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Witchcraft and Deep Time–a debate at Harvard

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Stephen Mitchell,
Neil Price,
Ronald Hutton,
Diane Purkiss,
Kimberley Patton,
Catharina Raudvere,
Carlo Severi,
Miranda Aldhouse-Green,
Sarah Semple and
Aleks Pluskowski
...Show all authors
Stephen Mitchell
Affiliation:
Folklore & Mythology, Warren House, Harvard University, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Neil Price
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, School of Geosciences, St Mary's, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, UK
Ronald Hutton
Affiliation:
University of Bristol, School of Humanities, 11 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TB, UK
Diane Purkiss
Affiliation:
Keble College, Oxford OX1 3PG, UK
Kimberley Patton
Affiliation:
Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Catharina Raudvere
Affiliation:
Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, Snorresgade 17-19, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark
Carlo Severi
Affiliation:
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Sociale, 52, Rue du Cardinal Lemoine, 75005 Paris, France
Miranda Aldhouse-Green
Affiliation:
Cardiff School of History and Archaeology, Humanities Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff CF10 3EU, UK
Sarah Semple
Affiliation:
Durham University, Department of Archaeology, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
Aleks Pluskowski
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Box 226, Reading RG6 6AB, UK
Martin Carver
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP, UK
Carlo Ginzburg
Affiliation:
Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, 56126 Pisa, Italy
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Abstract

Archaeology, consistently warned off religion by wise old heads, here rushes deeper into the thicket to tackle the thorny topic of ancient witchcraft. The occasion was a seminar at Harvard organised by Stephen Mitchell and Neil Price to mark the twentieth anniversary of Carlo Ginzburg's influential book on the connections between witches and shamanism – and by implication the possible connections with prehistoric ritual and belief. Archaeology was by no means the only voice at the meeting, which was attended by scholars active in history, literature, divinity and anthropology. The discussions revealed much that was entangled in the modern psyche: ‘don't let's tame strangeness’ was one leitmotiv of this stimulating colloquium. A romantic attachment to the irrational is a feature of our time, especially among academics. But maybe taming strangeness is an archaeologist's real job…

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Type
Debate
Information
Antiquity , Volume 84 , Issue 325 , September 2010, pp. 864 - 879
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2010

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