Ritual in prehistory : definition and identification : religious insights in early prehistoric Cyprus
Prehistoric archaeology has had major difficulties in identifying ritual practices. The history of archaeological approaches ranges from a total repudiation of the capability of the discipline to recognise and analyse ritual activities in the past, to absolute acceptance of all identified prehistoric patterns as ritual. Even within a postmodern apprehension of the world, where deconstruction of all established perceptions seems to have reached an end point, prehistoric archaeology has never successfully constructed a notion of ritual in prehistory. Acknowledging that ritual definition and identification is a problem of the modern western archaeologist, this thesis identifies the root of the problem in methods of thinking deeply rooted in western civilization, in our cultural schemata, and in approaches to archaeology that only superficially observe the problem rather than confront and resolve it. In seeking a resolution, this work proposes a structural dismantling of the problem and its recomposition from its basics. The thesis proposes a middle-range theory based on structuralism and pragmatics and a method of meticulous contextual and relational analysis for the identification and interpretation of ritual
Koutrafouri, Vasiliki G.
Archaeology
Ritual in prehistory : definition and identification : religious insights in early prehistoric Cyprus. Prehistoric archaeology has had major difficulties in identifying ritual practices. The history of archaeological approaches ranges from a total repudiation of the capability of the discipline to recognise and analyse ritual activities in the past, to absolute acceptance of all identified prehistoric patterns as ritual. Even within a postmodern apprehension of the world, where deconstruction of all established perceptions seems to have reached an end point, prehistoric archaeology has never successfully constructed a notion of ritual in prehistory. Acknowledging that ritual definition and identification is a problem of the modern western archaeologist, this thesis identifies the root of the problem in methods of thinking deeply rooted in western civilization, in our cultural schemata, and in approaches to archaeology that only superficially observe the problem rather than confront and resolve it. In seeking a resolution, this work proposes a structural dismantling of the problem and its recomposition from its basics. The thesis proposes a middle-range theory based on structuralism and pragmatics and a method of meticulous contextual and relational analysis for the identification and interpretation of ritual
ritual prehistory definition identification religious insight early prehistoric cyprus prehistoric_archaeology major difficulty_identify ritual_practice history archaeological_approach range total repudiation capability discipline recognise analyse ritual_activity past absolute acceptance identify prehistoric pattern ritual even within postmodern apprehension world deconstruction establish perception seem end_point prehistoric_archaeology never successfully construct notion ritual prehistory ritual definition identification problem modern_western archaeologist identifies root problem method think deeply_root western_civilization cultural schema approach_archaeology superficially observe problem rather confront resolve seek resolution work proposes structural dismantle problem basic proposes middle range theory base structuralism pragmatic method contextual relational analysis identification_interpretation ritual