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The Village, the Ritual, and Death

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Ancestors, Territoriality, and Gods

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Abstract

At the beginning of the 20th century, the British biologist and humanist Julian Huxley (1887–1975) created a storm of protest when he not only analysed the formation of a strictly systematic motion sequence related to the behaviour—especially the mating behaviour—of birds, but also identified this behaviour as ritualization, in conscious analogy to the rituals of church worship.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Lucas, J. R. (1979). Wilberforce and Huxley: a legendary encounter. The Historical Journal 22 (2): pp. 313–330.

  2. 2.

    Jahn, I. and U. Sucker (1998). Die Herausbildung der Verhaltensbiologie. In: Jahn, I. (ed.) Geschichte der Biologie. Jena: Nikol, pp. 581–600.

    Burkhardt, Richard W. (2005). Patterns of Behavior: Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen, and the Founding of Ethology. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

    Bartley, Mary M. (1995). Courtship and Continued Progress: Julian Huxley’s Studies on Bird Behavior. Journal of the History of Biology Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 91–108.

  3. 3.

    Compare here the relevant deliberations of Hinde, Robert A. (1982). Ethology. New York: Fontana.

    Hinde, Robert A. (1999). Why Gods Persist. A Scientific Approach to Religion. London and New York: Routledge.

  4. 4.

    Ritualization in biology is “the evolutionary transformation of nondisplay behavior into display behavior; evolutionary change in the direction of enhancement of signal function; the process effecting such change…. Enhancement of signal function involves some principles common to all [modalities of communication]—the specifications for efficacy in a communication system. Hence the evolutionary changes typically are those that increase the probability of signal detection and reduce ambiguity.” Immelmann, Klaus and Colin Beer (1992). A dictionary of ethology. Cambridge/Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, p. 255.

  5. 5.

    Mayr, Ernst (1997). Das ist Leben - die Wissenschaft vom Leben. Heidelberg: Springer Spektrum, p. 189.

    See, aswell: Hinde, Robert A. (1982). Ethology. New York: Fontana, pp. 122–127.

  6. 6.

    Hinde, Robert A. (1999). Why Gods Persist. A Scientific Approach to Religion. London and New York: Routledge, p. 127.

    Rothenbuhler, Eric W. (1998). Ritual Communication. From Everyday Conversation to Mediated Ceremony. Thousand Oaks, London, and New Delhi: Sage Publications, pp. 31–32.

  7. 7.

    Ibid., p. 10.

  8. 8.

    Kremer, William (9 October 2012). Why do we behave so oddly in lifts? BBC World Service, http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19846214; viewed on 6th October 2015.

  9. 9.

    Spencer, Baldwin and Francis J. Gillen (1899). The Native Tribes of Central Australia. London: Macmillan.

    Frazer, James George (1894). The Golden Bough. A study in comparative religion. London: Macmillan.

    Smith, W. Robertson (1894). Lectures on the religion of the Semites. London: A. & C. Black.

  10. 10.

    Van Gennep, Arnold (1909). Les rites de passage: étude systématique des rites de la porte et du seuil, de l’hospitalité, de l’adoption, de la grossesse et de l’accouchement, de la naissance, de l’enfance, de la puberté, de l’initiation, de l’ordination, du couronnement, des fiançailles et du mariage, des funérailles, des saisons, etc., Paris: Nourry.

  11. 11.

    Turner, Victor (1967). Betwixt and between: the liminal period in rites de passage. A Forest of symbols: aspects of the Ndembu ritual. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 23–59.

    Bourdieu, Pierre (1982). Les rites comme actes d’institution. In: Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales. Vol. 43. Rites et fétiches. pp. 58–63.

  12. 12.

    Dias, Jorge, Margot Dias, and Manuel Viegas Guerreiro (1963–1970). Os macondes de Moçambique. Lisboa: Junta de investigações do Ultramar, Centro de estudos de antropologia cultural.

    A much more simple, but also more superficial (evidently written without any knowledge of the seminal works by Dias et al.) and occasionally and unfortunately also wrong presentation (for example the individual phases of the ritual had not been understood correctly) can be found here: Halley, Meghan (2012). Negotiating sexuality. Adolescent initiation rituals and cultural change in rural southern Tanzania. Inaugural Dissertation; Case Western Reserve University.

  13. 13.

