Sacred Sites, Sacred Places

David L. Carmichael, Jane Hubert, Brian Reeves, Audhild Schanche, David L. Carmichael, Jane Hubert, Brian Reeves, Audhild Schanche

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781135633271
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

Sacred Sites, Sacred Places explores the concept of 'sacred' and what it means and implies to people in differing cultures. It looks at why people regard some parts of the land as special and why this ascription remains constant in some cultures and changes in others.
Archaeologists, legislators and those involved in heritage management sometimes encounter conflict with local populations over sacred sites. With the aid of over 70 illustrations the book examines the extreme importance of such sacred places in all cultures and the necessity of accommodating those intimate beliefs which are such a vital part of ongoing cultural identity. Sacred Sites, Sacred Places therefore will be of help to those who wish to be non-destructive in their conservation and excavation practices.
This book is unique in attempting to describe the belief systems surrounding the existence of sacred sites, and at the same time bringing such beliefs and practices into relationship with the practical problems of everyday heritage management. The geographical coverage of the book is exceptionally wide and its variety of contributors, including indigenous peoples, archaeologists and heritage professionals, is unrivalled in any other publication.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Other
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table Of Contents
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 Sacred beliefs and beliefs of sacredness
• 2 Wintu sacred geography of northern California
• 3 Sacred and secular neolithic landscapes in Ireland
• 4 Sacred space in the culture of the Arctic regions
• 5 Sacred sites in Madagascar
• 6 Places of power: Mescalero Apache sacred sites and sensitive areas
• 7 Sacred sites in the Bamenda Grassfields of Cameroon: A study of sacred sites in the Nso’ Fondom
• 8 Bukusu sacred sites
• 9 Sacrificial places and their meaning in Saami society
• 10 The Mijikenda kaya as a sacred site
• 11 The perception and treatment of prehistoric and contemporary sacred places and Sites in Poland
• 12 Islam on the Kenyan coast: An overview of Kenyan coastal sacred sites
• 13 A ceremony in the ‘cave of idolatry’: An eighteenth-century document from the Diocesan Historic Archive, Chiapas, Mexico
• 14 At the mouth of the obsidian cave: Deity and place in Aztec religion
• 15 Sto: Lo sacred ground
• 16 The spirits of the Chugach people of Alaska are at rest once again
• 17 Waahi tapu: Maori sacred sites
• 18 Principles and practice of site protection laws in Australia
• 19 When sacred land is sacred to three tribes: San Juan Paiute sacred sites and the Hopi-Navajo-Paiute suit to partition the Arizona Navajo Reservation
• 20 Tourism and the Bighorn Medicine Wheel: How multiple use does not work for sacred land sites
• 21 Ninaistákis – the Nitsitapii’s sacred mountain: Traditional Native religious activities and land use/tourism conflicts
• Index