Ritual and Rationality

Some Problems of Interpretaton in European Archaeology

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7988643
AutoresJoanna Brück (0000-0001-8942-5504, University College Dublin, autor de correspondencia)
Año1999
Volumen2
Número3
Páginas313-344
Fecha de publicación1999-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEuropean Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1461-9571 • E-ISSN: 1741-2722
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/146195719900200303
OpenAlexW4235685894
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas31

This paper argues that the conception of ritual employed in both archaeology and anthropology is a product of post Enlightenment rationalism. Because it does not meet modern western criteria for practical action, ritual is frequently described as non-functional and irrational; further-more, this designation is employed as the primary way of identifying ritual archaeologically. However, this evaluation of ritual action must be questioned. Contemporary modes of categorizing human practice are not untainted by socio-political interest but enable the reproduction of certain forms of power. It is argued that many other societies do not distinguish ritual from secular action. In fact, what anthropologists identify as ritual is generally considered practical and effective action by its practitioners. This is because different conceptions of instrumentality and causation inform such activities. For archaeologists, use of the concept of ritual has resulted in a serious misapprehension of prehistoric rationality such that 'secular' activities (for example subsistence practices) are assumed to be governed by a universally-applicable functionalist logic. In order to address this problem, what is required is an approach that explores the essential difference between prehistoric rationality and our own notions of what is effective action. A discussion of some finds from middle Bronze Age settlements in southern England will provide a working example of how one might begin to move towards this goal

Action (physics · Archaeology · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Irrational number · Political science · Politics · Prehistoric archaeology · Prehistory · Rationalism · Rationality · Sociology · Subsistence agriculture · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History · Law · Philosophy