From sacred site to monumental sanctuary : how the perception and manipulation of the landscape affected religious experience in Iron Age Central Adriatic Italy
This thesis explores the sacred landscape and ritual practices of Iron Age people living in the Marche and bordering regions of Central Adriatic Italy. It achieves this by examining the evidence of votive deposits of figurines and pottery in contexts associated with particular 'natural' features of the landscape, namely, water sources, caves and mountain peaks. Phenomenologies of these places/sites are constructed in order to understand how people using them perceived their landscape and manipulated it in order to meet their religious needs. The relationships between these places and the broader landscape are assessed, where 'landscape' means the physical landscape of this Central Adriatic region, which includes the patterns created by geology, vegetation and climate, as well as by human settlement, such as sites of habitation, cemeteries and routes of communication. Issues regarding how to use phenomenology and whether it is a valid methodology are addressed. Investigation is made into the interrelationships between the landscapes of Iron Age Central Adriatic Italy, the material culture pertaining to religion and the people who interacted with these, in order to write a history of the religion of the 'Picenes'.
Betts, Eleanor
From sacred site to monumental sanctuary : how the perception and manipulation of the landscape affected religious experience in Iron Age Central Adriatic Italy. This thesis explores the sacred landscape and ritual practices of Iron Age people living in the Marche and bordering regions of Central Adriatic Italy. It achieves this by examining the evidence of votive deposits of figurines and pottery in contexts associated with particular 'natural' features of the landscape, namely, water sources, caves and mountain peaks. Phenomenologies of these places/sites are constructed in order to understand how people using them perceived their landscape and manipulated it in order to meet their religious needs. The relationships between these places and the broader landscape are assessed, where 'landscape' means the physical landscape of this Central Adriatic region, which includes the patterns created by geology, vegetation and climate, as well as by human settlement, such as sites of habitation, cemeteries and routes of communication. Issues regarding how to use phenomenology and whether it is a valid methodology are addressed. Investigation is made into the interrelationships between the landscapes of Iron Age Central Adriatic Italy, the material culture pertaining to religion and the people who interacted with these, in order to write a history of the religion of the 'Picenes'.
sacred site monumental sanctuary perception manipulation landscape affect religious_experience iron_age central adriatic italy explore sacred_landscape ritual_practice iron_age people_live border region central adriatic italy achieve examine evidence votive deposit figurine pottery contexts associate particular natural feature landscape namely water_source cave mountain peak places sites construct order people use perceived landscape manipulate order meet religious need relationship place broad landscape assess landscape mean physical_landscape central adriatic region include pattern create geology vegetation climate well human_settlement sit habitation cemetery rout communication issues regard use phenomenology whether valid address investigation make interrelationship landscape iron_age central adriatic italy material_culture pertain religion people_interact order write_history religion