All the ways of knowing

(Part 4) Encounters with the Deep Past

Hopi Katsina Doll by Jimmie Koots (James Kootshongsie, Hopi, 1916-1996)

The study of prehistoric religion is a complex thing. We can’t interpret what remains of the ancient world solely through archaeology. 

The archaeology of religion will always be limited because it is a science concerned with physical evidence. But religious practice is often intangible and illogical. 

Not enough material culture survives in order to draw any kind of certain conclusion. A lot of the ritual objects, such as headdresses, masks and offerings, would be degradable and have left no trace. And the ones that do survive may not be interpreted correctly.

Though we do not have living informants to tell us about religion in prehistory, I do think that contemporary indigenous cultures, particularly those with unbroken ties to their prehistoric ancestors - namely the San of Southern Africa and the aboriginal Australians - can help give a fuller picture of our ancient heritage.

Last year I did a course at Oxford in the Archaeology Department on Ritual and Religion in Prehistory. It was fascinating to be amongst archaeologists and their language. The hard literalisms they view data through. And the crickets that resounded when I brought up the importance of mythology or re-visioning the so-called “Venus figurines”.

And though it was fascinating material and I learned a great deal, it also felt deeply limited. Like an entire branch of our consciousness was left dormant…

When you see an archaeological artefact, it creates an image in the imagination. A symbol of sorts. And when given free range, it begins to unravel on its own. A bit like a dream.

If we impose an interpretation on our dream based on someone else’s notion of what dream symbols mean, we deny our own intuitive faculty to come forth.

Unless we are part of an indigenous culture deeply steeped in a particular iconography, an owl will mean something different to me than it will to you.

I may associate a snake with feminine wisdom and you might see it as the bringer of sin.