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The Modern Antiquarian
Re: Ritual
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"I think ethnological studies of none western (capitalist) societies are possibly our best chance at trying to understand Britain 5000 years ago."

I completely 100 percent agree, Fitz-o. In fact have been trying to make this point for ages, but the silence is monolithic! We have to our hands extensive studies of tribal peoples from all over the world, from the Tunguska to Irian Jaya. Their animist and arguably pantheistic world-view is born directly from being part of the 'wild' in the wildeerness. Where agriculture begins, the separation begins, yet even then it seems to take thousands of years to forego the rituals, they become customs.

Back on point, stone age tribes do exist today, even though contact with westerners changes them irrevocably, the data is there to study.

The trip-up is that no (to my knowledge) existing 'primitive' societies build stone circles. Given this, even, we could surely learn enough via behavioural traits of historic and exisiting agrarian and/or hunter-gatherer communities to make more educated guesses regarding our ancestors? Better than time-team anyhow ;-)


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morfe
Posted by morfe
9th January 2006ce
11:54

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Ritual (fitzcoraldo)

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Re: Ritual (PeterH)

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