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Ritual

A reference page linking a name, group, or concept to the materials that discuss it.

An organised or distinguished practice meaningful to a community; it may leave traces, but its form alone does not reveal an associated doctrine.

A plastered human skull from Jericho, around 7000 BCE, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Plaster remodels the face and shells mark the eyes; this treatment alone does not identify the beliefs of its makers
A plastered human skull from Jericho, around 7000 BCE, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Plaster remodels the face and shells mark the eyes; this treatment alone does not identify the beliefs of its makersMary Harrsch · CC BYLicense · Image source

Text

Depending on context, ritual practices may include burial, feasting, deposition and treatment of objects. Unusual form or limited apparent usefulness cannot identify ritual alone; ritual practice may overlap with daily work.[3]

The treatment of Jericho skulls offers a material example for discussing care for the dead and remembrance. It neither represents all rituals nor establishes a single belief.[12]

References and notes

  1. Joanna Brück (1999). Ritual and Rationality: Some Problems of Interpretation in European Archaeology. European Journal of Archaeology 2(3), 313–344. Abstract; critique of imposing a modern separation between ritual and practical action. Return to the text ↑
  2. Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. Jericho Skull, AN1955.565. Object description and interpretation of its treatment; the museum dates it approximately around 7000 BCE. Return to the text ↑

Research history

Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.

  1. Edition 2 · 10 October 2026 · editor:aladmin

    Substantive record update

    Read this revision in its original language (Arabic)

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IL Archive, «Ritual», Edition 2, https://ilarchive.com/en/entities/ritual