Ritual Deposits Research Articles

A Miniature Cist from the Roman Villa at Warblington, Hampshire

ABSTRACTExcavations by Chichester and District Archaeology Society on the site of a Roman villa at Warblington, near Emsworth, Hampshire, revealed a small stone cist containing two lead packages. While interpretation as a burial is explored, it appears more likely that the cist and its contents represent a ritual deposit within a domestic structure.

Preclassic Maya Houses and Rituals: Excavations at the Karinel Group, Ceibal

The site of Ceibal was founded around the beginning of sedentary life in the Maya lowlands. Excavations at the Karinel Group within the site reveal domestic structures and ritual deposits dating to the Middle Preclassic, Late Preclassic, and Terminal Preclassic periods (c. 1000 BC–AD 300). The results complement data from Ceibal's Central Plaza and publications on early households in other regions of the lowlands, inviting future investigations of temporal and geographic variation in Preclassic Maya domestic rituals.

Technological Analysis and Source Provenance of Obsidian Artifacts from a Sun Pyramid Substructure Cache, Teotihuacan, Mexico

The following report provides new data on a Sun Pyramid cache excavated by René Millon in 1959, including confirmation that the cache was associated with a substructure. A technological analysis illustrates the anthropomorphic eccentric production sequence, and indicates that the miniature projectile points were produced from debitage from multiple reduction technologies. All obsidian artifacts were attributed to the Otumba source area via energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF). In addition to providing data on the production of obsidian implements for ritual deposits, we suggest that the cache may be a representation of scaffold sacrifice.

Candi Kimpulan (Central Java, Indonesia): Architecture and Consecration Rituals of a 9th-Century Hindu Temple

In December 2009, remains of a small Śiva sanctuary were found buried under several metres of volcanic material in the village of Kimpulan, on the southern slope of Mount Merapi. This discovery provides us with an unexpected glimpse into the architectural tradition and the ritual life of a 9th-century Javanese rural community. Not only is Kimpulan an exceptional example of mixed-materials architecture, but its relatively good state of preservation brings new clues to a recurring issue in Javanese archaeology: the function of secondary shrines in Śaiva context. The most remarkable find of the Kimpulan excavations certainly is the eighteen undisturbed ritual deposits discovered beneath the pavement and under the statues. This article presents and discusses these data, linking the Kimpulan deposits with two rituals known from Indian texts, namely the ratnanyāsa (installation of a statue/ liṅga) and the garbhanyāsa (temple consecration).

Plotting abandonment: Excavating a ritual deposit at the Wari site of Cerro Baúl

Ritual was an effective power building strategy in many archaic states and early empires. In this paper we describe the ritual abandonment of a palace residence at the Wari site of Cerro Baúl in southern Peru. This exclusive ritual event brought provincial and local elites together and included a funerary internment, feasting, and the intentional creation of numerous and varied offerings throughout the structure. We document the patterning and contents of these deposits including food animals, non-consumable and exotic animals, lithics, and broken ceramic vessels. We posit that lavish offerings such as the one we document here were sponsored by the state and communicated institutional facts to participants. Elements of these rituals may have been repeated across the Wari Empire and been integral to Wari institutions. As such, the study of ritual depositions and other patterned practices may be one means by which the presence of Wari elites or control by the Wari polity may be assessed through material remains. The features of ritual deposits may shed light on the strategies elites used to exert power over their subjects. This methodology may have broad application in the study of expansive polities in the Andes and elsewhere.

Een gehoorkapsel van een grijze walvis (Eschrichtius robustus) uit Wijster (Dr.)

A bulla tympanica of a grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) from Wijster (Dr.). 
 The animal remains from the native Roman-period village at Wijster (province of Drenthe) were published by Dr Anneke T. Clason in 1967. Most of the remains are poorly preserved cattle and horse bone fragments. About half of them come from animal graves in farmyards or along village roads, which most probably are ritual deposits. At the beginning of 2018, Ernst Taayke found among the material from a grave of a horse and a cow, animal grave 12, an unidentified bone, find number 1266, that he did not recognize. The bone was found to be a bulla tympanica of a grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus), a very rare find. Animal grave 12 was a ritual deposit in the yard of farmhouse 77, dated 3rd/4th century AD. In this paper we discuss how we established the whale species, the possible origin of the whale bone and the meaning of the whale bone in this ritual deposit of a horse and a cow.

The discovery of seven engraved La Tène glass beads from the sanctuary of Mathay-Mandeure

Analysis of seven newly discovered engraved La Tène beads from the Mathay-Mandeure sanctuary in Doubs, France, has refined the chronology for the manufacture of such rare artefacts, and increases our understanding of Late Iron Age ritual deposition practices.

