Ritual Objects Research Articles

Between Whale Teeth and the Moral Uses of the Sea: Considering Religion in the US Whaling Industry’s Extractive Zone

This article argues that the nineteenth century US whaling industry provides an oceanic perspective on extractive zones that illuminates their multi-sited, multiscalar nature where the local and global are deeply entangled. Further, I suggest that viewing this process through the underexamined lens of religion can contribute to a fuller understanding of the widespread, often neglected, impacts of extractivism. I take an 1845 sermon by liberal Protestant theologian Horace Bushnell, “A Discourse on the Moral Uses of the Sea,” read alongside the labors of the American whaling industry, as a mid-nineteenth century moment to consider the concealment of the natural resource extraction that is necessary for the production of the conditions of possibility for the imagination of “civilization” ideologically and theologically in the mid-nineteenth century. I look to the journey of whale teeth as they move between waste, items of trade in a global capitalist market, and powerful ritual objects in Fiji, assessing how the extractive zone as a contact zone also transforms religion, which in turn can be a location of agency and resistance. The article calls attention to the critical entanglements of indigenous and settler worlds, whose stories cannot be told separately from one another.

The Engraved Slate Plaques of Late Neolithic and Copper Age Iberia: A Statistical Evaluation of the Genealogical Hypothesis

The engraved slate plaques were part of an extensive and variable class of ritual objects in Late Neolithic and Copper Age Iberia, with Classic plaques being the most numerous and standardized type. Classic plaques have a top and base separated by a horizontal line or bands, and base registers of repeating design elements (triangles, checkerboard, etc.). Associated with burials, they have been interpreted as genealogical records, with their base design referencing a clan or other social unit and their number of registers denoting the generational distance of the deceased from an important ancestor. The authors evaluate the genealogical hypothesis using a larger dataset than available when originally proposed, employing statistical analyses to examine the relationship between the number of registers and find locations, and between design elements and tomb size. Tomb size is viewed as a measure of collective labour, and hence a proxy of the status of the individuals in the tomb. These analyses show significant patterning between the number of registers and the plaques’ geographic distribution, and between specific design elements and tomb size, suggesting that the genealogical hypothesis remains a plausible explanation for the Classic plaques.

TRADITIONAL REPETITION PATTERNS IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS OF THE KETUT SUGANTIKA LEKUNG’S POROSAN SERIES

This research examines the repetition patterns found in the creative process of Ketut Sugantika Lekung's Porosan Series artworks. Porosan Series is one of Ketut Sugantika Lekung's artworks, inspired by the shape and the making process of a sacred ritual object called Porosan. In general, Porosan Series artworks display visualizations that emphasize the impression of repetition. The creative process of the Porosan Series imitates the process of making the original Porosan. Imitation activities in this creative process were studied to see the influence of traditional repetition patterns originating from making original porosan. This research uses a descriptive method with a qualitative approach, which emphasizes more in-depth data analysis. The results of the research show indications of the influence of original porosan making's traditional repetition pattern in the creative process of the Porosan Series. The Porosan Series creative process also uses three stages like the original porosan: preparation, realization, and finishing, but the original Porosan's final stage is drying, not finishing. Even though there are several modifications, the strong influence of the traditional repetition pattern is still visible because it shows some behaviors that are similar in every stage and process between the two things, such as focus, relaxation, and sincerity, thus creating a meditative state without realizing it. This research is essential to see the impact of local wisdom, which can positively influence the creative process of original Balinese artists to create a potential new method based on Balinese traditions and local wisdom.

Dispersed Centrality: A Ceremonial Organization Underpinning Hohokam Platform Mound Ceremonialism

Monumental architecture, in the form of ballcourts and platform mounds, has dominated discussions of Ancestral O’Odham (Hohokam) ceremonialism. As conceptualized within the literature, ritual and ceremonialism progressed from the household to the community at ballcourts and then centralized at elite-controlled platform mounds. In this article, I explore Ancestral O’Odham ceremonialism through ritual items and spaces. Beginning with the Casa Grande community and then the village of AZ U:9:56 (ASM), I explore settlement patterns and the distribution of ritual objects in relation to platform mounds to understand where ceremonies may have occurred. As discussed, the presence of multiple locations of ceremonial importance suggests that ritual authority was unlikely linked to a single individual or household. Instead, ceremonialism and ritual were likely carried out in multiple places, a “dispersed centrality,” as it is defined here, by different types of leaders.

