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On Archaeology and the Study of Ritual: Considering Inadequacies in the Culture-History Approach and Quests for Internal “Meaning”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Meghan C. L. Howey  and
John O'Shea
Meghan C. L. Howey
Affiliation:
University of New Hampshire Department of Anthropology ([email protected])
John O'Shea
Affiliation:
University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology ([email protected])
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Abstract

Mason contends that we (Howey and O'Shea 2006) created a "chimera" of the Missaukee Earthworks site as a regional ceremonial center in Late Prehistoric Michigan (A.D. 1200-1600) by misinterpreting archaeological and ethnohistoric data. In considering Mason's critique, we re-emphasize the value, and methods, of studying ritual via material remains and show that Mason’s arguments simply serve to exemplify why the culture-historic approach has failed in its effort to understand the pre-contact Native cultures of the Great Lakes. Whitley contends we are misguided about the aims of archaeological studies of ritual and the place of "meaning" in these studies. In considering the "meaning" archaeologists seek in our studies of past ritual, we emphasize the problems we see in quests for what is ultimately immaterial and unrecoverable, the internal or emotive "meaning" of past ritual.

Résumé

Résumé

Mason alega que nosotros (Howey y O'Shea 2006) hemos creado una "quimera" del sitio arqueológico Missaukee Earthworks como un centro regional ceremonial en Michigan del periodo prehistórico tardío al malinterpretar los datos arqueológicos y etnohistóricos. Al considerar la crítica de Mason, nosotros re-enfatizamos el valor y los métodos de estudio de ritos a través de los restos materiales y mostramos que los argumentos de Mason sólo sirven para ejemplificar por qué el acercamiento cultural-histórico ha fracasado en sus esfuerzos de entender las culturas del pre-contacto en los Grandes Lagos. Según Whitely, nos equivocamos cuando buscamos los fines en los estudios arqueológicos del ritual y el lugar del "significado" en estos estudios. Al considerar el "significado" que los arqueólogos buscan en nuestros estudios de ritos del pasado, ponemos énfasis en problemas que encontramos al perseguir algo ultimadamente inmaterial e irrecobrable: el "significado" interno y emotivo del ritual del pasado.

Type
Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 74 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 193 - 201
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2009

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