A North American perspective on the Volgu Biface Cache from Upper Paleolithic France and its relationship to the “Solutrean Hypothesis” for Clovis origins

The “Solutrean hypothesis” for the origins of the North American Clovis Culture posits that early North American colonizers were direct descendants of European populations that migrated across the North Atlantic during the European Upper Paleolithic. The evidential basis for this model rests largely on proposed technological and behavioral similarities shared by the North American Clovis archaeological culture and the French and Iberian Solutrean archaeological culture. The caching of stone tools by both cultures is one of the specific behavioral correlates put forth by proponents in support of the hypothesis. While more than two dozen Clovis caches have been identified, Volgu is the only Solutrean cache identified at this time. Volgu consists of at least 15 exquisitely manufactured bifacial stone tools interpreted as an artifact cache or ritual deposit, and the artifacts themselves have long been considered exemplary of the most refined Solutrean bifacial technology. This paper reports the results of applying methods developed for the comparative analysis of the relatively more abundant caches of Clovis materials in North America to this apparently singular Solutrean cache. In addition to providing a window into Solutrean technology and perhaps into Upper Paleolithic ritual behavior, this comparison of Clovis and Solutrean assemblages serves to test one of the tangible archaeological implications of the “Solutrean hypothesis” by evaluating the technological and behavioral equivalence of Solutrean and Clovis artifact caching. The hypothesized historical connection is evaluated based on the attributes of the caches themselves, the evidence for geographic and temporal continuity in caching between the two cultures, and the proposed uniqueness of this behavior to Solutrean and Clovis. Results from the comparison of Volgu to Clovis caches indicate that they are divergent with regard to a number of important attributes and appear to represent neither equivalent behaviors nor a historical connection.

Gallo-Roman whetstone building deposits. The cultural biography of the domestic sphere in northern Gaul

We discuss the ritual deposition of whetstones on native-type farmsteads in the northern-most parts of the Gallo-Roman Province of Gallia Belgica. The phenomenon occurs mainly in the lower river Scheldt valley (Belgian East and West Flanders and the southwestern Netherlands), where these whetstones, as well as other objects, are most often found in the domestic environment of timber-framed stable-houses. We show that the stone tools were buried deliberately in a specific structural component of the house, and that there was no intention of reclaiming them afterwards. By burying these whetstones, native Gallo-Roman-period farmers removed them from their primary, functional use, but at the same time initiated a new trajectory in their cultural biography. They received a ritual, apotropaic function in the course of the domestic life cycle of the house and its inhabitants, connected to the seasonal rhythm of the annual harvest cycle. This paper aims to contribute to the discussion of structured (building) deposits in archaeology and, more generally speaking, to the various aspects of the cultural biography of houses.

Siguiendo los rastros de los depósitos rituales: esbozo de un marco arqueológico para el estudio de las prácticas rituales en Palenque

Las excavaciones en las tierras bajas del este de México, Guatemala y Belice han revelado patrones generalizados en la práctica ritual, incluyendo patrones en los tipos de materiales usados en ofrendas rituales y entierros humanos colocados dentro de los pisos y plazas de templos públicos y casas privadas. Sin embargo, los rastros materiales de eventos ritualizados pasados parecen ser marcadamente diferentes en las Tierras Bajas occidentales, particularmente la ciudad de Palenque. Este articulo discute las ofrendas de los templos de Palenque, así como los resultados preliminares de excavaciones realizadas en un grupo residencial y encuentra que los materiales incluidos en los depósitos rituales de Palenque a menudo incluyen materiales orgánicos posibles en lugar de los materiales típicos encontrados en los ejemplos de Tierras Bajas del este. Para considerar cómo la práctica era distinta en esta región, se propone un enfoque más integral de una arqueología del ritual, que incluya una consideración para los restos de microescala de las acciones ritualizadas.

Counting Roman chickens: Multidisciplinary approaches to human-chicken interactions in Roman Britain

This paper discusses some of the approaches and results from two multi-disciplinary projects. The first is the AHRC-funded ‘Cultural and Scientific Perceptions of Human-Chicken Interactions’ Project, which investigates the history of the exploitation of chickens in Europe. The second is the Leverhulme Trust-funded ‘Rural Settlement of Roman Britain’ Project, which has collated evidence from excavation reports from thousands of sites. This paper updates the evidence for the exploitation of chickens in Roman Britain, showing that there were significant variations in the abundance of chicken bones found on different types of settlement. There was also a modest increase in their abundance during the Roman period, suggesting chickens became slightly more frequent contributors to the diet, albeit still only a rare commodity. However, they continued to be frequently represented in graves, shrines and other ritual deposits. The paper also discusses evidence of egg production and avian osteopetrosis, demonstrating that when traditional zooarchaeological research is integrated with scientific analyses, a deeper understanding of past human diet (and other avian-human interactions) can be acquired.