A heart-shaped bone artifact from Körtiktepe

Along with the emergence of sedentary life, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) settlements brought revolutionary changes in production of material cultures as well as cultic and ritual activities, which are often argued to be associated with new waves of interactions between humans and their natural world. Körtiktepe of southeastern Turkey yielded by far the richest PPN assemblage in the world, standing among the very few earliest cultural and production centers which acted to be the predecessors of the development and spread of the Neolithic in West Asia. In this paper, we report a heart-shaped bone artifact which is one of the rarest finds in the extremely large cultural assemblage of Körtiktepe. The manufacture features indicate that the “heart-like” shape of this unique artifact was the product of intentional human activity. Overall archaeological context indicates its probable use as a bone pendant or amulet for the dead; providing the fact of its association with three early PPNA burials, many other ritual objects, and a large number of grave goods. Although difficult to argue for its association with the sense for “emotion”, “affection” or “love” in the present world, it is still significant that the unique specimen traces the symbolic presence and ritual use of the shape of a “heart” in West Asian prehistoric context back to the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic of around 10000 cal BC.

Review: Unfinished Christians: Ritual Objects and Silent Subjects in Late Antiquity, by Georgia Frank

Review: <i>Unfinished Christians: Ritual Objects and Silent Subjects in Late Antiquity</i>, by Georgia Frank

A Deposit of Silver Aquillas from the Site of Purun Llacta de Soloco, Amazonas, Peru

Abstract This report examines the deposit of a sixteenth-century cache of silver aquillas within a Chachapoya household at the site of Purun Llacta de Soloco. The report examines their context and contents. These findings have implications for a larger examination of social value in Andean societies and the specialized treatment and use of ritual objects during the tumultuous colonial period.

Too Jewish or Not Jewish Enough: Ritual Objects and Avant-Garde Art at the Jewish Museum of New York, written by Jeffrey Abt

Too Jewish or Not Jewish Enough: Ritual Objects and Avant-Garde Art at the Jewish Museum of New York, written by Jeffrey Abt

Семантическое поле древесных ритуальных предметов в русском заговорно-заклинательном обряде

The article examines the subject code of the Russian spell tradition using the example of a group of ritual objects of wood origin. This group has received insufficient attention in research, as evidenced by a brief review of the literature. The material for the analysis is the main publications of Russian conspiracies, as well as field materials recorded by the author in the period from 2003 to 2023 in the Omsk Irtysh region. The purpose of this work is to determine the semantic field of a group of wood objects in Russian spells, as well as to identify the relationship between a ritual object and its verbal and symbolic embodiment. The main method of research – historical-typological – allows us to draw typological parallels in order to clarify the boundaries of the semantic field, which includes ritual objects of the group being studied. The article also implements complex and cross-genre approaches. The analysis showed the widespread use of ritual objects of wooden origin in the Russian charm tradition. Objects are included in the text of the conspiracy as independent images and can be used relatively independently of the verbal component of the conspiracy. The semantics of the ritual object is in accordance with the functional and thematic orientation of the spell and is determined by its content. An examination of two objects – a bitch and a sliver – revealed an expansion of their functions and semantic field in in Russian spells of Siberian. This conclusion determines the direction of further research into spells paraphernalia in the aspect of the mutual influence of aboriginal and settler traditions.

Why Look at Toy Animals?

Abstract This article addresses the toy as a neglected cultural and technical object. The toy is neither tool nor ritual object, and its animation in children's imaginative play suggests alternative perspectives on the history and lived experience of material and technological artifacts. The concept of protopolitics is advanced to explore the implications for the cultural politics of the ambiguous articulation of power relationships in play. The article takes the long history of the toy animal as a case study, drawing attention to its creaturely, artificial facets that go beyond, or more accurately precede, familiar cultural-political binaries of authentic and inauthentic, depth and surface, knowledge and illusion, truth and lies, belief and fetishism, human and nonhuman, natural and synthetic. These other facets include dynamics of the technics of imagination, and their ambivalent articulation of relationships of control, training, care, violence, and love—a protopolitics evident in imaginative play. And, in postnatural media culture, the toy animal has migrated to digital habitats, offering an alternative animal perspective on questions of artificial intelligence. The child's toy and media environment is playfully zoomorphic, populated with artificial animals, from toys and stories to virtual pets and video-game characters, a new simulacral and postnatural trajectory in the descendance of the artificial animal and its playful and play-like behaviors.

