Religious Communities, Religious Landscapes

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

Religion is not just a list of dos and don’ts, but an actively maintained community which exists in a particular place and time. Religious ideals are negotiated in local contexts and take their shape and meaning from interactions with people and environments. This session explores the interactions of place, environment, and religion, incorporating perspectives from social identity studies, landscape analyses, and the archaeology of religion. Papers explore the way religious groups and related social practices are created and maintained and the way religious ideals are put into action in a variety of contexts, often very different from that envisioned by religious leaders. Papers show that both small-scale material culture and large-scale landscapes have roles in the shaping of religions and religious groups.