    Turner, Victor Witter (1972). Schism and Continuity in an African Society: A Study of Ndembu Village Life. Manchester University Press.

    From a psychological viewpoint: Gazzaniga, Michael S. and Todd F. Heatherton (2006). Psychological Science. New York/London: W. W. Norton, p. 655. keyword: “People want to belong and are motivated to avoid conflicts!”.

  14. 14.

    Turner, Victor W. (1967). The Forest of Symbols. Aspects of Ndembu Ritual. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, pp. 280–298.

  15. 15.

    Turner, Victor Witter (1972). Schism and Continuity in an African Society: A Study of Ndembu Village Life. Manchester University Press.

    Turner, Victor Witter (1974). Social Dramas and Ritual Metaphors. In: Turner, V.W.: Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors. Symbolic Action in Human Society. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, pp. 23–59.

  16. 16.

    It is of the utmost importance at this point to distinguish clearly between mere ritualized behaviour, as it occurs for example in daily communication, and a ritual in a strict religio-scientific sense. The latter, which the present authors stipulate appeared for the first time with the beginning of settledness, is a repetitive expressive behaviour with a reference to the highest values in order to solve conflicts and/or to help deal with existential fears. In this context, the religious ritual repeats mythical religious primeval events in order to maintain the cosmic order inaugurated by these primeval events themselves.

    For everyday-communication, see Rothenbuhler, Eric W. (1998). Ritual Communication. From Everyday Conversation to Mediated Ceremony. Thousand Oaks, London, and New Delhi: Sage Publications, p. 4.

    Hinde, Robert (1982). Ethology. New York: Fontana, pp. 212–220.

    For conflict solution (with a reference to ultimate values), see: Turner, Victor Witter (1972). Schism and Continuity in an African Society: A Study of Ndembu Village Life. Manchester University Press.

    For the connection between society, religion, and ritual, see: Bellah, Robert N. (1964). Religious Evolution, in: American Sociological Review, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 358–374; also see Lewis-Williams, David and D. Pearce (2005). Inside the Neolithic Mind: Consciousness, Cosmos, and the Realm of Gods. London:Thames & Hudson, p. 28.

    Jensen, Adolf Ellegard (1948). Das religiöse Weltbild einer frühen Kultur, Stuttgart: August Schröder Verlag.

    For the extraordinary importance of distinguishing between ritualised behaviour, religious rituals, and cult, see Wunn, Ina (2016). The Crux of a Darwinian Approach on Evolution: What is Evolution, and what did evolve? A comment on Matt Rossano’s “The ritual origins of humanity”. In: Hartung, Gerald and Matthias Herrgen (eds.), Interdisziplinäre Anthropologie. Jahrbuch 03/2015. Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 83–98.

    These important distinctions, especially relevant for the reconstruction of the origins of religion, are not made clear for example by Bell, Catherine (1997). Ritual. Perspectives and Dimensions, New York and Oxford, and

    Rossano, Matt J. (2010). Supernatural selection: How religion evolved. New York: Oxford University Press.

    For the sake of completeness, mention must be made of an attempted “archaeology of ritual” by Verhoeven, Marc (2002). Ritual and its Investigation in Prehistory. In: Gebel, Hans Georg K., Bo Dahl Hermansen, and Charlott Hoffman Jensen (eds.), Magic Practices and Ritual in the Near Eastern Neolithic. Proceedings of a Workshop held at the 2nd International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE) Copenhagen University, May 2000. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment 8. Berlin: Ex Oriente, pp. 5–40.

  17. 17.

    Hodder, Ian (2011). Çatalhöyük: A Prehistoric Settlement on the Konya Plain. In: Steadman, Sharon R. & Gregory McMahon (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia 10,000–323 B.C.E. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 934–949.

  18. 18.

    Mellaart, James (1967). Çatalhöyük. A Neolithic Town in Anatolia. London.

    Meskell, Lynn (1998). Twin Peaks. The Archaeology of Çatalhöyük. In: Tringham, Ruth and Margaret Conkey (eds.), Ancient Goddesses. London: British Museum Press, pp. 46–62.

    Hodder, Ian (2005). New finds and new interpretations at Çatalhöyük. Çatalhöyük 2005 Archive Report. Catalhoyuk Research Project, Institute of Archaeology.