Unfinished Christians: Ritual Objects and Silent Subjects in Late Antiquity. By Georgia Frank. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023. 193 pp. $59.95 hardcover.

Unfinished Christians: Ritual Objects and Silent Subjects in Late Antiquity. By Georgia Frank. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023. 193 pp. $59.95 hardcover.

Unfinished Christians: Ritual Objects and Silent Subjects in Late Antiquity by Georgia Frank (review)

Unfinished Christians: Ritual Objects and Silent Subjects in Late Antiquity by Georgia Frank (review)

The Disappearing Technology and Products of Traditional Tibetan Village Blacksmiths

Tibetans have a long history of iron mining, smelting, and forging. For centuries, craftsmen in major cities and large iron production centers made high-quality swords and suits of armor, as well as decorative iron ritual objects for monasteries and the elites, but blacksmithing workshops in small villages have always produced and repaired everyday objects for agricultural and home use. Modern political changes, along with greater availability of industrial objects in local markets, have greatly reduced the rank of the village blacksmith. Ethnographic fieldwork reported here from two Tibetan Bön villages in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, China (once part of traditional Amdo area of Tibet), highlights some of the threats to the continued existence of village blacksmiths. Both a part-time blacksmith in one village and a full-time blacksmith in another make only a marginal living from their work. Their descendants are unlikely to continue the business. Many of the village blacksmiths in the area have already stopped production and closed their workshops. It is likely that the village blacksmith tradition might soon disappear altogether in this region of the world without support. Preservation of this tradition could benefit both cultural and environmental sustainability goals.

Unfinished Christians: Ritual Objects and Silent Subjects in Late Antiquity, written by Georgia Frank

Unfinished Christians: Ritual Objects and Silent Subjects in Late Antiquity, written by Georgia Frank

Hidden in plain sight: advertisements for Jewish ritual objects in Germany, 1871–1933

ABSTRACT Jewish ritual objects are rather niche products and yet, the advertisements, as well as other factors, indicate an industrial scale production during the German Second Empire (1871–1918) and the Weimar Republic (1918–1933). As I will argue, these advertisements provide us with intriguing insights into the Jewish community, and how German Jewry was perceived by the non-Jewish population. Especially when companies used methods of ethnic marketing, I surveyed how they addressed the different strata of the Jewish community. In addition, some company advertisements bear traces of an understanding of Judaism on equal footing with Christian denominations. Yet, I also find hints of industrial overproduction which, as I argue, might have been stimulated by stereotypes of Jews. Perhaps in response to the overproduction, some retailers advertised Jewish ritual objects as “decorative” rather than religious items, and therefore veiled their link to Judaism. While this might have been a protective measure against anti-Semitic slurs, it ties in well with the observation that producers and retailers might have expected higher sales. Overall, analysing advertisements for Jewish ritual objects helps us to develop a more nuanced understanding of the positioning of Jewish consumers within the market in Germany before the Shoah.

The Serbian church, clergy and war damage to the temples in the area of Toplica county in the First World War

