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The phrase "used for religious rituals" is an archaeology euphemism meaning "we have absolutely no idea what these were used for".
by mikhailfranco 6y ago
The phrase "used for religious rituals" is an archaeology euphemism
meaning "we have absolutely no idea what these were used for".
- AlotOfReading 6y agoNeither the linked article nor the paper mention religion or religious rituals. In fact, they do have some idea about what these were used for and explain it in the discussion section. Back to your dismissal though. The thing about "ritual means we don't know" is that it's essentially an inside joke that got picked up by people who don't understand it and parrot some variation whenever they see the right keywords. The word 'ritual' is a pretty broad descriptor, but it has a fairly specific set of meanings that boil down to stating the activities being described have symbolic meaning, with overtones of being non-functional. It doesn't mean the activities described are religious in nature and it doesn't mean that we don't know what the physical activities were/are. The symbolic meaning is the part that's hardest to nail down and where the disagreements happen.