This volume explores archaeological approaches to studying religion, drawing upon examples from across the New World and case studies from different periods of the past, ranging from Preceramic Peru to the period of European contact and colonialism in North America. Arthur Joyce's introduction to the volume states that the essays are designed to meet three goals:
(1) To move beyond a focus on religion as a means of political integration; (2) to consider Native American religion from the perspective of indigenous ontologies; and (3) to consider the archaeology of religion and politics from the perspectives of theories of materiality [p. 11].
Each of these goals fits current trends in archaeological analyses of religion, and the volume as a whole expands on the burgeoning body of literature published over the last decade or so.
To meet the first goal of focusing on religion beyond its political and “functional” importance, all of the essays to some degree are focused on how individuals or communities manipulate “religion.” One of the strengths of this volume is its illustrations of diverse approaches to studying religious communities. The second goal of integrating indigenous ontologies is met through the careful application of ethnographic data in several cases. Those interested in Amerindian ontologies will find the chapters by Alt and Pauketat (Mississippian religion), Christopher Rodning (Cherokee religion), and Maria Nieves Zedeño (summary chapter) particularly interesting. Other chapters, including those by Sarah Barber (Early Formative period in Chiapas, Mexico), David Carballo (Aztec religion), Edward Swenson (Late Moche and Early Lambayeque cultures of Peru), Matthew Piscitelli (Late Archaic in Peru), and Scott Hutson and colleagues (Maya religion and ritual), rely more on archaeological data to explore underlying ontological frameworks. Likewise, the third goal of applying materiality studies is met successfully. For example, Erina Gruner's chapter on Chaco Canyon complements previous work on materiality done by Ruth Van Dyke.
There is much to praise in many of the chapters. For example, many of the authors consider the nature and importance of bundles and in doing so provide excellent insight into their importance and variation. Alt and Pauketat note that bundles can be people, places, and things; Barber characterizes ball courts as bundles; and Zedeño in the concluding chapter provides a detailed discussion of the concept as it is presented in the volume that is worth reading. The discussions of the materiality of bundles may in fact be the most interesting contribution of this volume, to some readers. Likewise, those seeking theoretical and methodological approaches to studying religion will find useful insights from Walker's innovative essay, which reconstructs Amerindian ontology in Amazonia through his study of landscape utilization.
However, there are a few characteristics of the volume that might frustrate some readers. Perhaps most notably, there is little consistency in terminology. Such issues have been present in the anthropology of religion since E. B. Tylor's first musings on the topic in the nineteenth century, but terminological issues are problematic here. While not clearly stated, many (but not all) authors appear to reject common terms (e.g., animism, spirit, supernatural) and instead use a variety of wordy or awkward phrases to seemingly refer to the same thing. One such set of phrases includes “animate soul-bearing beings,” “other-than-human beings,” and “other-than-human entities.” These categories are overly vague, and it is not always clear from the context whether the authors mean living things we find in the world around us, or the spiritual aspect of the being that has moved into a different realm, or hidden forces working around us. I personally find my dog to be an “other-than-human entity,” yet she is a fundamentally different sort of entity than those created by the Zuni of New Mexico when they deliberately broke items to make them no longer useful in this world but useful in the spiritual world. Another potential issue is that the “other-than-human beings” discussed in places might include human souls. The ethnographic record is replete with instances in which groups emphasize that recently deceased people can appear as apparitions wearing their clothes and speaking. Generations later the deceased person becomes nameless and joins the corporate ancestors. From a global and comparative perspective, humans tend to have elaborate ceremonies to please the recently deceased, so that the dead will move on and not bother the living or, conversely, to call them back to help the living. For many warrior sodalities, an enemy's scalp or head could be used to harness a powerful human spirit. These important insights are not captured by, and may in fact be obscured through, such terminology.