The subject of the work is the situation in the Serbian church in Toplica under occupation in the First World War. The goal is to determine how much damage was done to the church, clergy and its property in this area. The consequences in this area in the Great War were further increased due to reprisals after the collapse of the Toplica Uprising in 1917. Individual and group liquidations, internment, terror, violent bulgarisation were frequent occurrences, which inevitably led to the outbreak of armed resistance. The liquidations and internments of the clergy were followed by the looting of movable material church goods, which were taken to Bulgaria in an organised manner. Local Serbian priests were replaced by Bulgarian ones. After the war, in the broader process of determining war damage, among other things, the looted property of the Serbian Orthodox Church was listed in detail. After involvement of the civil and church authorities, a smaller part was returned, while the larger part remained irretrievably lost. The research results show the following consequences: it was established that during the Bulgarian occupation, seven priests were killed and eleven were interned. The movable property of fourteen churches was looted (bells, books, registers, icons, crosses, furniture, heating stoves, priests? clothes, liturgical ritual objects, actually everything that could be carried away). In a methodological sense, the work was created on the basis of the collection, processing and analysis of original documentary material from the funds of the Ministry of Religion (Archives of Yugoslavia in Belgrade), the collection of church registry books (Historical Archives of Toplica in Prokuplje), published sources, testimonies of contemporaries and relevant literature.

Safeguarding and Preserving Africa’s Ritual Objects in the Face of Modernity: The Mwaghavul Case

The focus of this paper is to study ritual objects among the Mwaghavul people and their preservation as heritage materials for posterity. The paper looks into the ritual objects of the Mwaghavul and the challenges facing their preservation. In doing this study, primary and secondary sources of data were used. While rituals and ritual objects represent a major defining attribute of the Mwaghavul people, most of these objects are now abandoned on hilltops or caves, forest and rock shelters, and at the mercy of bad weather conditions and agents of destruction like termite, fire, and other things that can destroy them naturally. The paper admonishes that these materials are the people's heritage that deserve preservation. The paper identifies globalization, stereotype, migration of young people into the cities, human and natural factors, and activities of heritage looters as some of the contributory factors. The paper however argues that the challenges can be addressed through public enlightenment, provision of conducive worship environments for adherents of traditional Mwaghavul religion, introduction of traditional religion into our school curriculum and provision of good places for the preservation of ritual objects. The paper concludes that as an important aspect of their culture, the Mwaghavul people should ensure that their ritual objects are safeguarded and preserved for posterity.

The sacrificial area at the Sanxingdui site in Guanghan, Sichuan

Abstract Since May 2022, six newly-discovered sacrificial pits have been excavated at the Sanxingdui site, revealing 13,000 cataloged artifacts. Over 3000 of them are intact, well-preserved artifacts made of ivory and other materials. Considering the discoveries from these six pits and the two previously excavated pits, we propose that pits K5 and K6 were used as sacrificial pits for sacrificial activities, while the other pits served as burial pits for ritual objects. The excavations detailed in this article hold great significance for understanding the sacrificial activities, the sacrificial systems of the ancient Shu state, and the shifting settlement patterns at the Sanxingdui site.

Unfinished Christians: Ritual Objects and Silent Subjects in Late Antiquity by Georgia Frank (review)

Unfinished Christians: Ritual Objects and Silent Subjects in Late Antiquity by Georgia Frank (review)

Курган 28 могильника Филипповка 1: к вопросу об определении даты комплекса

The papre is devoted to determining the date of the kurgan 28, Filippovka 1 burial ground, which is a necropolis of the social elite of the Southern Urals nomads in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. A burial partially destroyed by repeated robbery was found in the kurgan. At least six people were buried in the grave pit with a dromos entrance, covered with a structure of radially diverging logs. The features of the five individuals‘ bone remains location in the western part of the grave indicate their simultaneous or relatively simultaneous burial. Another burial was made in an underground passage leading from the outside of the kurgan mound to the grave pit. The accompanying grave goods were placed in the destroyed part of the grave near the buried individuals as well as in on the buried soil as a part of the sacrificial complex. They included weapons and parts of military ammunition (armor, daggers, arrows, a quiver hook, a lanyard pendant, a vorvorki), parts of a horse harness (bit, cheek-pieces, bridle plaques, pierced), as well as jewelry (earrings, bracelets, beads, sewn-on plaques), ritual objects (a bone spoon, a fragment of a stone altar) and household items. An analysis of the grave goods and a radiocarbon dating obtained by accelerator mass spectrometry method suggest that five people were buried in the western part of the grave in the middle or third quarter of the 4th century BC. However, the construction of the funerary structure and the placement of the dead in its eastern part could have begun earlier - in the period falling at the turn of the 5th-4th centuries BC - early 4th century BC.