the dominance of religion in the ancient world

[Starflower]

Years ago I read about the excavations at Catal Hoyuk(a Neolithic settlement in the Middle East)done by James Mellaart in the 60's. The houses were tightly packed, access by the roof, and they found 40 'religious shrines' in the acre they excavated. Complete with ritual burial sites containing obsidian mirrors (possibly used by the priestesses) and the earliest known wall paintings done on manmade walls. Because of this and all the female figurines and animal wall sculptures they found they concluded that Catal Hoyuk might have been a ceremonial center and not a town. Now 40 odd years later we have:

http://nhmag.com/index_feature.html

Sorry I can't quote from this directly but I found it a fascinating read. The gist of the story is that the 'shrines' were just regular run of the mill houses.
All of the sculptures, mirrors, wall paintings etc. turn out to be, probably, just decorations. Which supports my theory that women are women no matter where(or when)you find them.

"Oh, honey, wouldn't this wall painting look just divine on the other side of the cave. Could you just move it for me please."

[Minimalist]

"Oh, honey, wouldn't this wall painting look just divine on the other side of the cave. Could you just move it for me please."

....and then move the couch...and the tv and end tables!

Oh, yeah....been there - done that!

[Leona Conner]

Starflower. Thanks for the link. I've always been fascinated with the similarities between that site and our southwestern pueblos. You know the box like structures, one on top of another, with the entrances through the roof.




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Biblical rejection demands invalidation of the scientific evidence presented.

(paraphrased from Immanuel Velikovsky "Ages In Chaos"

[Guest]

The gist of the story is that the 'shrines' were just regular run of the mill houses.

i think this is one of the problems we face in archaeology, which is the failure to grant ancient people the same feelings, attitudes and desires as modern man.

whether researchers are intimidated by the past or whether they feel ancient man was inferior in all ways, i do not know, but this attitude has led to many a false conclusion and sent man scurrying down the wrong trails.

[ReneDescartes]

THat is because there is more glory to be gained for archaeologists to suuround their discoveried with beautifull theories about gods,spirits and all sorts of metaphysical nonsense .Occams's razor should be applied in that field too .Our ancestors enjoyed playing with clay,paint and whatever there was available .Not to forget the 5 percent minority with a special predilection for interior home decorating ,nothing wrong with that .
Of course one's status is augmented more when a cleverly designed theory is hooked on it bringing in archetypes, hidden symbols ,etc.

[stan]

I think it is fallacious to compare the paleolothic cave painters to Europen or American home decorators.

What anthropologists have done for years is to try to find cultural parallels in modern non- western cultures to try to understand prehistoric or ancient ones.
A lot of these non-western cultures: native american, african, asian, south pacific
etc., can be described as ancestor worshipers or animists.
They believe their groups receive protection from supernatural or divine
forces and influences which, if not propitiated, will bring evil upon them.
Thus their lives are permeated with rituals based on an awareness of the supernatural, including things like "where did we come from" and all the essentials of religious beliefs.
Maybe you guys and gals don't care about this, but I think you are silly not to take it into account. Navajo blankets are traditionally, not merely decorative objects.
It is probably different in advanced civilizations such as egypt, or rome, where wealthy people hired artisans to make beautiful objects for their houses, such as mosaics, frescos, glassware, sculpture or the like.
But as to pre-literate groups, I won't say that every single item is religious icon or fetish of some kind, but most of them are connected, if only through symbolism, to the supernatural world. Those people were and are not like us, imho.

[Guest]

I won't say that every single item is religious icon or fetish of some kind, but most of them are connected, if only through symbolism, to the supernatural world

but every citizen being invloved? that is a stretch. it may work for the tribes of the north americanindian where the groups were small but in larger civilizations such as the pre-mayan, the minoans it would be hard toconclude that such a belief held such encompassing power.

They believe their groups receive protection from supernatural or divine
forces and influences which, if not propitiated, will bring evil upon them

while true it doesn not mean that there were not large or even small gropups of dissenters who came tothe conclusion that it was just crap. yourpoint here kind of intimates that the ancient world was incapable of thinking for themselves and making their own decisions.

while it is a possibility, i don't think it was widespread throughout every culture. i write this thinking about how little the koreans think and how much they value the group and not the individual.