Ritual practice

"Earlier provisional title was "Archaeology, Tourism, Museum...."

"This chapter is divided into two distinct sections that are positioned in a point-counterpoint structure of dialogue. These two position statements invoke the etymological meanings of the word essay, to attempt, put to the test, trial, to act out, to explore, travel, and travail. The first is an historical analysis written in the third person by an anthropologist whose expertise includes the ethnography of archaeology and the anthropology of tourism. The second is a counterpoint commentary written in the first person by an anthropologist whose specializations include Pre-Columbian and historical archaeology. Both of us have significant research experience in same area of the Maya world in Yucatán, México. From these two differing vantage points, we chart our perspectives on the relationship between archaeology and tourism in terms of the problems of exploration, protection, and exploitation.
In the first section, Castañeda takes an historical approach to the emergence of archaeology in the institutional context of the modern museum. He essays an analytical and theoretical manifesto about the deep, intimate interconnections between tourism and archaeology as revealed through an understanding of the museum. In his historical analysis of the role of archaeological representation in the museum, he identifies the sociological creation of universal heritage. He theorizes a notion of the universal citizen-heir as the implied benefactor of this universal heritage. In the second section, Mathews elaborates a commentary on this historical analysis of archaeology, tourism, heritage and the museum. Specifically, she counter-argues and assesses Castañeda theoretical and analytical claims through the use of archaeology and tourism at sites that are not postcard worthy. Together these two “attempts” grapple with the historical and contemporary interconnections between archaeology and tourism. Together we put to the test our typical assumptions about the ethics of archaeologists, tourists, and tourism promoters in the contemporary contexts in which we are now beginning to ask how and why archaeology and tourism are interwoven phenomena in today’s world.""

The Buddhist meditator Tshampa Tseten (figure 33.1) belongs to a group of
lay tantric practitioners from Bhutan locally known as “great meditators.”1
He is a speaker of the Dzala language from the remote Khoma valley in the far
northeast of this small Himalayan country.2 Tshampa Tseten is a follower of
the Nyingma or “Ancient” school of Tibetan-style Buddhism that is well
established in the eastern part of the country.3 Tshampa are meditators who
practice within hereditary or teacher–student lineages of the Nyingma school,
acquiring their knowledge through classical Tibetan Buddhist methods of
empowerment, teaching, and oral transmission. Tshampa play an important yet
often underestimated social role in the everyday life of rural communities,
including through their attention to the health and well-being of individual
patients.4 Tshampa Tseten uses both ritual techniques and medicinal herbs to
heal his patients and thus is also part of a large and diverse spectrum of ritual
healers found throughout Bhutan.5

Dans le monde celtique, la deposition de monnaies dans les tombes est un phenomene plutot rare. La decouverte en 1999 de six sepultures contenant des monnaies dans la necropole de Berne/Reichenbachstrasse, a proximite de l'habitat latenien d'Engehalbinsel, est d'autant plus exceptionnelle et ceci a plusieurs egards.

The ‘lonely/low hero’ is a personage depicted initially as a pitiful, isolated, friendless, sad orphan or foundling, but who appears to prove himself to be a powerful representative of a high-ranking family as the story unwinds. We find those personages in different genres: ritual myths, epics, charms, curses and tales. Betel chewing as a cultural practice is of great importance in the depiction of key mythological figures, lonely heroes in particular.
The paper analyses the symbolism of betel chewing as compared to other chewing practices worldwide. Philippine folklore texts are being analysed to define motifs connected to the image of a lonely hero in the folklore of the Tinguian (Itneg), Kalinga, Yattuka (Kallahan), Ifugao and other highlanders of the Northern Philippines, and compares them to corresponding themes in Philippine non-Cordilleran mythologies and beyond.
Обобщающее исследование на стыке этноботаники, этнолингвистики, культурной антропологии и фольклористики, посвященное практике, мифологии, символике бетеля и других легких жевательных стимулянтов и релаксантов в традиционной и современной культуре народов мира.

Second part of texts dealing with the building and offering of sand stupas in Laos and Thailand. This part includes: 1) the translation of three texts about banners; 2) an overview of data collected about the ritual and the texts; 3) Copies of 9 texts in their original scripts (Khom, Tham, Yuon (Lan Na); 4) Various appendices on: Names of the Buddha used in manuscripts; words used for cetiya/stupa; words used for banners/flags/umbrellas; Paradises; Jewels + Bibliography, Index and 8 B. & W. photographs.

Th e article reveals the peculiarities of socialization and inculturation of children through play
activities in the traditional Khakass culture. Th e main focus is on games with bones of domestic and
wild animals and their role in the ritual activities of Khakases. Th e author considers skill games, plot
games and peculiarities of games and rituals with dolls made of animal bones.

