Illustrations | p. 8 |
Acknowledgments | p. 11 |
Method, Theory, and the Study of Religion | p. 13 |
Introduction The Archaeology of Religion | p. 15 |
Why Archaeology and Why Religion? | p. 15 |
Ethics, Archaeology, and Religion | p. 17 |
Cultures and their Beliefs in Worldwide Context | p. 19 |
Anthropology and the Study of Religion | p. 21 |
Defining Religion | p. 21 |
Early Anthropology and the Origins of Religion | p. 23 |
New Views in the Twentieth Century | p. 28 |
Contemporary Anthropological Theories | p. 30 |
Interpreting Religion in the Archaeological Past | p. 36 |
Cosmology, Myth, and Ritual | p. 36 |
Supernatural Beings and Religious Specialists | p. 40 |
Method and Theory in the Archaeology of Religion | p. 45 |
Interpreting Beliefs in Worldwide Context | p. 47 |
Conclusion | p. 52 |
The Emergence of Religion in Human Culture | p. 53 |
The World of the Shaman | p. 55 |
The Nature of the Shaman | p. 55 |
The Shaman's Tools | p. 61 |
Finding Shamans in the Archaeological Record | p. 62 |
The First Spark of Religion: The Neanderthals | p. 68 |
Human Evolution: Homo Erectus, Neanderthals, and Modern Humans | p. 68 |
Who Were the Neanderthals? | p. 71 |
Neanderthal Sites in Europe and Western Asia: Rituals in Caves? | p. 73 |
Conclusion: Did the Neanderthals Really Have Religion? | p. 80 |
Rock Art and Ritual in Africa and Australia | p. 81 |
Cultures of the Kalahari | p. 81 |
Southern African Rock Art | p. 85 |
Religion and Rock Art in Australia | p. 88 |
Stone Monuments, Rock Art, and Dreamtime | p. 94 |
Engraved Rock Art | p. 99 |
Painted Rock Art of North and Northwestern Australia | p. 102 |
Conclusion | p. 105 |
Religions in the Americas | p. 107 |
The Mound-Building Cultures of North America | p. 109 |
Foraging, Agriculture, and Trade | p. 110 |
The Hopewell Culture | p. 112 |
The Mississippian Culture | p. 116 |
Conclusion | p. 122 |
Puebloan Cultures of the American Southwest | p. 123 |
The Hisatsinom (Anasazi)-Early Settlement | p. 124 |
Chaco Canyon and Pueblo Bonito | p. 125 |
Mesoamerica and the Religions of Empire | p. 135 |
Prelude to the Aztecs | p. 135 |
The Aztecs | p. 139 |
Conclusion | p. 150 |
Lords and Maidens: Religions of South America | p. 152 |
An Early Andean Center: Chavin De Huántar | p. 152 |
Precursor to the Inka: The Moche and the Nasca | p. 157 |
A Patchwork of Andean Kingdoms | p. 164 |
The Inka Empire | p. 165 |
Conclusion | p. 172 |
Religions in Europe | p. 173 |
Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic Europe: From Cave to Village | p. 175 |
Upper Paleolithic Cave Art | p. 176 |
Female Figurines in the Upper Paleolithic | p. 179 |
Neolithic Europe | p. 183 |
Conclusion | p. 187 |
Megaliths and Power in Ancient Western Europe | p. 189 |
Pre-Megalithic Northwestern Europe | p. 189 |
The Culture of Megaliths | p. 191 |
The Long Barrow Builders | p. 199 |
Why Build Megalithic Monuments? | p. 201 |
Conclusion | p. 202 |
Religions in South and Southeast Asia | p. 203 |
From Harappans to Hinduism and Beyond: Religions in South Asia | p. 205 |
South Asia Today | p. 205 |
The Harappan Civilization | p. 209 |
The End of Harappan Civilization and the Arrival of the Indo-Aryans | p. 218 |
Harappans, Indo-Aryans, and the Rise of Hinduism | p. 219 |
Classical-Period Hinduism and the Origins of Buddhism | p. 221 |
From Hunter-Gatherer to Empire: Religions in Southeast Asia | p. 226 |
Neolithic Hunter-Gatherers and Bronze Age Farmers | p. 226 |
The Arrival of Hinduism and Buddhism in Southeast Asia | p. 231 |
The Iron Age and the Rise of Empires | p. 232 |
The Khmer Empire: Royal Religion and the Power of Kings | p. 235 |
Religions in Africa and the Middle East | p. 243 |
Religion and Empire in Egypt and Great Zimbabwe | p. 245 |
Ancient Egypt | p. 245 |
The Great Zimbabwe Kingdom | p. 260 |
Ancient Sumer and Religions in Ancient Mesopotamia | p. 269 |
Ancient Sumer and the Religion of Mesopotamia | p. 269 |
The Akkadian Empire | p. 279 |
Sumer, Akkad, and the Power of Religion | p. 281 |
Levantine Religions and the Origins of Judaism | p. 282 |
The First Patriarchs Emerge | p. 282 |
Canaanite Religion and the Philistines | p. 289 |
The First Israelite Empire | p. 292 |
Conclusion | p. 297 |
Revitalizing the People: The Origins of Christianity and Islam | p. 298 |
The Roman Levant and the Origins of Christianity | p. 298 |
Muhammad and the Origins of Islam | p. 308 |
Conclusion | p. 312 |
References | p. 315 |
Index | p. 337 |
About the Author | p. 352 |
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