Vodou Material Culture in the Museum: Reflections on the complexities of demonstrating material culture of assemblage and accumulation in a traditional museum environment

Through experiences of two different museum spaces the nature of material objects of Vodou are considered. How can the complexities of ritual deposits, assemblage, and continued interaction that are present within a religious space, such as the Vodou altar, be demonstrated to outsiders via a curated space? The materiality of these objects and accumulations is considered and the question is posed as to their importance in the understanding of the nature of Vodou worship. Can a traditional museum setting that favours manufactured objects over the spontaneous ritual deposit and repurposed object convey the intricacy of the material culture of Vodou if it negates the inclusion of these artefacts?

Enslaved African conjure and ritual deposits on the Hume Plantation, South Carolina

Twenty-one ritual deposits have been found in and around cabin sites along the slave street on the former Hume Plantation on Cat Island, South Carolina. Earliest deposits date back to the eighteenth century; however, evidence suggests ritual activity, known as conjure practices or hoodoo, continued after the Civil War among the emancipated Africans who chose to stay. The aim of this article is to present an alternative viewpoint that not all interpretations of enslaved African ritual activity or repurposed artifacts must be viewed through the lens of “resistance” but can be an expression of African agency to define new and multivariant spiritualties in light of changing identities, historical contexts, and value systems. These adaptations incorporated notions of social class and hierarchy as well as expanded spiritual symbolism from exposure to and interaction with Europeans and Native Americans. The result was a formation of religious syncretism.

Ritual Deposition of Avifauna in the Northern Burial Cluster at Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon

Birds play an important role in modern and historic Puebloan ceremonialism, with feathers, wings, stuffed birds, and live birds used for ceremonies, sacrifices, and creation of ritual paraphernalia. Archaeological evidence suggests birds played an ideological and ritual role for some prehispanic Southwestern groups as well. Here, we explore the use of avian remains for ritual purposes at Pueblo Bonito by presenting new evidence from the northern burial cluster. Drawing on multiple quantitative measures, we establish the dissimilarity of this assemblage to other Chacoan sites. We demonstrate that an unusually wide variety of avian species was deposited in the northern burial cluster, particularly wing elements that may reflect wing fan deposition. These findings improve our understanding of ritual life at Pueblo Bonito and also show the utility of using both qualitative and quantitative data to create a more accurate understanding of past ceremonial activity.

A ritual deposit of fox remains at Ovçular Tepesi (Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan) and its relation with the pastoral nature of Late Chalcolithic communities

The occurrence of wild carnivores remains among faunal assemblages constituted almost exclusively of domestic ruminants raise the question of the status of these rare species. Parts of two foxes were deposited in a jar discovered in a Late Chalcolithic (ca. 4300–3950cal. BCE) occupation layer at the site of Ovçular Tepesi (Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan). The skeletal elements were carefully dismembered, selected, exposed to fire for some of them, and disposed in an organised manner in the jar. A detailed analysis led us to suggest that this deposition could be related to rites performed during the periodic abandonment and reoccupation of the settlement. Foxes tend to play a peculiar symbolic role in some livestock-raising communities. It could be also the case in this possibly partly mobile pastoral group. This deposit sheds some light on how this community conceived the occupation of this settlement.

¿Fondos de cabaña o depósitos rituales? Sobre un tipo de contextos materiales del bronce final y comienzos de la Edad del Hierro en el sur de la Península Ibérica. El depósito de cortijo Riquelme (Almería)

Cortijo Riquelme is a Late Bronze and Early Iron Age’s archaeological dump in the South East of the Iberian Peninsula which belongs to the so called pithouses. This traditional interpretation has been rejected by recent critical studies. Following this positions, the paper analyzes the mentioned dump, which mainly contained Late Bronze and very ancient Phoenician imported pottery, showing the introduction of Phoenician wine and the service for its consumption. A comparison is done with other similar dumps distributed in the South of the Iberian peninsula from Late Bronze Age, though the majority are dated during the early centuries if the 1st millennium bc, coinciding with the Phoenician colonization. Another Mediterranean dumps from Crete, Cyprus, Sicily and North Africa related with feasts help to propose an interpretation for the dump of Cortijo Riquelme and others of the same type, in which the ritual deposit of the containers used in feasts should contribute to the formation of dumps, in a context of increasing competition of local elites in processes of social differentiation.