In this paper, I will attempt an alternative interpretation of Inka domination. My hypothesis is that the Inka sought to transform Andean cosmology and social order, and impose their own worldview and ideology, locating themselves at the pinnacle of the new social order, but also representing the Inka as the true carriers of Andean traditions and the past, as the original people and ancestors of the world. Material culture was an integral part in the development of this symbolic aspect of Inka domination, especially in terms of the construction and reconstruction of new landscapes. With these ideas in mind, I will explore Inka spatiality or how the Inka re-organized the social space in the areas they conquered. I intend to demonstrate how the Inka sought to impose their worldview and legitimize their domination using the re-organization of the landscape and the appropriation of ritual spaces.

This paper presents two miniature bronze cauldrons found in association with two 14th-century dikes. The unfinished status of the cauldrons is remarkable. It is suggested they may have been buried deliberately as foundation deposits. Similar prehistoric and medieval depositions support this hypothesis.

This paper describes the structure of the design fields and the patterns of symmetry on four contemporary utilitarian vessels from Quinua, Peru, and demonstrates how this structure materializes  the way in which the community is organized with regard to vertical zonation, the structure of the irrigation system, and patterns of dual descent.

En este trabajo me propongo analizar comparativamente el vínculo corporalidad-emoción en rituales festivos y en tradiciones teatrales occidentales que han intentado recuperar en la relación actor-espectador parte de los efectos de la
experiencia ritual. Me basaré especialmente en dos autores que considero claves para esta tendencia: en Antonin Artaud, quién con su texto de 1933 “El Teatro y su Doble”
inició una nueva mirada sobre los fundamentos de la teatralidad y en Jerzy Grotowski, cuyas investigaciones a partir de los años ´60 han sido punto de partida para nuevas líneas de trabajo actoral —entre ellas, por ejemplo, de la antropología teatral de Eugenio Barba—.

La tumba de Neferhotep (TT49) es un monumento privado, cuya localización habría tenido vinculaciones con las fisonomías naturales y la dotación material del paisaje, en la realización de prácticas funerarias del Reino Nuevo. La escasa conservación de la evidencia material requirió de la implementación de vías analíticas que tras-cendieran los enfoques egiptológicos tradicionales privilegiando el estudio del comportamiento humano. La exis-tencia de registros documentales y arqueológicos hizo evidente la necesidad de plantear investigaciones interdisci-plinarias, puesto que tanto la localización de la tumba en el paisaje como su construcción y decoración atendieron tanto a cuestiones prácticas -depositación de momias y equipamiento funerario-, como simbólicas -ritos mor-tuorios- y sociales -alianzas-. Los lineamientos teóricos interrelacionan conceptos provenientes de la arqueología, enfatizando la dotación arquitectónica y simbólica del espacio y las propiedades físicas del registro ...

""""""In 1989, The National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAIA) was successfully passed after a long and intense struggle. One year later, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) followed. These federal repatriation statutes—arguably some of the most important laws in the history of anthropology, museology, and American Indian rights—enabled Native Americans to reclaim human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony.

Twenty years later, the controversy instigated by the creation of NMAIA and NAGPRA continues to simmer. In the Smaller Scope of Conscience is a thoughtful and detailed study of the ins and outs of the four-year process behind these laws. It is a singular contribution to the history of these issues, with the potential to help mediate the ongoing debate by encouraging all sides to retrace the steps of the legislators responsible for the acts.

Few works are as detailed as McKeown’s account, which looks into bills that came prior to NMAIA and NAGPRA and combs the legislative history for relevant reports and correspondence. Testimonies, documents, and interviews from the primary players of this legislative process are cited to offer insights into the drafting and political processes that shaped NMAIA and NAGPRA.

Above all else, this landmark work distinguishes itself from earlier legislative histories with the quality of its analysis. Invested and yet evenhanded in his narrative, McKeown ensures that this journey through history—through the strategies and struggles of different actors to effect change through federal legislation—is not only accurate but eminently intriguing.""""""

La tumba de Neferhotep (TT49) es un monumento privado, cuya localización habría tenido vinculaciones con las fisonomías naturales y la dotación material del paisaje, en la realización de prácticas funerarias del Reino Nuevo. La escasa conservación de la evidencia material requirió de la implementación de vías analíticas que trascendieran los enfoques egiptológicos tradicionales privilegiando el estudio del comportamiento humano. La existencia de registros documentales y arqueológicos hizo evidente la necesidad de plantear investigaciones interdisciplinarias,puesto que tanto la localización de la tumba en el paisaje como su construcción y decoración atendieron tanto a cuestiones prácticas -depositación de momias y equipamiento funerario-, como simbólicas -ritos mortuorios- y sociales -alianzas-. Los lineamientos teóricos interrelacionan conceptos provenientes de la arqueología, enfatizando la dotación arquitectónica y simbólica del espacio y las propiedades físicas del registro mater...