    Hodder, Ian (2010). Probing Religion at Çatalhöyük: An interdisciplinary experiment. In: Hodder, Ian (ed.), Religion in the emergence of Civilization. Çatalhöyük as a Case Study. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–31.

  19. 19.

    Cessford, C., M.W., Newton., P.I., Kuniholm, S.W., Manning et al. (2006). Absolute dating at Çatalhoyuk. In: Changing Materialities at Çatalhoyuk: Reports from the 1995–99 Seasons, ed. I. Hodder. (McDonald Institute Monographs/BIAA mono-graph 39.) Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research/London: British Institute at Ankara, pp. 65–99.

  20. 20.

    Mellaart, James (1967). Çatalhöyük. A Neolithic Town in Anatolia. London: Thames & Hudson.

  21. 21.

    However, Hodder also noted that the “narrative character of the wall paintings remains un-paralleled in Anatolia and the Near East at this date. And the sheer amount of the art—its concentration in so many houses in one site—remains particular. Indeed, the main mystery of Çatalhöyük remains the question of why all this art and symbolism, this flowering of imagery, should occur in this place at this time”. Hodder, Ian (2006). The Leopard’s Tale: Revealing the Mysteries of Çatalhöyük. London: Thames & Hudson, p. 16.

    Hodder, Ian and Peter Pels (2010). History houses. A new interpretation of architectural elaboration at Çatalhöyük. In: Hodder, Ian (ed.), Religion in the emergence of Civilization. Çatalhöyük as a Case Study. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 163–186.

  22. 22.

    Meskell, Lynn (2007). Refiguring the Corpus at Çatalhöyük. In Renfrew, C. and Morley, I. Material Beginnings: A Global Prehistory of Figurative Representation. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, p. 144 (143–156).

  23. 23.

    For sexual threatening, the typical bodily posture with legs spread out and angled as well as triumphantly raised and angled arms, as well as the simplification of imagery all the way to the rune-like signs, compare Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Irenäus und Christa Sütterlin (1992). Im Banne der Angst. Zur Natur- und Kunstgeschichte menschlicher Abwehrsymbolik. München and Zürich: Piper, pp. 120, Fig. 44, 123, Fig. 47.

  24. 24.

    A discussion of the female relief can be found here: Patton, Kimberley P. and Lori D. Hager (2014). “Motherbaby”: A Death in Childbirth at Çatalhöyük. In: Ian Hodder (ed.), Religion at Work in a Neolithic Society. Vital Matters. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 225–258. Behavioural-biological analyses contradict the assumption that the wall reliefs represent bears (the combination of displaying the vulva together with other defensive symbols, such as animal claws, predator jaws or horns are common!) as does the development of depicting the so-called “shameless woman”. Compare here also Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Irenäus, and Christa Sütterlin (1992). Im Banne der Angst. Zur Natur- und Kunstgeschichte menschlicher Abwehrsymbolik. München and Zürich: Piper, pp. 181–255.

    In this context, Douglas Fraser makes it clear that the so-called “shameless woman” is today not only a widespread motive in the world of art and represents a primordial mother-figure, but also that corresponding motives have their origins in the Near East and have step by step spread out via Asia all the way to the Pacific. Fraser, Douglas (1962). Primitive Art. New York: Doubleday & Company, pp. 138–143.

    Fraser, Douglas (1966). The Heraldic Woman. A Study in Diffusion. In: Fraser, Douglas (ed.), The Many Faces of Primitive Art. A Critical Anthology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, pp. 36–99.

  25. 25.

    Wason, Paul (2010). The Neolithic cosmos of Çatalhöyük. In: Hodder, Ian (ed.), Religion in the emergence of Civilization. Çatalhöyük as a Case Study. New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 278.

  26. 26.

    A detailed interpretation of Çatal Höyük, its decorative elements, and artistic artefacts from a religio-scientific perspective can be found by Wunn, Ina (2005). Die Religionen in vorgeschichtlicher Zeit. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, pp. 204–234.

  27. 27.

    Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Irenäus, and Christa Sütterlin (1992). Im Banne der Angst. Zur Natur- und Kunstgeschichte menschlicher Abwehrsymbolik. München and Zürich: Piper, pp. 187, 422.

  28. 28.

