Spiritual Archaeology

Archaeology of Spiritualties provides a fresh exploration of the interface between archaeology and religion/spirituality. Archaeological approaches to the study of religion have typically and often unconsciously, drawn on western paradigms, especially Judaeo-Christian (mono) theistic frameworks and academic rationalisations. Archaeologists have rarely reflected on how these approaches have framed and constrained their choices of methodologies, research questions, hypotheses, definitions, interpretations and analyses and have neglected an important dimension of religion: the human experience of the numinous - the power, presence or experience of the supernatural. Within the religions of many of the world’s peoples, sacred experiences – particularly in relation to sacred landscapes and beings connected with those landscapes – are often given greater emphasis, while doctrine and beliefs are relatively less important. Archaeology of Spiritualities asks how such experiences might be discerned in the archaeological record; how do we recognize and investigate ‘other’ forms of religious or spiritual experience in the remains of the past?. The volume opens up a space to explore critically and reflexively the encounter between archaeology and diverse cultural expressions of spirituality. It showcases experiential and experimental methodologies in this area of the discipline, an unconventional approach within the archaeology of religion. Thus Archaeology of Spiritualities offers a unique, timely and innovative contribution, one that is also challenging and stimulating. It is a great resource to archaeologists, historians, religious scholars and others interested in cultural and religious heritage.

This book’s aim is to go beyond the limits of the contemporary scientific paradigm of “material culture” by presenting some of the issues confronting archaeology, as it attempts to approach the spirituality of the past. It brings together archaeologists from Western and Eastern Europe, and the USA who, more or less obviously, have used their experientiality to approach the world view and mystic experience of ancient peoples. The book intends to present several arguments in support of an archaeology of spirituality through a series of seven case studies. What method should we use to approach spirituality? Are we still dependent on quantitative methods? Is phenomenology an appropriate instrument? Can experientiality approach a spiritual experience? Is the emic approach efficient enough to approach the spiritual side of a studied phenomenon? Are the analogous ethnographic models suitable instruments for this task? How much of the spirituality of the past is still accessible today? Could we build artificial contexts that would allow the recreation of the phenomenological condition analogous to the originals? Archaeology Experiences Spirituality? goes beyond the archaeological study of material culture, offering a fascinating lecture for the reader of the twenty-first century.

Archaeological heritage can be disputed, especially where it is important to religions and their practitioners. While the destruction of archaeological sites in war – often due to religious fervour – is frequently making the headlines, apparently lesser disputes about local heritage sites go unreported. This book focuses on these lesser, but much more frequent, potential conflicts between archaeological heritage management and conservation on the one hand, and practitioners of religious beliefs who use archaeological heritage in their practice on the other. By exploring case studies from Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Wales, this book examines the interaction between spiritual practice and monuments conservation. This book will be of great interest to heritage professionals, archaeologists, historians, conservationists and religious practitioners alike, through its exploration of various kinds of interactions between these different heritage communities and their interests in archaeology.

Spiritual Archaeology is a way of exploring the unseen past through a psychic connection. Sussan is the conduit who connects to Osiris, creator God of Egypt and Atlantis.The original temple of Osiris the Osireion is located in Abydos Egypt. Without explanation, an image is incised on a marble column with three circular images known collectively as the Flower of Life. Osiris speaks through the host of the secrets of the design and the connection to Atlantis.Also we unravel a mystery in a small hilltop town in Italy where the name of Merlini Merlin is recorded on the village register in the year 1150AD. He mentors a desperate knight Sir Galgano Guidotti who plunges a sword into sold rock. We discover what the Merlin Energy has meant to humanity throughout the ages.Situated a short distance from Rome is Hadrian's Villa - one of the wonders of the ancient world and within its boundaries we find a definitive link to Atlantis.The ancient city of Pompeii was destroyed by volcano in 79AD. In a garden we stumble across a seemingly inconspicuous fountain that will change recorded history and the discovery of Mexico. This unique find will also prove a connection between the Etruscans and the Mayan empire.We make contact with Voltumna, the supreme Etruscan Goddess to find the location of the holy grail of Italian archaeology, the Fanum Voltumnae. The location in central Italy is still one the most important finds for the spiritual center of the Etruscan world.

This book presents the current state of Maya archaeology by focusing on the history of the field for the last 100 years, present day research, and forward looking prescription for the direction of the field.

SPIRITUAL ARCHAEOLOGY is for the millions of people travel each year to holy places, ancient temples and pyramids, archaeological sites, natural sites and unique spiritual locations around the world. SPIRITUAL ARCHAEOLOGY delivers what explorers of sacred places are seeking--something that tourism cannot provide-access to the hidden spiritual wealth, life-changing personal messages and unique stories these mystical places have to reveal. No plans to travel? Use the skills in this book to enrich your everyday life and honor the Self as a sacred place.

At the intersection between western culture and Africa, we find the San people of the Kalahari desert. Once called Bushmen, the San have survived many characterizations-from pre-human animals by the early European colonials, to aboriginal conservationists in perfect harmony with nature by recent New Age adherents. Neither caricature does justice to the complex world view of the San. Eminent anthropologists David Lewis-Williams and David Pearce present a instead balanced view of the spiritual life of this much-studied people, examining the interplay of their cosmology, myth, ritual, and art.

The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Ritual and Religion provides a comprehensive overview by period and region of the relevant archaeological material in relation to theory, methodology, definition, and practice. Although, as the title indicates, the focus is upon archaeological investigations of ritual and religion, by necessity ideas and evidence from other disciplines are also included, among them anthropology, ethnography, religious studies, and history. The Handbook covers a global span - Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, and the Americas - and reaches from the earliest prehistory (the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic) to modern times. In addition, chapters focus upon relevant themes, ranging from landscape to death, from taboo to water, from gender to rites of passage, from ritual to fasting and feasting. Written by over sixty specialists, renowned in their respective fields, the Handbook presents the very best in current scholarship, and will serve both as a comprehensive introduction to its subject and as a stimulus to further research.