archaeology and religion

The study of objects that human beings made and used in the past, and the ways in which that study affects scholars' understanding of religions and the claims religions make. WHAT IS ARCHAEOLOGY? Religious people have been interested in artifacts from the past for a long time. For example, in the eighth century B.C.E. people in Greece began to WORSHIP heroes (see HEROES AND HERO MYTHS) at tombs from the Mycenaean period (ended roughly 1100 B.C.E.). But archaeology is the systematic, scientifi c study of the things people made and used in the past. It has roots in grave-robbing and treasure- hunting. It also has roots in the sensational excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum, Italy, that began in the 18th century, and of Troy and Mycenae in the 19th century. In the 20th century scientifi c archaeology came into its own. Archaeologists study artifacts in several different ways. Sometimes they make fi eld surveys, that is, they note what kinds of remains are visible on the Earth's surface. Often archaeologists undertake limited excavations. They dig trenches at places where they know or suspect human beings lived. To excavate an entire site is costly and time-consuming. It may also be a bad idea. Such excavation destroys evidence that later archaeologists, with new and better tools, might also be able to study. The fi rst archaeologists were interested in art treasures, valuable materials such as gold, and sensational headlines. With time, archaeologists learned that careful study of the simplest remains might teach them more. Remains are most signifi - cant if the precise location where they were found is known. As a result, archaeology is not the random digging of treasure hunters. It is a painstaking removal of detritus. The site and its objects are carefully mapped every step of the way. In analyzing the materials uncovered, one of the fi rst questions archaeologists must answer is, "How old is it?" Several methods help them. Unless a site is disturbed, more recent material lies on top of older material. Identifying the different layers of material in a site is known as stratigraphy. It provides a relative chronology—an idea of what is older and what is younger. Analyzing tree rings from wooden objects can provide a relative chronology, too. In the second half of the 20th century archaeologists developed sophisticated physical tests for establishing actual dates. The most widely known is radiocarbon dating. It dates items that were alive within the last 40,000 years by measuring the amount of radioactive carbon they contain. In the fi rst half of the 20th century archaeologists were interested in major artifacts such as temples and palaces. Besides developing methods of dating, they classifi ed material remains according to types, for example, types of jars and oil lamps. Their ideas about religion generally refl ected the ideas of the time, such as DYNAMISM; many scholars today question those ideas. In the 1960s a so-called "new archaeology" arose. This kind of archaeology used statistics to analyze material remains, often those associated with everyday life. In doing so, it applied models of religion and society that sociologists and anthropologists had developed. The results were intriguing, but sometimes controversial. ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF RELIGIONS Archaeology provides the only hard evidence available for PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS. That is because prehistory is defi ned as "before the invention of writing." It is possible to read too much into this evidence. In 1956, Horace Miner published a good example in the journal, The American Anthropologist. He claimed to be analyzing the "We'uns." They lived in a place called "Nacirema." What he actually did was apply archaeological language to artifacts common in American society at the time. ("Nacirema" is American spelled backwards.) The results were amusing. They also pointed out a very real danger: People of today may seriously misinterpret artifacts from the past because they make assumptions about them that simply do not hold. Despite the dangers, archaeologists have provided a wealth of information about prehistoric religions. They have shown that religion goes back at least to the Neanderthal people, and perhaps even further. From the Paleolithic period they have discovered evidence of religion that includes cave paintings, statuary, and burials. Marija Gimbutas and others have studied the religious signifi cance of Neolithic fi gurines from eastern Europe. "Archaeoastronomers" have examined megalithic monuments like Stonehenge as well as temples in Mesoamerica. They note the way these monuments relate to the sun, moon, stars, and planets. Some scholars, inspired by the geographer Paul Wheatley, have explored the role religion played in the founding of cities. In south Asia archaeology has uncovered a massive, early civilization known as the Indus Valley or Harappan civilization (see INDUS VALLEY RELIGION). Its writing remain undeciphered. In China archaeologists have unearthed massive, early tombs (see CHINA, RELIGIONS OF). Archaeologists have also made tremendous contributions to the study of historical religions. One way they have done so is by discovering ancient texts that were previously unknown. Such texts include the hieroglyphs and calendars of the Maya (see MAYA RELIGION), texts from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia (see EGYPTIAN RELIGION and MESOPOTAMIAN RELIGIONS), and texts that have transformed the understanding of the BIBLE and its world. The last include Canaanite texts from Ugarit and Ebla (see CANAANITE RELIGION), texts from Qumran known as the DEAD SEA SCROLLS, the Nag Hammadi Codices of ancient Gnostics (see GNOSTICISM), and texts of the Bible itself. ARCHAEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS CLAIMS Because religions make claims about the past, archaeological discoveries may have something to say about those claims. Sometimes archaeology raises questions about religious claims. An example is the story of the universal FLOOD. Television stations occasionally show programs in which "archaeologists" are searching for NOAH's ark. In fact, archaeology has made it virtually certain that a universal fl ood never occurred. On the one hand, archaeologists have uncovered documents that make it possible to trace in a general way where the writers of the Bible got the story. On the other, there is no evidence for the kind of cataclysmic fl ood that the Bible records. Evidence of such a fl ood should be everywhere, and it should be unmistakable. It is worth pointing out that archaeology does not question claims only of JUDAISM and CHRISTIANITY. Some indigenous North Americans think that human life originated in the Western Hemisphere. However, evidence from archaeology and other sources, such as comparative anatomy, make this extremely unlikely. Hindus have traditionally traced sacred events to times in the very distant past. They have dated the events of the Mahabharata to roughly 3000 B.C.E. and the events of the Ramayana to roughly 867,000 B.C.E. (see RAMA, RAMAYANA). The fi rst date is unlikely; the second is inconceivable. Archaeology does more than raise questions about religious claims. It also makes those claims more vivid and meaningful. For example, archaeology has provided an understanding of cities and ways of life pictured in the Hebrew Bible. It has also provided a more accurate and detailed image of what crucifi xion was like at the time of JESUS. At the same time, archaeology can say very little about some very important religious claims. These include claims such as the following: GOD wants Jews to live according to the TORAH; Jesus is the son of God; the prophet MUHAMMAD received the QUR'AN by divine revelation; the BUDDHA discovered the path to NIRVANA. SIGNIFICANCE Archaeology has transformed the way people think about religions. It has also transformed the way people think about religious claims. Some religious people have reacted negatively to these developments, but others have seen them as an opportunity to rethink and reformulate religious truth.