    In this context, it must be noted that the residential hearth was and remained the place for domestic cultic actions into the Bronze Ages and beyond: Maran, Joseph (2012). Ceremonial feasting equipment, social space and interculturality in Post-Palatial Tiryns. In: Joseph Maran and Philipp W. Stockhammer (eds.), Materiality and Social Practice. Transformative Capacities of Intercultural Encounters. Oxford and Oakville: Oxbow books, pp. 121–136.

  29. 29.

    For the historical imprinting „im gebärdensprachlichen Ausdruck“ (in sign language expressions) and in their immense persistence, see Warburg, Aby M. (2010). Manet’s Déjeuner sur L’Herbe. Die vorprägende Funktion heidnischer Elementargottheiten für die Entwicklung modernen Naturgefühls. In: Werke in einem Band. Berlin: Suhrkamp, p. 655.

    Fraser, Douglas (1966). The Heraldic Woman. A Study in Diffusion. In: Fraser, Douglas (Ed.) The Many Faces of Primitive Art. A Critical Anthology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, pp. 36–99.

  30. 30.

    However, the Toraja are no longer egalitarian, as their society has been divided into castes—possibly the result of the influence of Hinduism, widespread throughout Indonesia (especially prior to its Islamisation). Goudsward, A. (1865). Sivadienst in Zuid Celebes. Mededeelingen Nederlandsch Zendeling-genootschap, 25, pp. 75–100.

    Their religious behavior, however, is still typical for the religious stage of primitive religion sensu Bellah. Stöhr, Waldemar (1965). Die Religionen der Altvölker Indonesiens und der Philippinen. In: Stöhr, Waldemar, and Piet Zoetmulder: Die Religionen Indonesiens. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, p. 99.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., pp. 191–192.

  32. 32.

    Berger, Peter (1999). Die lange Reise der Toten: zwei Studien zu Ideologie und Praxis des Todes in Süd- und Südostasien. Hamburg: Kovač.

    For the importance of secondary burials from a religious, social, and psychological perspective, see Metcalf, Peter and Richard Huntington (1991). Celebrations of Death. The Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 99–100.

  33. 33.

    Webb Keane lists an additional example in the context of Çatal Höyük: the slaughter of buffalo in the framework of a ritual on the Indonesian island Sumba, and correctly interprets the application of buffalo horns on the houses of the Sumba as part of their self-presentation in the sense of a social ranking: Keane, Webb (2010). Marked, absent, habitual: Approaches to Neolithic Religion at Çatalhöyük. In: Hodder, Ian (ed.) Religion in the emergence of Civilization. Çatalhöyük as a Case Study. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 187–219.

  34. 34.

    E.B. Banning also concludes: “At least one of their meanings is as memorials of feasts.” Banning, Edward Bruce (2011). Comment on Ian Hodder and Lynn Meskell: A “Curious and Sometimes a Trifle Macabre Artistry”. Some Aspects of Symbolism in Neolithic Turkey. In: Current Anthropology, Vol. 52, No. 2 (April 2011), pp. 235–263. Comment on pp. 252–253.

  35. 35.

    Akkermans and Schwartz similarly interpret this form of burial, which they discuss in much detail, focusing on Syria: Akkermans, Peter M. M. G. and Glenn M. Schwartz (2003). The Archaeology of Syria. From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (ca. 16,000–300 B.C.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 96.

    Goring-Morris and Belfer-Cohen state that “Near Eastern phenomena such as those most spectacularly demonstrated at Göbekli Tepe should thus most likely be viewed as the culmination of final Palaeolithic developments”, but without making clear which specific developments are meant or even discussing the respective scientific-theoretical background of such assumptions. Goring-Morris, A. Nigel, and Anna Belfer-Cohen (2002). Symbolic Behaviour from the Epipaleolithic and Early Neolithic of the Near East: Preliminary Observations on Continuity and Change. In: Gebel, Hans Georg K., Bo Dahl Hermansen, and Charlott Hoffman Jensen (eds.), Magic Practices and Ritual in the Near Eastern Neolithic. Proceedings of a Workshop held at the 2nd International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE) Copenhagen University, May 2000. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment 8. Berlin: Ex Oriente, pp. 67–79.

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  1. Philosophische Fakultät, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany

    Ina Wunn

  2. Department of Theology, King’s College, London, UK

    Davina Grojnowski

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  1. Ina Wunn
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Wunn, I., Grojnowski, D. (2016). The Village, the Ritual, and Death. In: Ancestors, Territoriality, and Gods. The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-52757-3_9

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