Description
Book SynopsisWhat is sacrifice? How can we identify it in the archaeological record? And what does it tell us about the societies that practice it? Sacred Killing: The Archaeology of Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East investigates these and other questions through the evidence for human and animal sacrifice in the Near East from the Neolithic to the Hellenistic periods. Drawing on sociocultural anthropology and history in addition to archaeology, the book also includes evidence from ancient China and a riveting eyewitness account and analysis of sacrifice in contemporary India, which engage some of the key issues at stake. Sacred Killing vividly presents a variety of methods and theories in the study of one of the most profound and disturbing ritual activities humans have ever practiced.
Table of ContentsList of Contributors
Archaeology and Sacrifice Glenn M. Schwartz
On Cakti-Filled Bodies and Divinities: An Ethnographic Perspective on Animal Sacrifice and Ritual in Contemporary South India, with an Introduction by Anne Porter
Gillian Goslinga
Sociopolitical Implications of Neolithic Foundation Deposits and the Possibility of Child Sacrifice: A Case Study at Çatalhöyük, Turkey Sharon Moses
Hunting Sacrifice at Neolithic Çatalhöyük Nerissa Russell
On Human and Animal Sacrifice in the Late Neolithic at Domuztepe Elizabeth Carter
Bludgeoned, Burned, and Beautified: Reevaluating Mortuary Practices in the Royal Cemetery of Ur Aubrey Baadsgaard, Janet Monge, and Richard L. Zettler
Restoring Order: Death, Display, and Authority Jill A. Weber
Mortal Mirrors: Creating Kin through Human Sacrifice in Third Millennium Syro-Mesopotamia Anne M. Porter
Scripts of Animal Sacrifice in Levantine Culture-History Brian Hesse, Paula Wapnish, and Jonathan Greer
Human and Animal Sacrifice at Galatian Gordion: The Uses of Ritual in a Multiethnic Community Mary M. Voigt
Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East: Offering and Ritual Killing Beate Pongratz-Leisten
On Sacrifice: An Archaeology of Shang Sacrifice Roderick Campbell
Index of Authors