Early Maya Ritual Practices and Craft Production: Late Middle Preclassic Ritual Deposits Containing Obsidian Artifacts at Ceibal, Guatemala

ABSTRACTThis article examines Preclassic Maya ritual practices and craft production by means of a study of ritual deposits containing obsidian artifacts dated mostly to the late Middle Preclassic period (700–350 b.c.) at Ceibal, Guatemala. New ritual practices developed at Ceibal during this period, possibly through political interactions and negotiation involving emerging elites and other diverse community members. Common objects in ritual deposits in the public plaza shifted from greenstone celt caches to other artifacts, including those made of obsidian. The inhabitants of Ceibal engaged in various kinds of craft production, including the manufacture of obsidian prismatic blades. They also conducted public rituals in the Central Plaza, depositing exhausted polyhedral obsidian cores and other artifacts with symbolic significance in caches and as offerings in incipient elite burials and interments of sacrificed individuals. These cores clearly demonstrate the use of a sophisticated blade technology. Like greenstone objects, exhausted polyhedral obsidian cores deposited in cruciform arrangements along the east–west axis of the central E-Group plaza were used as symbols and markers of the center and four cardinal directions within the Maya cosmos. Public rituals were important for creating collective identities and for processes of political negotiation within the community. Emerging elites likely came to play an increasingly important role in public rituals as principal performers and organizers, setting the stage for later public events centered on rulers.

An ancient Maya ritual cache at Pook's Hill, Belize: Technological and functional analyses of the obsidian blades

When recovered from ritual contexts at ancient Maya sites, obsidian blades are frequently viewed as blood-letters used for auto-sacrifice. Most evidence supporting this interpretation is circumstantial and derives from iconographic and ethnohistoric sources. Such a deductive approach does not provide a means to determine whether individual blades were used to let blood. In contrast, microscopic use-wear analysis of lithic artifacts can be used to examine blades for evidence of their use, and—provided comparative experimental data are available—to determine if they were blood-letters. The technological and use-wear analyses of 48 obsidian blades recovered from a Late Classic (c. 550–650 CE) dedicatory cache at the site of Pook's Hill, Belize, serve as a test case to explore the relationship between obsidian blades and ancient Maya auto-sacrificial blood-letting. The results of the analyses indicate that some blades from the cache may have been used to let blood; however, not all obsidian blades appear to have been used in the same way. The obsidian blood-letters recovered from the cache were used in cutting, piercing, and piercing-twisting motions. Although some blades were used to let blood, the edge and surface wear on most of the used obsidian blades are consistent with other functions, including cutting meat/skin/fresh hide, cutting or sawing wood and dry hide, cutting or sawing other soft and hard materials, and scraping hard materials. Clearly, not all blades from this ritual deposit were blood-letters, which raises questions about the manner in which such a ritual deposit was formed and the nature of ritual activity associated with caching behavior at Classic period Maya sites.

Don’t all mothers love their children? Deposited infants as animate objects in the Scandinavian Iron Age

ABSTRACTUnderstanding ‘counter archaeologies’ as taking a counterpoint and challenging normative perspectives, this paper considers infancy in Iron-Age Scandinavia through an examination of children deposited in settlements and wetlands. The paper reports on a data set of child deposition from Scandinavia in the first millennium CE, and compares the practices with cases from other Germanic areas. While a complex phenomenon where cause of death is mostly unknown, textual sources indicate that neither limited emotional responses to child loss nor infanticide was uncommon in the first millennium CE. Infanticide is widespread cross-culturally, yet is foreign to many researchers because it counters deep-held contemporary, Western perceptions of universal maternal instinct. The paper questions whether infant loss within Scandinavian and Germanic societies prompted emotional responses akin to Western, contemporary reactions. Were infants more closely related to animate objects than human beings? And did this ontological logic provoke the use of infant remains in ritual deposition?

Geomorphological setting of a sacred landscape: Iron age post battle deposition of human remains at Alken Enge, Denmark

AbstractThe Illerup Valley in Denmark contains several large‐scale Iron Age (first to fifth century A.D.) ritual depositions associated with warfare among Germanic groups. The oldest deliberate deposition consisted of human bones and is dated to the first to fifth decade A.D. It is hypothesized that this first deposition initiated a ritual tradition and made the valley sacred to later generations. To understand the choice of the first location, we have reconstructed the landscape setting of the last millennia. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating formed the basis of the chronostratigraphy, while sedimentary processes and development were evaluated from profiles and boreholes. We found that the human remains were deposited in a small paleolake Alken Enge, isolated from the large Lake Mossø by a spit system during the last centuries B.C. The spits had prograded across the lake and formed a land bridge between the two sides of the valley with a potential strong connective‐strategic value. The spits were overwashed during storm surges in the period before the first ritual depositions were made, and a conspicuous landform with white sandy beaches must have been clearly visible to the prehistoric community. Thus, it can be speculated that this landscape combination was important for the location of a large ritual.