Session: #419

Theme & Session Format

Theme:
The archaeology of material culture, bodies and landscapes
Session format:
Session, made up of a combination of papers, max. 15 minutes each

Title & Content

Title:
Magic in Prehistory
Content:
Much thought has been given to subjects such as deliberate deposition, broader aspects of ritual, and art in studies of prehistory. Recently there has also been some related discussion of issues of animism, prehistoric ontologies, and notions of cause and effect. In this session, we would like to explore the idea that magic might better describe many prehistoric beliefs and practices. We see magic as taking a number of forms, which include, but are not restricted to: a broad belief in animism, which holds that many things are animate and purposeful; the possibility of action at a distance through so-called sympathetic magic, which attempts to cure ills or cause harm through acting on substances and materials that then affect people or other things; or attempts to manipulate time and space through divination, prophecy, or attempts to raise the dead. We welcome papers that take a broad theoretical approach to the concept of magic in prehistory, those that develop case studies, or papers with some combination of theoretical and empirical work.
Keywords:
Magic, art, animism, ritual, prehistory
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no

Organisers

Main organiser:
Dr Courtney Nimura (Australia) 1
Co-organisers:
Prof Chris Gosden (United Kingdom) 2
Affiliations:
1. Griffith University, Australia
2. University of Oxford