The Archaeology of Ritual

Of all the overarching, overlapping, and sometimes overworked themes of this book, there are three that I would like the reader to keep in mind. First are issues of definition and the relationship between ritual and religion. Second is the discipline of archaeology itself, the material it deals with, and the ways it is influenced by that material as a discipline, with certain given abilities, limitations, and interests. And, last come the various perspectives of study, some new and others old, that could be seen as fruitful avenues for future research, different archaeologies of ritual. In this final chapter, I will discuss mainly the first and the third themes, though still referring to the second (for which see also chapter 2).