Professional Documents
Culture Documents
and Ritual
Aaron F. Ott
Introduction to Archaeology
Dr. Randolf Widmer
December 19, 2013
Formalism: Rituals often employ more formal, or restricted, codes of speech and
action than people use in everyday life.
Traditionalism: Rituals often employ archaic or anachronistic elements.
Invariance: Rituals often follow strict, often repetitive, patterns.
Rule-governance: Rituals are often governed by a strict code of rules that determine
appropriate behavior.
Sacral symbolism: Rituals often make reference to, or employ, sacred symbolism.
Performance: Ritual often involves public display of ritual actions.
These all may have artifacts associated with them such that the archaeologist can
attach the object or structure to the ritual type. For instance, structures will fall into both the
formalism and performance categories of Bells types because the structure is both set apart
from the rest of the settlement and have a raised platform wherein the ritual can be conducted
in full view of the on-looking public. Traditionalism comes into play because of how the
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