The Encyclopedia of World Religions

archaeology and religion S 27

is, “How old is it?” Several methods help them. Unless a site is disturbed, more recent material lies on top of older material. Identifying the different layers of material in a site is known as stratigra phy. It provides a relative chronology—an idea of what is older and what is younger. Analyzing tree rings from wooden objects can provide a relative chronology, too. In the second half of the 20th century archaeologists developed sophisticated physical tests for establishing actual dates. The most widely known is radiocarbon dating. It dates items that were alive within the last 40,000 years by measuring the amount of radioactive carbon they contain. In the first half of the 20th century archaeolo gists were interested in major artifacts such as tem ples and palaces. Besides developing methods of dating, they classified material remains according to types, for example, types of jars and oil lamps. Their ideas about religion generally reflected the ideas of the time, such as DYNAMISM ; many scholars today question those ideas. In the 1960s a so-called “new archaeology” arose. This kind of archaeology used statistics to analyze material remains, often those associated with everyday life. In doing so, it applied models of religion and society that sociologists and anthropologists had developed. The results were intriguing, but sometimes controversial. Archaeology provides the only hard evidence avail able for PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS . That is because prehis tory is defined as “before the invention of writing.” It is possible to read too much into this evi dence. In 1956, Horace Miner published a good example in the journal, The American Anthropolo gist. He claimed to be analyzing the “We’uns.” They lived in a place called “Nacirema.” What he actually did was apply archaeological language to artifacts common in American society at the time. (“Nacirema” is American spelled backwards.) The results were amusing. They also pointed out a very real danger: People of today may seriously misin terpret artifacts from the past because they make assumptions about them that simply do not hold. ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF RELIGIONS

ally Thomas’s teachings became more or less the official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

archaeology and religion The study of objects that human beings made and used in the past, and the ways in which that study affects scholars’ understanding of religions and the claims religions make. WHAT IS ARCHAEOLOGY? Religious people have been interested in artifacts from the past for a long time. For example, in the eighth century B . C . E . people in Greece began to WORSHIP heroes ( see HEROES AND HERO MYTHS ) at tombs from the Mycenaean period (ended roughly 1100 B . C . E .). But archaeology is the systematic, sci entific study of the things people made and used in the past. It has roots in grave-robbing and trea sure-hunting. It also has roots in the sensational excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum, Italy, that began in the 18th century, and of Troy and Mycenae in the 19th century. In the 20th century scientific archaeology came into its own. Archaeologists study artifacts in several differ ent ways. Sometimes they make field surveys, that is, they note what kinds of remains are visible on the Earth’s surface. Often archaeologists undertake limited excavations. They dig trenches at places where they know or suspect human beings lived. To excavate an entire site is costly and time-con suming. It may also be a bad idea. Such excavation destroys evidence that later archaeologists, with new and better tools, might also be able to study. The first archaeologists were interested in art treasures, valuable materials such as gold, and sensational headlines. With time, archaeologists learned that careful study of the simplest remains might teach them more. Remains are most signifi cant if the precise location where they were found is known. As a result, archaeology is not the ran dom digging of treasure hunters. It is a painstak ing removal of detritus. The site and its objects are carefully mapped every step of the way. In analyzing the materials uncovered, one of the first questions archaeologists must answer