Between Rocks and ‘High Places’: On Religious Architecture in the Iron Age Southern Levant

Diederik J H Halbertsma,Bruce Routledge

doi:10.3390/rel12090740

Abstract

In this paper we examine why common methodologies for determining ‘religious architecture’ do not account for the diverse and fluid ways in which religious behavior can be expressed. We focus on religious architecture from the Iron Age Southern Levant highlighting certain sites that ‘fall through the cracks’ of current taxonomies. We propose a different way of approaching evidence for religious practice in the archaeological record, viewing religion as one dimension of social action made visible along a spectrum of ritualization.

Highlights

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
It may seem perverse to contribute to a special issue on religious architecture without offering any clear examples of religious architecture
If we take engagement with the metaphysical as a constant and focus instead on where, how and to what degree it is made visible by ritualization, religious architecture becomes not a set of universal attributes but one of many strategies of ritualization

Summary

Introduction

Rocks and ‘High Places’: On. Religious Architecture in the Iron Age. Southern Levant. Academic Editors: Sharon Steadman, Nicola Laneri and Marica Cassis. Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations

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Conclusion