The Power of Ritual in Prehistory
Secret Societies and Origins of Social Complexity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7100326 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Brian Hayden (0000-0002-8524-7373) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Publication date | 2018-09-13 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | BOOK |
| Venue | Power of Ritual in Prehistory (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1017/9781108572071 |
| OpenAlex | W2786560319 |
| Open Library | OL34733751M |
| ISBN | 9781108572071 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 55 |
| References cited | 169 |
The Power of Ritual in Prehistory is the first book in nearly a century to deal with traditional secret societies from a comparative perspective and the first from an archaeological viewpoint. Providing a clear definition, as well as the material signatures, of ethnographic secret societies, Brian Hayden demonstrates how they worked, what motivated their organizers, and what tactics they used to obtain what they wanted. He shows that far from working for the welfare of their communities, traditional secret societies emerged as predatory organizations operated for the benefit of their own members. Moreover, and contrary to the prevailing ideas that prehistoric rituals were used to integrate communities, Hayden demonstrates how traditional secret societies created divisiveness and inequalities. They were one of the key tools for increasing political control leading to chiefdoms, states, and world religions. Hayden's conclusions will be eye-opening, not only for archaeologists, but also for anthropologists, political scientists, and scholars of religion
Archaeology · Art · Chiefdom · Ethnography · Ethnology · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Prehistory · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · History · Law · Geheimbund · Indigenes Volk · Initiation · Prehistoric peoples · Prehistoric Rites and ceremonies · Primitive societies · rites and ceremonies · Secret societies · Social archaeology · Social structure
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“Skyscape Archaeology Keynote Lectures”, Organised by the Sophia Centre, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Spring 2020
Différences de richesse et inégalités sociales au Paléolithique
Foragers or « Feasters ? » Inequalities in the Upper Palaeolithic
Interpreting context and chronology of Cahokia-Caddo mythic female stone figures
The origins of engraved marine shell cups, copper repoussé plates, and ritual centers
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Traditional architectural mud huts in Africa
The Transformation of Social Institutions in the North American Southeast
Re-imagining the Teaching of European History
Time, ritual, and bayesian reasoning
Narratives of inequality. Towards an archaeology of structural violence in Late Iron Age Scandinavia
The Role of Palaeolithic Cave-Art
The Trade Theory of Money
Campaniforme o no Campaniforme
The Anthropology and Archaeology of Pueblo Secret Societies
Contrasting strategies
Warrior institutions and martial networks in Viking-Age Scandinavia
Franz Boas’ Postulate of the Warfare Origin of Secret Societies and Myths about the “Culture Heroˮ and the “Tricksterˮ in North America
Mediating worlds
Dance Scenes in Levantine Rock Art (Spain)
Early platform mound communalism and co-option in the American Southeast
Chips off the Block
El Edificio de los Betilos (Castro de Elviña, A Coruña)
An Ethnological Analogy and Biogenetic Model for Interpretation of Religion and Ritual in the Past
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A Deceptive Curing Practice in Hunter–Gatherer Societies
An Upper Palaeolithic Proto-writing System and Phenological Calendar
Dynamic Houses and Communities at Çatalhöyük
Staying Egalitarian and the Origins of Agriculture in the Middle East
Communal versus Competitive Feasting
Disguises and the Origins of Clothing
No easy way from the earth to the stars
New Book Chronicle
Archaeology of the Waiat mysteries on Woeydhul Island in Western Torres Strait
Against Method
Secret Societies and encrypted dancing scenes from the Halafian culture of the proto-historic Near East
Anarchy, institutional flexibility, and containment of authority at Poverty Point (USA)
Embedded religiousness and the Kotosh religious tradition in highland Peru
Archaeological Pitfalls of Storage
Studying hazing as an anthropologist
