Use in Crete, Greece Peter Tomkins, 
5. Caves and the Funerary Landscape of Prehistoric Britain Andrew T. Chamberlain, 
6. The Subterranean Landscape of the Southern Levant during the Chalcolithic Period Yorke M. Rowan And David Ilan, 
7. The Chamber of Secrets: Grottoes, Caves, and the Underworld in Ancient Egyptian Religion Stuart Tyson Smith, 
8. Caves as Sacred Spaces on the Tibetan Plateau Mark Aldenderfer, 
9. Differential Australian Cave and Rockshelter Use during the Pleistocene and Holocene Paul S.C. Taçon, Wayne Brennan, Matthew Kelleher, and Dave Pross, 
Part II: New World Ritual Cave Traditions, 
10. Caves as Sacred Space in Mesoamerica Holley Moyes and James E. Brady, 
11. Footsteps in the Dark Zone: Ritual Cave Use in Southwest Prehistory Scott Nicolay, 
12. Forty Years' Pursuit of Human Prehistory in the World Underground Patty Jo Watson, 
13. A New Overview of Prehistoric Cave Art in the Southeast Jan F. Simek, Alan Cressler, and Joseph Douglas, 
14. Reevaluating Cave Records: The Case for Ritual Caves in the Eastern United States Cheryl Claassen, 
15. Ceremonial Use of Caves and Rockshelters in Ohio Olaf H. Prufer and Keith M. Prufer, 
16. The Ritual Use of Caves and Rockshelters in Ozark Prehistory George Sabo III, Jerry E. Hilliard, and Jami J. Lockhart, 
Part III: Case Studies in Ritual Cave Use, 
17. The Prehistoric Funerary Archaeology of the Niah Caves, Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo) Graeme Barker And Lindsay Lloyd-Smith, 
18. Recognizing Ritual in the Dark: Nakovana Cave and the End of the Adriatic Iron Age Timothy Kaiser And Staso Forenbaher, 
19. Sacred Spaces, Sacred Species: Zooarchaeological Perspectives on Ritual Uses of Caves Joanna E.P. Appleby and Preston T. Miracle, 
20. Ritual Cave Use in the Bahamas Robert S. Carr, William C. Schaffer, Jeff B. Ransom, and Michael P. Pateman, 
Part IV: Ethnographic and Ethnohistoric Studies, 
21. Caves in Ireland: Archaeology, Myth, and Folklore Patrick McCafferty, 
22. Caves in Black and White: The Case of Zimbabwe Terence Ranger, 
23. Where the Wild Things Are: An Exploration of Sacrality, Danger, and Violence in Confined Spaces Sandra Pannell And Sue O'Connor, 
24. Ritual Uses of Caves in West Malaysia Joseph J. Hobbs, 
25. A Quantitative Literature Survey Regarding the Uses and Perceptions of Caves among Nine Indigenous Andean Societies Nathan Craig, 
26. Caves and Related Sites in the Great Plains of North America Donald J. Blakeslee, 
Part V: New Approaches, 
27. Civilizing the Cave Man: Diachronic and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Cave Ritual Andrea Stone, 
28. Caves and Spatial Constraint: The Prehistoric Implications Ezra B.W. Zubrow, 
29. Why Dark Zones Are Sacred: Turning to Behavioral and Cognitive Science for Answers Daniel R. Montello And Holley Moyes, 
List of Contributors, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Ritual Cave Use in European Paleolithic Caves

Jean Clottes

* * *

This chapter examines evidence for ritual Paleolithic cave use in Europe. It begins with a case for limited ritual use of a deep cave by Neanderthals prior to the Upper Paleolithic and the arrival of modern humans in the area. Numerous examples of caves used for rock art by modern humans date from about 38,000 to 11,000 BP, and extend from the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula to the Urals in Russia. Burials are rare at that time in painted or engraved caves (Cussac in the Dordogne, Vilhonneur in the Charente). On the other hand, many activities took place in caves and left abundant evidence that must be interpreted with caution to be able to work out whether they may be considered ritual behaviors, and to discover whatever additional information these data can bring us about the people who frequented the deep painted caves. Remains range from footprints on the ground to fires and their attendant debris (charcoal, burnt bones), from mobiliary art — which can be related (or not) to the wall art — to deliberate gestures and actions, such as breaking and using concretions, sticking bits of bones into cracks or cave- bear bones into cave floors, and making scratches on the walls. Such traces and remains are nowhere better preserved than in deep caves and are apt to bring invaluable information about ritual cave use tens of thousands of years ago.

A recent book on The Human Use of Caves (Bonsall and Tolan-Smith 1997) deals with many of the issues in point and presents a wealth of information and observations on which it will be necessary to dwell. First, we must explain precisely what we mean by cave. In the above-cited book, as in many other cases, the word cave is used indiscriminately by various authors. It can mean either rockshelters, where activities take place in the natural light of the day, or deep passages and chambers that truly pertain to the subterranean world. For clarity's sake, it is only the latter that should properly be called caves. To avoid misunderstandings, all cavities in the rock where in the daytime it is possible to see and to move about without the help of such artificial lighting as torches or grease lamps should and will be called shelters. Such a definition includes the entrances to deeper caves, often used as shelters.

Another central point is the definition of ritual. Actions evidenced as ritual in caves by Tolan-Smith and Bonsall include art, votive deposits, and burials. The authors also state that "some activities may be described, rather loosely, as economic. These include ... the acquisition of raw materials such as workable stone, minerals, water and chemicals," while acknowledging that "we know from ethnography, ethnohistory and everyday experience that many aspects of economic behaviour have a ritual dimension, while ritual behaviour can often have an economic aspect." They add that "deep caves are rarely used at all and then only for ritual purposes" (Bonsall and Tolan-Smith 1997, 217).

Now, in traditional societies — such as those of hunter-gatherers — it could be argued that everything is ritual (or that nothing is). What we call the supernatural world is immanent to what we call the real, everyday world. In Australia, traditional Aranta hunters used to make drawings on rocks before going hunting. When asked why they were doing this by ethnologist Lewis Mountford, they were quite astounded at the silliness of the question and replied, "But how can we go hunting if we do not paint first?" Drawing an animal on the rock — which for us might be a ritual act — was obviously for them as much a part of the hunting process as preparing their weapons and stalking the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: University Press of Colorado
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1607323605
• ISBN 13: 9781607323600
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 410
• Herausgeber: Moyes Holley
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland