Ritual Feasting

On the south coast of British Columbia in shíshálh traditional territory, an ancient burial ground (DjRw-14) contains the remains of richly decorated individuals dated to the Charles culture (4000-3500 B.P.). In addition to other grave offerings, the burials contain stone and shell beads ranging in numbers from hundreds to hundreds of thousands. Associated with these highly decorated burials is a faunal assemblage characterized by a low frequency of marine fauna and a high proportion of land mammal, particularly black-tailed deer. These proportions of animals are considered a-typical of Northwest Coast shell midden deposits and may represent specific mortuary or ritual activities associated with honoring the deceased. With an emphasis on deer remains, a zooarchaeological analysis assesses the possible role of animal remains in mortuary activities. In order to establish if the faunal assemblage from DjRw-14 is indeed unique, with its high frequency of deer remains and low numbers of marine fauna, the site assemblage is considered in comparison to other sites in the Gulf of Georgia with similar cultural components. Ethnographic and archaeological evidence of Coast Salish mortuary practices and beliefs are examined to better understand the ritual acts that took place at DjRw-14. The site ceases to be used as a burial ground with the termination of the Charles Culture, but patterns in fauna remain stable, attesting to the persistence of mortuary traditions. The social and political implications of continuing these traditions are considered in terms of creating and maintaining a social memory and an attachment to an ancestral landscape. The results of this study are critical to better understanding foodways and ritual expression in shíshálh funerary practice. The context in which we find animal remains offers the opportunity to explore expressions of mortuary customs and beliefs within the Salish landscape.

The point of departure is a short definition of prestige: “The prestige of a person, an object or a cultural practice is higher, the more exclusive its bearers and the more widespread its
estimation in the relevant group are”. This allows modern scholars to identify the cooccurrence of various aspects of prestige at state festivals as culturally significant markers.
This not only pertains to the participants, above all the king of the Third Dynasty of Ur (21st c. BCE), the governors of his provinces and foreign messengers, but also concerns
time, space, the ostentatious presentation of treasures, artistic performances etc. Interestingly, personal gift-giving is not included in the exchange of goods at state festivals, where goods from all over the country are collected and partly redistributed.

"Göbekli Tepe is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of modern times, pushing back the origins of monumentality beyond the emergence of agriculture. We are pleased to present a summary of work in progress by the excavators of this remarkable site and their latest thoughts
about its role and meaning. At the dawn of the Neolithic, hunter-gatherers congregating at Göbekli Tepe created social and ideological cohesion through the carving of decorated pillars, dancing, feasting—and, almost certainly, the drinking of beer made from fermented wild crops."

The Grolier Codex is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

Absracts of the presentation "Gift giving and feasting as an example of informal practices during the procedure for a dissertation defence in Ukraine" on the 10th IInternational Conference of Young Folklorists "Lore Makers, Law Breakers", May 19-21, 2021 in Tartu, Estonia.

This animal bone report presents results from the analysis of a sizeable assemblage from a late Iron Age/early Roman settlement. The site is located on the southern slopes of the South Downs in West Sussex, and the excavation is notable for revealing a number of sealed pit deposits of late Iron Age date which show good evidence for the primary deposition of both domestic and wild mammals. A number of articulating bone groups were present in the assemblage, providing evidence for feasting and the procurement of furs/skins.

This volume presents the results from the excavation and scientific analysis between 2005 and 2014 of seventeen Iron Age cauldrons discovered in a large pit on farmland in the parish of Chiseldon, Wiltshire, and consequently acquired by the British Museum.

My recent article offered a model by which to better classify feasts by distinguishing between archaeological correlates of group size and sociopolitical competition. Applying this model to remains from a precontact mound site, I highlighted feasting's role in promoting group solidarity in the American South. Hayden's comment argues that my scheme does not accommodate certain types of events, and it questions my noncompetitive interpretation. I address both critiques here by citing further data from the Southeast, emphasizing the importance of interpreting feasts within their cultural and historical contexts, and highlighting Hayden's continued reliance on long-standing assumptions about feasting and monumental architecture.

El estudio de la música en las ciudades de España e Hispanoamérica durante los siglos XVI al XVIII se ha venido asociando tradicionalmente con el análisis de la actividad musical de su catedral o alguno de sus inevitablemente "gloriosos" maestrso de capilla. De esta forma, una gran cantidad de trabajos que bajo el título recurrente y convencional de "La música en" una determinada ciudad son, en la práctica, investigaciones centradas en "La música en la catedral de" esa ciudad. En respuesta a esta visión reductora que identifica la música de una urbe con la de su principal institución musical surgió en los años 80 una nueva perspectiva de estudio que, bajo el rubro de "musicología urbana", aspiraba a estudiar de forma globalizada las prácticas musicales de todas las instituciones urbanas -ya fueron religiosas o civiles- que auspiciaron con más o menos medios y esplendor la actividad musical.
Centrándose en el caso de Baeza, este ensayo aspira a presentar una aproximación complementaria a la ofrecida por la historia institucional a través del análisis de algunas prácticas musicales urbanas durante los siglos XVI al XVIII, lo que requiere tanto una metodología interdisciplinar como una ampliación del abanico de fuentes empleadas. El punto de partida para ello serán los datos aportados por la escasa bibliografía musicológica disponible y estudios locales, complementados con nueva información fruto de mi propia investigación.

“If there is a starting point for the understanding of ancient religion” Karoly Kerenyi once wrote “…it consists exactly in probing the essence of the feast”. This is indeed the aim of this book, in which the Author probes the essence of “the mother of all feasts”: the great New Year festival. The Author’s investigation, based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, focuses on the Winter Solstice festival of the Kalasha people of the Birir valley (Chitral, Pakistan), a small group of mountain people of special interest not only to anthropologists, but also to historians of religion and to scholars in Indo-European studies. They are the only speakers of an Indo-European language who still practice an ancient form of polytheism that, for centuries, has almost miraculously escaped the deadly embrace of the great historical religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam. The study of this unique religious system can offer an important contribution to a better understanding of beliefs that lay at the roots of our own civilization: from Greek, Celtic and Germanic polytheisms to Vedic religiosity. The interpretation of the Winter Solstice Festival of the Kalasha can therefore provide a privileged key for the comprehension of a once widely spread cosmological vision. After the analysis of the Kalasha symbolic system to enucleate the values that stand and at its foundations, the Author, in the last section of the volume, sets out on a long comparative journey that leads him to compare the Kalasha ritual complex to the New Year celebrations of the European and Indian worlds, seeking also connections with the Indo-European cultural universe as reconstructed by linguists and archaeologists: a complex itinerary from which the universal message of the “great feast” seems in the end to emerge.

ABSTRACT: This lecture (Part-2) continues the examination of Old Kingdom elite tombs, looking at (1) other types of middle-upper class tombs that emerge in Old Kingdom Egypt (i.e., rock-cut tombs; rock-cut mastaba tombs); (2) various reasons why such apparently “different” tombs emerge and whether they really are so different (i.e., identical components; non-structural elements); (3) ancient tomb robbing, robbers, and how some tomb builders/owners try to combat robbery (e.g., decoy chambers); (4) a brief discussion of changes in tomb design during the ED-Old Kingdom; (5) the sorts of texts and decoration (genres) found in middle-upper class tombs; (6) the artists and various techniques applied in decorating elite tombs (e.g., training; painting; relief work; stages; etc.); (7) the various ways in which Ancient Egyptian artists portrayed things (e.g., twisted profile; architecture); (8) the various types of decorative themes that emerged in Old Kingdom elite tombs; (9) the significance of the various decoration (genres) found throughout elite tombs (e.g., essential/key funerary elements [e.g., banquet scene] versus less crucial/non-essential things [e.g., daily life and other scenes]); (10) other things we can say about the elite tomb architecture, decoration, and their significance (e.g., nullifying potential dangers in decoration [depicting snakes without heads]; superstitions regarding completing funeral procession scenes); (11) the different types of elite burial chambers and examples of and changes in  decorated ones (versus mostly non-decorated ones); (12) some examples of non-royal sarcophagi (i.e., “stone coffins”: rectilinear boxes); (13) selected examples of non-royal, elite coffins (i.e., wooden, rectilinear boxes); (14) some "typical" mortuary furnishings (burial goods) found in elite tombs; and (15) the forms of and furnishings in middle class and lower class tombs and graves (only a brief summary to illustrate the burial practices of the bulk of Egypt's Old Kingdom populace).  The lecture ends with a series of text slides summarizing the main points from both parts 1-2 of the lectures on elite Old Kingdom tombs.  UPDATED: March 13, 2023. Much editing/formatting, plus some new images, and adding a selected set of sources (end slides)

This study is devoted to the emotional experience of the famous Renaissance sculptor, goldsmith, and writer, Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571), as it is portrayed in his life writing, the Vita. Providing the variety of arguments on the connection between the artist and contemporary intellectuals, who attended the Florentine Academy (1540–1583) together, I demonstrate that Cellini’s literary production can be examined productively against the background of Neoplatonic thought. In particular, Marsilio Ficino’s On Love, first published in the vernacular Italian in 1544, helps to establish an explanation of what Cellini meant when he decided to play the cornet while falling in love simultaneously with a young boy and girl, or  how he justified kicking or punching his servants, or why he did not kill his adversary, the artist Baccio Bandinelli, when he had the chance. These cases of radical affectivity are inscribed into Ficino’s concept of the “melancholy genius” manifesting melancholic madness. In Cellini’s Vita, the latter can not only turn humans almost into beast, literally (for example, in a bat); but, properly tempered by the means of music and poetry, as well as of individual and collective magic, it elevates one’s soul “on high,” which corresponds to the Neoplatonic concept of divine madness.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1.  Benvenuto Cellini and the Florentine Academy
1.1 Why did the Italian academies emerge?
1.2 Academic movement before the Florentine Academy
1.3 The Florentine Academy
1.4 Benvenuto Cellini’s writings in the context of the Florentine Academy
Chapter 2.  “Essendo io per natura malinconico”: Benvenuto Cellini and the Ficinian Legacy
2.1 “Grand theories” and “grounded” early-modern artists
2.2 Marsilio Ficino’s On Love
2.3 “Melancholy genius” concept
2.4 (Neo)Platonic love
Chapter 3.  “Tu ten sei gito a contemplar su ’n Cielo l’alto Fattore”: Benvenuto Cellini Ascending on High
3.1 Esoteric knowledge and censorship
3.2 “Furor divino” and “diabolico furore”
3.3 Different kinds of furor divino in the Vita
Conclusion

Iron Age tankards are stave-built wooden vessels completely covered or bound in copper-alloy sheet. The
distinctive copper-alloy handles of these vessels frequently display intricate ‘Celtic’ or La Tène art styles. They
are characterised by their often highly original designs, complex manufacturing processes, and variety of find
contexts. No systematic analysis of this artefact class has been undertaken since Corcoran’s (1952a) original
study was published in Volume 18 of these Proceedings. New evidence from the Portable Antiquities Scheme for
England and Wales and recent excavations have more than quadrupled the number of known examples
(139 currently). It is therefore necessary and timely to re-examine tankards, and to reintegrate them into current
debates surrounding material culture in later prehistory. Tankards originate in the later Iron Age and their use
continued throughout much of the Roman period. As such, their design was subject to varying influences over
time, both social and aesthetic. Their often highly individual form and decoration is testament to this fact and
has created challenges in developing a workable typology (Corcoran 1952a; 1952b; 1957; Spratling 1972;
Jackson 1990). A full examination of the decoration, construction, wear and repair, dating, and deposition
contexts will allow for a reassessment of the role of tankards within the social and cultural milieu of later
prehistoric and early Roman Britain.

The present study arose from a decision to erect a wind turbine on the hill of Knock Iveagh, Co. Down, a place that is believed to have ancient ritual associations. In order to assess the likely importance of the hill, the study looked into the archaeology, history, mythology and folklore of Knock Iveagh as well as the interrelatedness of the hill with the wider physical and cultural landscape; including other sites and monuments in the region and further afield.

Newari way of feasting is unique and one of the most diverse types. A traditional Newari
feast is known by various names i.e. lapti bhoye, suku bhoye and jho voye. The dishes served
in feasts are considered to make a properly balanced and healthy diet meal.
From this research, we can now conclude that there are many people who like
traditional way of feasting traditional Newari feast. People love the food items included in the
feast; they want to celebrate their auspicious and cherishing moments/events in the traditional
Newari style.
Moreover, most of the people who are opting for parties and western buffet instead of
traditional feasting, they are forced to do so because, it’s difficult to organize feast by oneself,
there’s no sufficient time to organize traditional Newari feast and party palaces and catering
service providers manage and organize every activity involved in parties and buffet dinners.
That’s why people are opting for catering services and buffet lunches/dinners.
Modernization plays a vital role in such changes. And, along with the people and their
minds, in case of Newar’s, their traditional social organizations are also influenced by such
changes. The process of modernization is something that a society cannot avoid. Moreover,
modernization cannot be termed as something inharmonious to traditions. So, it is better for
any society to find a way between these ‘tradition’ and ‘modern’ to harmonize them in proper
manner for the wellbeing of the society. But, one fact cannot be neglected that traditions are
necessary in order to keep the society’s cultural identity alive. So, it is necessary for people to
realize the importance and find the ways of revitalizing their cultural elements. It is the
responsibility of the older generations to create the awareness regarding their culture and
rituals among the younger generations.
The study revealed that more and more people are opting for catering services and
buffet lunches/dinners rather than the traditional newari feast; and even those who decide on
for customary newari feasts are modifying it in their own ways for the sake of modern
convenience. Hence, Newari way of feasting is gradually diminishing. However, this trend
can be put to an end by establishing party palaces or such which specialize on organizing
newari feasts to keep our valuable culture and tradition alive.

englich: The feast of the Circumcision of the Lord was suppressed from the Roman Calendar in 1960 for reasons that are unclear. In 2012 a number of biblicists and theologians petitioned for the re-establishment of this liturgical feast, which recalls an important event in the historical identity of Jesus Christ. This article presents a systematical dossier about the feast, along with hypotheses regarding its suppression and the issues at stake in its restoration.
french: La fête de la Circoncision du Seigneur a été supprimée du calendrier romain en 1960. Les causes en sont confuses. En 2012, des biblistes et théologiens ont demandé le rétablissement de cette fête liturgique, mémoire d’un évènement important de l’identité historique de Jésus-Christ. Cet article présente un dossier systématique sur cette fête, les hypothèses sur sa disparition et les enjeux de sa restauration.
italian: La festa della Circoncisione del Signore fu soppressa dal Calendario romano nel 1960. Le ragioni sono confuse. Nel 2012, alcuni biblisti e teologi hanno chiesto il ripristino di tale festa liturgica, memoria di una evento importante dell’identità storica di Gesù Cristo. Questo articolo presenta un dossier sistematico su di essa, le ipotesi sulla sua espunzione e le problematiche del suo reinserimento.

Archaeologists are familiar with the concept of assemblage, but in more recent years they have started problematizing it in interesting and innovative ways, beyond its common connotations of aggregation. Sociologists such as Manuel DeLanda and political philosophers such as Jane Bennett have been key influences in this move. These authors had adapted and modified the assemblage thinking of Deleuze and Guattari. In this article, an assemblage of sorts itself, I propose that we need to return to that original Deleuzian body of thinking and explore its richness further. Assemblages, temporary and deliberate heterogeneous arrangements of material and immaterial elements, are about the relationship of in-betweenness. I further suggest that sensoriality and affectivity, memory and multi-temporality are key features of assemblage thinking, and that assemblages also imply certain political effects. The omission of these features in the archaeological treatments of the concept may lead to mechanistic reincarnations of systems thinking, thus depriving the concept of its potential. Finally, I explore these ideas by considering communal eating and feasting events as powerful sensorial assemblages.

An increasing number of Iron Age Celtic sites in France and Luxemburg have been identified and interpreted as sanctuaries. Many of these sites have produced faunal deposits of varying quantity and quality that have been associated with Celtic rituals of sacrifice and feasting. Most of these faunal remains were found in internal and external enclosure ditches, but also in pits, shafts, and floors within the enclosures, and, in one case, in a shellmidden within a settlement site.

The faunal assemblages of one Hallstatt site and 20 La Tène sites, which have been interpreted as sanctuaries, were analyzed by synthesizing theoretical frameworks, specifically costly signaling, conspicuous consumption, and competitive display. The analyses carried out in this study involved the comparison of the relative abundance of domesticated species represented at the study sites to the expected abundance of those taxa based on settlement data. An analysis was also conducted based on the ubiquity of domesticated species consumed in feasting contexts at the sites. The evidence for wild species at these sites was included in order to approach the topic of Celtic animal exploitation in ritual contexts more systematically in relation to ethnohistoric evidence of Celtic symbolic meanings.

The following conclusions were drawn from this research: 1) approaching prehistoric ritual animal use through economic, costly signaling, and symbolic models can be productive; 2) the advantages to studying the remains of both domesticates and wild fauna exploited in ritual contexts from a regional perspective are considerable; and 3) there are advantages and limitations in combining faunal and ethnohistorical data in studies of prehistoric symbolic systems.

Una antica tradizione della città di Scicli racconta che la Vergine Maria sia intervenuta in aiuto dei cittadini contro una invasione dei saraceni. La particolarità è data dalla apparizione della Madonna su un cavallo bianco e con la spada in mano. Verità? Leggenda? Dietro certamente c'è la paura dei turchi che razziavano le città sulle rive del Mediterraneo.

This dissertation examines prehistoric activity at the Feltus site (22Je500) in Jefferson County, Mississippi, to elucidate how Coles Creek (AD 700–1200) platform mound sites were used. Data from excavations undertaken by the Feltus Archaeological Project from 2006 to 2012 support the conclusion that Coles Creek people utilized Feltus episodically for some 400 years, with little evidence of permanent habitation. More specifically, the ceramic, floral, and faunal data suggest that Feltus provided a location for periodic ritual events focused around food consumption, post-setting, and mound building. The rapidity with which the middens at Feltus were deposited and the large size of the ceramic vessels implies that the events occurring there brought together large groups of people for massive feasting episodes. The vessel form assemblage is dominated by open bowls and thus suggests an emphasis on food consumption, with less evidence for food preparation and virtually none for food storage. Overall, the ceramic assemblage emphasizes a great deal of continuity in the use of the Feltus landscape from the earliest occupation, during the Hamilton Ridge phase, through the latest, during the Balmoral phase. Evidence from the food remains further supports these conclusions. Faunal remains indicate that the Feltus diet consisted mainly of large mammals and fish, and botanical remains suggest a focus on nuts and wild seeds, with limited evidence for domesticated chenopod. An emphasis on exceptionally large animals (including bear) and easily amassable plant resources further implies large, communal eating events. The presence of ritually important plants, smoking pipes, and bear remains in the Feltus deposits suggest that the meals that occurred during these events were ceremonial. The final chapter offers a general scheme for identifying, describing, and comparing feasting events in the archaeological record. Based on this comparative framework, I argue that the feasts and communal rituals taking place at Coles Creek sites need not have been competitive, but rather may have emphasized community building and highlighted the shared identity of the participants.

English abstract: Since the discovery in 1860 of La Pastora, one of the most beautiful and outstanding megalithic constructions of Iberia, the Copper Age and Bronze Age site of Valencina de la Concepción – Castilleja de Guzmán has provided an unceasing series of archaeological finds of the utmost significance. Today, a hundred and fifty years after the earliest discoveries, this volume offers an up-to-date and comprehensive review of the research carried out at this site, which underlines, first and foremost, its importance as a scientific and cultural resource. Among the contributions to this volume the reader will find some of the keys to the human occupation of the lower Guadalquivir basin 5000 years ago, the process of social aggregation that gave way to the formation of the city of Seville itself. In addition, this book reflects some of the current discussions that dominate today’s scientific agenda on Iberian Copper Age (c. 3200-2200 cal BC), a period of fascinating social and cultural dynamism that laid the basis for the consolidation of social ranking, long-distance contact and exchange, as well as metallurgy and productive specialization.

Spanish abstract: Desde que en 1860 se produjera el descubrimiento de La Pastora, una de las construcciones megalíticas más bellas y singulares de España, el yacimiento de la Edad del Cobre y de la Edad del Bronce de Valencina de la Concepción – Castilleja de Guzmán no ha cesado de deparar hallazgos arqueológicos de la mayor significación. Hoy, 150 años después de los primeros descubrimientos, este volumen ofrece una puesta al día de las investigaciones que están revelando la extraordinaria importancia de este yacimiento como recurso científico y patrimonial. Entre las colaboraciones de esta obra el lector encontrará algunas de las claves de la ocupación de la desembocadura del río Guadalquivir hace 5000 años: el proceso de agregación humana que representa el origen de la misma ciudad de Sevilla. Igualmente, en las páginas de este libro encuentra reflejo el debate que en la actualidad preside el estudio de la Edad del Cobre (c. 3200-2200 antes de nuestra era), un periodo de apasionante dinamismo social y cultural en el que se consolidaron las bases de la jerarquización social, las relaciones comerciales a larga distancia, la metalurgia y la especialización productiva.

This paper investigates the connection between copper and cult in Late Bronze Age (LBA) Cyprus, arguing that a number of distinct functional and symbolic interactions existed between copper production and ritual practice during this time. Models of social organisation derived from ethnographic research are drawn upon (e.g. Dietler and Herbich 2001; Wallace 1956), to complement and contrast with models of state level society (e.g. D’Altroy and Earle 1985; Wright and Johnson 1975) employed in previous research. The paper begins with a review of previously proposed models for the Cypriot copper industry, followed by a chronological examination of the archaeological evidence utilised in their formulation. It concludes with a presentation of anthropological models for institutions, work feasts, ritual authority and social movements, using them to re-interpret the organisation of copper production in LBA Cyprus.

This study focuses upon the Teuchitlan people of ancient West Mexico, who lived near Tequila Volcano, Jalisco from 300 BCE to 250 CE. I argue that during the Late Preclassic Period of Mesoamerican prehistory, the central organizing principle of this society was based upon descent, and that kin groups practiced ancestor worship as a manifestation of this social organization. Deep shade tombs, a hallmark of the Teuchitlan people, are the tangible archaeological remains of their social emphasis upon kin goops and principles of descent. My study study of the organization of an early West Mexican society relies upon evidence drawn from both art and archaeology. As part of their mortuary rituals, the Teuchitlan people placed ceramic architectural models containing figurines, into the tombs of the dead. My analysis of the architectural features and zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figural elements on 82 ceramic models identifies the theme of ancestor worship and ritual consumption. At Huitzilapa, a Late Preclassic site on the flanks of Tequila Volcano (excavated by INAH archaeologists Jorge Ramos and Lorenza Mestas), I further investigate evidence for kin groups and ritual consumption. My settlement pattern study reveals the imprint kinship in the form of domestic architecture, patio group residences and family altars. I infer that the Huitzilapans had corporate kin groups that were ranked vis-a-vis each other. My ceramic analysis explores further the practice of ritual consumption. I conclude that the Huitzilapans conducted private mortuary feasts and public annual feasts that commemorated the ancestors. I propose that the localized production of the native Agave tequila plant, restricted to the Tequila Volcano area, gave the Huitzilapans an unusual advantage over their neighbors. This plant may have provided a food surplus and the juices needed to prepare intoxicating drinks of pulque and mescal. The corporate control over the valuable agave fields may've been the impetus for the formation of ranked descent groups during the Late Preclassic Period. The elaborate graves make the claims made by these groups to the rights and properties of founding landowning families.

Did Greeks and non-Greeks banquet together in the first half of the first millennium BCE, and if so, how does this mode of cultural contact explain the evidence of cultural exchange between Greece and the Near East? Following suggestions in scholarship that Greeks shared a banqueting culture with West Semitic peoples, and that Greeks sometimes banqueted with non-Greeks, this dissertation presents evidence that Greeks banqueted with non-Greeks, explains why they should have done so in terms of earlier practices and anthropological theory, and argues that multicultural banquets were the primary mode of peaceful cultural contact in the thought-world of Greeks in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE. Chapter 1 addresses the evidence for multicultural banqueting before the first millennium, and finds that it was a feature of diplomacy in the Late Bronze Age (1700-1100). Objects and texts are examined and used as evidence that members of various populations learned foreign banqueting customs. I argue that the multicultural banqueting in the Iron Age (1100-750) and Archaic period (750-490) is a revival of Late Bronze Age diplomatic practices. Chapter 2 addresses evidence for reclined banqueting in the Iron Age, arguing that it is a result of multicultural banqueting among various groups. It is interpreted as a feature of diplomacy and as an instantiation of the anthropological theory of Mary Helms (1988) that elites seek out external symbols of status in order to be recognized as elite by foreigners and to differentiate themselves at home. Chapter 3 focuses on the Iliad and finds that multicultural banquets are philologically distinguished from banquets among Greeks, and that the banquet is essential in cultural contact where hostility is possible. Chapter 4 focuses on the Odyssey and demonstrates that banqueting mediates contact between Greeks and non-Greeks in the Archaic imagination. I hope hereby to construct a stable mode of contact that explains the evidence of cultural exchange between Greek and West Semitic populations, such as the alphabet, the burning of incense in ritual, and adaptations of gods and cults. The multicultural banquet becomes an interpretive model for developments in Archaic Greek literature, culture, and society.

The ritual of drinking wine as part of a communal ceremony probably reflecting the horizontal integration of the communities who participated in the large feasts sponsored by the Mycenaean palaces is a well-known practice, embodied in our archaeological record by the ubiquitous kylikes and kraters. The latter is most probably used to mix water and wine, while presenting at the same time a substantial canvas for generous painted decoration, often taking the form of a narrative composition. A recent study has shown that the particular shape of the Mycenaean amphoroid krater – which “was not produced for use within a local Mycenaean context” (Crouwel & Morris 2015: 172) – has its origin in early Late Bronze Age Crete, where it in turn closely refers to contemporary but also earlier Minoan large jars. The study of large storage vessels in Bronze Age Crete has shed important light on different issues, from palatial economy, subsistence strategies to burial practices. However, the particular category of large brightly decorated containers may have had little to do with the other plain or simply decorated pithoi and storage containers, most often considered within the framework of the Minoan palatial or household economies. In this context, the exclusive Palace Style Jars from the Monopalatial period at Knossos essentially, have been interpreted as having a very specific function in a very specific context: portable items in display, referencing and playing with the astonishing wall paintings which adorned the last palace at Knossos. But what about this large elaborately decorated Minoan shape before and after the installation of a Mycenaean administration at Knossos? Which function, use and type(s) of content can we attribute to it? During the Neopalatial period, richly pattern-painted storage jars take the form of piriform and conical or barrel-shaped jars, sometimes exported to Thera or the Mainland. Later, in Late Minoan III, these two types of containers seem to include a new tradition of large coarse vessels, still brightly decorated, which exhibit distinct manufacturing techniques in terms of paste, shaping processes and surface treatment as well as a similar set of decorative styles. This tradition comprises the piriform jars and barrel-shaped jars but also the new amphoroid kraters and the reactivated larnakes. Despite clear connections between and within regional groups of production and manifest evidence for the interregional movement of these items but also of potters and/or painters, the definition of their respective function and contexts of consumption remains unclear, while certainly multi-faceted. In this paper it is argued that distinguishing between potential contexts of consumption of these brightly decorated containers taken as a whole and through a diachronic perspective from the Neopalatial period onwards, can provide a better understanding of the precise activities or rituals associated with these different containers. As such, it is argued that these contexts may particularly point to the special display of the consumption of liquids – especially wine, although maybe under different ‘forms’ –, which reproduced and reactivated in parts earlier, deeply-rooted, Minoan social practices.

This research set out to investigate the nature and extent of prehistoric human activity in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire, a relatively poorly understood area located between the Marlborough Downs and Salisbury Plain. This was to be achieved through a combination of archival reassessment, aerial photographic interpretation and non-intrusive fieldwork. It became obvious that the Vale was the location for a considerable density of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age sites, many of which were so called " midden " or " black-earth " sites, and this dissertation concentrates on this period. A survey of some 240 square km of the Vale was undertaken and the results analysed in the context of the few black-earth sites in the area that had previously been investigated. A number of well preserved sites dating from this period were identified and surveyed for the first time and fragments of the late prehistoric landscape defined and discussed. Recent interpretations of Casterley Camp as a hill-top enclosure of this period were investigated and challenged as a result of fieldwork. The nature of the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age subsistence system and society in this area are discussed and ethnographic comparables offered. The formation and meaning of black-earth sites and the role of these sites in the contemporary society discussed. The apparent uniqueness of the concentration of sites in the Vale of Pewsey is considered by comparison with other areas of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age activity in southern Britain and, finally, suggestions for future work in the area are made.

Métropole des premiers établissements grecs dans la péninsule italique, Érétrie, sur l’île d’Eubée, est une cité-clé au cœur du bassin méditerranéen, qui a servi en quelque sorte de vecteur pour l’échange des biens et des idées d’Orient en Grèce et de Grèce en Occident aux VIIIe-VIe siècles avant notre ère. C’est pourquoi l’étude des contextes rituels dans cette cité-mère se révèle capitale pour l’histoire des rites dans les sociétés méditerranéennes en général. Les premiers lieux de culte fondés dans la cité ont livré trois céramiques – le cratère, l’hydrie et une cruche à col haut – qui constituent l’une des expressions matérielles majeures des rites célébrés par les premiers Érétriens dans leurs sanctuaires et que l’on retrouve dans le contexte funéraire dans l’arc géographique eubéo-béotien. En l’absence de sources écrites, la présence – ou l’absence – de certaines formes, les spécificités typologiques, une iconographie caractéristique, les modalités de déposition et de mise au rebut révèlent des manipulations certaines récurrentes, les autres distinctes, qui témoignent de rituels élaborés.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> update 29.07.2020:

Ok, I now have a searchable pdf of the book. However, it is still 160 mb large.

I therefore could not install it here for download.

Please contact me via my email address (alexander.herda@web.de), and I will send you the file via "wetransfer".

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> update 10.07.2020:

a searchable pdf of my book for free download is placed here soon. actually in one week it is done! (It goes without saying that this is on my own cost...)

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<


I am planning to place here a free pdf (on my own cost) asap, as the book was sold out by the publisher, without offering me to buy some of the leftovers of the first - and last - edition for the ridiculous price of 19.95 Euro for which they sold it at a loss (not really, because they had already been compensated fully by the editing institution).

reviews:
R. Parker, Classical Review 58, 2008, 178–180;

O. Hülden, in: H-Soz-u-Kult, 17.03.2008, URL: hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensionen/2008-1-208;

E. Lupu, in: sehepunkte 8, 2008, Nr. 9 (15.09.2008), URL: www.sehepunkte.de/2008/09/13326.html;

M. Gonzales, AJA Online Book Review 112. 3, July 2008, URL: www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/book_reviews/112.3/06_Gonzales.pdf;

M. Horster, Klio 91, 2009, 528–529

A. Chaniotis, The Molpoi Inscription: Ritual Prescription or Riddle?, Kernos 23, 2010, 275-279, URL:
http://kernos.revues.org/1594

For answering some of the reviewers critiques, especially those of Parker and Chaniotis, see my articles of 2011 (How to Organise a State Cult) and 2016 (Megara and Miletos).

L'esperienza della preghiera costituisce una delle più rilevanti forme di vivere il tempo. Il tempo che viene chiamato è “tempo lento”, il tempo indugiato nell’atto di celebrazione e nella memoria di eventi fondatori, eppure è un tempo “accelerato” che già ora gode la condizione escatologica. Il tempo della preghiera è vissuto come un tempo trasfigurato, un tempo “compiuto” e “pieno”. Complessivamente, la preghiera si dispiega nell’ordine del tempo e della storia e quindi assume una specifica fisionomia temporale dalla quale affiora una dimensione metastorica che coinvolge e trascende il tempo e inaugura l’interstizio dell’eterno. Sullo sfondo di questa sintesi si muove la riflessione presente, intenta a cogliere il legame fra la preghiera e il tempo in ordine all’accadimento della salvezza mediato dal rito.
Per affrontare nello specifico il tema, ci accostiamo a una riflessione comparativa dedicata alla natura del pregare in alcuni autori - Franz Rosenzweig, Dietrich Bonhoeffer e Odo Casel - che hanno contribuito in modo originale a configurarsi una filosofia/teologia della tempo orante. Vedremo come alcune caratteristiche della preghiera si ripresentano come analoghe condizioni nel procedere riflessivo molto affine, seppur provenienti dalle tradizioni e angolature teoriche differenti. In questa riflessione vengono dunque confrontate rispettive prospettive (ebraica, evangelica e cattolica), appartenenti quasi allo stesso quadro storico-culturale, sotto l’intento di illustrare il concetto del tempo della preghiera liturgica.