A Datura Ritual Complex in the Mississippian Southeast
Are Burials Socially Integrative? The Natufian Case
Prehistoric Environment and Settlement in the Azraq Basin
The Prehistory of Music
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The Natufian of the Azraq Basin
The Archaeology of Rank
Images from the Underworld
From Foraging to Agriculture
Montane Foragers
Collective Action in the Formation of Pre-Modern States
The Language of Secrecy
Pathways to Power
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Cannibalism in the Neolithic
Early Neanderthal constructions deep in Bruniquel Cave in southwestern France
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Early evidence ( ca. 12,000 B.P.) for feasting at a burial cave in Israel
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‘Tufala kev blong devil’
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A Reexamination of Simmel's "The Secret and the Secret Society"
The Nature and Functions of Secret Societies1
Ritual, Hierarchy, and Change in Foraging Societies
Negotiating Equality through Ritual
Nimrods, piscators, pluckers, and planters
Prehistoric Rites of Passage
Death, Mortuary Ritual, and Natufian Social Structure
Ritual Control and Transformation in Middle-Range Societies
Secret Societies and Secret Collectives
The Enigma of Minor Standstills
Chimney Rock and the Ontology of Skyscapes
Animate Objects
Reassessing the Emergence of Village Life in the Near East
Recent Research on Chaco
The distribution, natural habitats and availability of wild cereals in relation to their domestication in the Near East
Los santuarios religiosos en la economía regional andina (Cusco)
La grotte ornée de Cussac - Le Buisson-de-Cadouin (Dordogne)
From Big Houses to Cult Houses
The Social Origins of Cooking and Dining in Early Villages of Western Asia
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Indians of North America
The Mishongnovi ceremonies of the Snake and Antelope fraternities
Les Paléolithiques utilisaient-ils les plumes
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Consolidation and Hierarchy
Alliances and Ritual Ecstasy
Managing the risk of climatic variability in late prehistoric northern Chile
Some Observations on European Witchcraft
Cannibalism in prehistoric Europe
Beyond Art
The Role of Ritual Variability in Social Negotiations of Early Communities
How Chiefs Come to Power
The Use of Land and Water Resources in the Past and Present Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico
The origins of sedentism and farming communities in the Levant
A Re-Evaluation of Burial Customs in the Pre- Pottery Neolithic B in light of Paleodemographic Analysis of the Human Remains from Kfar HaHoresh, Israel
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Des crânes et des vautours ou la guerre oubliée
Funerals As Feasts
Everyday Practice and Ritual Space
Constituting Animacy and Community in a Terminal Formative Bundled Offering from the Coast of Oaxaca, Mexico
Public Transcripts Expressed in Theatres of Cruelty
Mide Rock-paintings
Neolithization in Southwest Asia in a Context of Niche Construction Theory
Tracking in Caves
Big Man, Big Heart? A Mesoamerican View of the Emergence of Complex Society
Process and Agency in Early State Formation
Astronomy in the Upper Palaeolithic
Envisioning Power
Ritual and Ideology in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the Levant and Southeast Anatolia
Crafts and the Materialization of Chiefly Power in Nasca
Politics and Ritual in Large Villages in Santarém, Lower Amazon, Brazil
The Power of Feasts
Upper Palaeolithic ritualistic cannibalism at Gough's Cave (Somerset, UK)
Les modifications artificielles sur l'os humain
Symbols, Song, Dance and Features of Articulation Is religion an extreme form of traditional authority
The dead of Stonehenge
Evidence for cave marking by Palaeolithic children
Buried with turtles
Cultural spaces inside and outside caves
Agency, art and altered consciousness
The role of cult and feasting in the emergence of Neolithic communities. New evidence from Göbekli Tepe, south-eastern Turkey
Cleaning the dead
The oldest maritime sanctuary? Dating the sanctuary at Keros and the Cycladic Early Bronze Age
The Catacombs of Anubis at North Saqqara
A place of pilgrimage? Niuheliang and its role in Hongshan society
Unpacking Hopi "Clans," II
| Unique citing works | 55 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 6,11 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 55 |