I went looking into it, but haven't found a good capsule reference. It's a pretty strong cultural practice (and an old one; references to Classical practices li

I went looking into it, but haven't found a good capsule reference. It's a pretty strong cultural practice (and an old one; references to Classical practices like "the cult of Dionysis" are well-worn) and isn't always specified. This article "“Cult” in the Study of Religion and Archaeology" in ASMA (https://www.academia.edu/5061036/Cult_in_the_Study_of_Religion_and_Archaeology https://www.academia.edu/5061036/Cult_in_the_Study_of_Religi...) has a pretty good discussion. Here's an article from a text book on "Archaeology of Cult and Religion": (https://www.academia.edu/13590600/2005._Archaeology_of_Cult_and_Religion._In_Renfrew_C._and_Bahn_P._eds._Archaeology_The_Key_Concepts._London_Routledge_pp._45-49 https://www.academia.edu/13590600/2005._Archaeology_of_Cult_...) You can see a working usage in "A Problem Oof Definition: “Cultic” and “Comestic” Contexts in Philistia" (https://www.academia.edu/1868319/A_Problem_of_Definition_Cultic_and_Domestic_Contexts_in_Iron_Age_Philistia https://www.academia.edu/1868319/A_Problem_of_Definition_Cul...) I haven't read the books, but there's a couple books covered in this review from AJA on the topic: https://www.ajaonline.org/book-review/619 https://www.ajaonline.org/book-review/619 Modern archaeology makes some odd-seeming linguistic choices to try to avoid implying more than they actually know; part of that is avoiding "religion" in favor of "ritual" and "cultic practices", because "religion" implies a whole lot of stuff that artifacts just can't see.