Archaeological Site Formation Processes (Other Keyword)

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Ritual Closure: A Countermeasure to Witchcraft (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only William Walker. Judy Berryman.

This is an abstract from the "Research Hot Off the Trowel in the Upper Gila and Mimbres Areas" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeologists routinely encounter ceremonially closed buildings and sites yet specific explanations about why this occurs and how to frame it remain murky. For the American Southwest and likely many other parts of the world, fear of witchcraft may explain these closures. We argue in this poster that ritual burning and the...