Archaeology studies past practices through fields of action. In Mesoamerica, such fields exist across different scales of analysis, and for example lead research to identify individual or family routines in domestic and workshop settings. At the opposite end of this are large-scale periodic communal practices, often referred to as political or ritual. In these latter fields, insights into longue durée transformation are prone to be foregrounded at the expense of insights into human actions and its transmission within a group. The settings for such rituals are invariably referred to as 'public', 'ceremonial' or 'communal', depending on the archaeological region of period in question. Ritual practices in indigenous societies in Central America are mostly explained by viewing ritual in systematic terms, echoing Sahlins and Geertz. Chiefly authority is seen to be combined with that of ritual practitioner, rendering ritual itself seemingly a-historical and closely linking it to questions of political power. Ritual activity, and its pertaining material culture, is thus proposed as an irreducible functionalist fact, typically regarded for divination, communication with supernatural realms, and symbolic violence. Here, I will argue for a historical view on ritual in the prehistories we assemble and study, focusing attention on the question of ritual landscapes in southern Central America-a region with ample indicators for ritualized activity, but archaeologically challenged by a material culture with an abstract visual language, and a historical record lacking in individual events, except perhaps for volcanic eruptions.

Spanish: La arqueología estudia prácticas pasadas a través de campos de acción. En Mesoamérica, tales campos existen en diferentes escalas de análisis, y por ejemplo apoyan a identificar rutinas individuales o familiares en entornos domésticos y en talleres. En el extremo opuesto, se encuentran las prácticas comunitarias periódicas a gran escala, a menudo denominadas 'políticas' o 'rituales'. En los últimos campos, los conocimientos sobre la transformación longue durée son propensos a ser enfocados a expensas de la comprensión de las acciones humanas y su transmisión dentro de un grupo. Los espacios para tales rituales se denominan invariablemente como 'públicos', 'ceremoniales' o 'comunales', dependiendo de la región o período arqueológico en cuestión. Las prácticas rituales en las sociedades indígenas en el sur de Centroamérica se explican mayormente viendo a rituales en términos sistémicos, haciéndose eco de Sahlins y Geertz. La autoridad principal se considera combinado con la del especialista ritual, convirtiendo el ritual en algo aparentemente a-histórico y vinculándolo estrechamente a cuestiones de poder político. La actividad ritual, y su cultura material pertinente, se propone, así como un hecho funcionalista irreductible, típicamente destinado a la adivinación, la comunicación con los ámbitos sobrenaturales y la violencia simbólica. Aquí, propondré una visión histórica en las prehistorias que reunimos y estudiamos, enfocado en los paisajes rituales del sur de Centroamérica-una región rica en referencias a actividad ritual, pero desafiada arqueológicamente por cultura material con lenguaje visual abstracto, y un registro histórico que carece de eventos individuales, a excepción quizás de las erupciones volcánicas. 2

Attitudes towards death and burial have fascinated scholars basically since the beginning of Sinology as an academic discipline. Accounts of how to properly deal with the dead are readily available in the so-called Three Rites canon (Li ji 禮記, Zhou li 周禮, and Yi li 儀禮). They prescribe ways to mourn for the dead, wash them, dress them, and ultimately bury them. The very fact that these three books explicitly discuss matters of death and burial has rendered them default sources for anyone who is interested in such issues. Yet, scholarship persistently tends to ignore that these are prescriptive rather than descriptive texts. Obviously, there is a wealth of the latter in early Chinese history, but these usually do not figure in related research. Moreover, the works of late pre-imperial and early imperial thinkers are only consulted to extract anecdotal evidence to support claims rooted in the Three Rites canon.
By comprehensively analyzing records of mourning and funerals in early historiographical, philosophical and archaeologically excavated texts, I will provide a somewhat less biased view of death and burial in early China. This will reveal, for instance, that rigid mourning periods stipulated by the Three Rites canon were not adhered to at all as the pragmatic issues of managing everyday life prevailed. The number, thickness, and material of coffins was also much more diverse than often believed. However, critiquing our use of the Three Rites canon and their moralistic Classicist arguments is but one goal of this paper. I am even more interested in disclosing the underlying social and ultimately religious reasons for treating the dead in a certain fashion: Why exactly did it matter how, when, and where someone was buried?

Alors que les cimetières traditionnels sont de moins en moins visités, les mémoriaux éphémères et virtuels se multiplient comme autant de moyens de réécrire l’histoire et d’affirmer le désir de vivre en société. Nous vivons une période de «réappropriation du mort» ainsi que de nouveaux rites autour de la mort.