RELIGIOUS ROMANTICISM: OBSTACLE TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF PREHISTORIC SACRED TOPOGRAPHIES?
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-03-25

In  traditional  Christian  belief  systems  the  natural  world  did  not  play  a  significant  role.  As  a  result  of  its  particular  history,  this  Western religion had an inwards-looking character and emphasized the community of the believers. The worship of natural ob-jects was not only undesirable, but explicitly forbidden. In Latin America, for example, the Spanish staged a massive campaign for the ‘extermination of idolatry’ (extirpación de la idolatría) in the 17th century. The campaign aimed at widespread indigenous cults which celebrated mountains and other features of landscape together with people’s ancestors. The cults were considered pagan, if not diabolical, by the colonial rulers, and had to be crushed. Since the 18th centuries, however, Christianity changed. Not least under the influence of organized science, religious interest in the natural world, increased considerably. In several waves, going from physico-theology through to deep ecology in the 20th century,  Western  belief  developed  new  environmental  attitudes  which  may  be  summarized  here  as  ‘religious  Romanticism’.  In  the Alps this can be shown, for instance, with the mounting of Christian crosses on mountain summits, a habit started around 1800. The movement affected the interpretation of historical roots, as well. While in earlier days the transition from pagandom toChristiandom had be seen as a cut, interpreters now saw continuities, particularly in relation with natural cults. Thus the Church was  sometimes  characterized  as  a  staunch  successor  of  Celtic  and  other  rites.  At  the  same  time,  officially  refuted  ‘witches‘,  ‘fairies’, and ‘spirits’ gained new prominence as (presumed) expression of true popular credence.In my paper I would like to take up some of these issues in oder to stimulate the interdisciplinary discussion about prehistoric ‘stairways to heaven’. My examples are mainly taken from the Andes and the Alps since the 17th century.


Author(s): Mathieu, Jon (University of Lucerne)