Ritual: Did you mean...?

The Areni Cave is a multicomponent cave site with artifacts dating from the Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age. In Armenia, the Areni Cave complex is also known as "Birds' Cave" ("Trchuneri" in Armenian). Located near the town of Areni, which...

Ritual bronze spear-blade (dohoko) from the Yayoi Period. The blade is said to have been excavated at Okamoto-cho, Kasuga City, modern Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.

3D model render of the Saqqara necropolis looking north. The pyramids of Unas (r. c. 2345–2315 BCE) (left) and Djoser (c. 2670 BCE) (middle) are in the foreground. Render by Savannah Dawson. Reprinted from Constructing the Sacred: Visibility...

Roman religion Animistic/Animism Anthropomorphic/ Anthropomorphism Antithetical Henotheism Integration Martyrdom Monotheism Mythology Pacifism Paganism Polytheism Ritual Subversive Temple

In the religion of the ancient Celts who lived in Iron Age Europe from 700 BCE to 400 CE, certain natural sites like springs, river sources, and groves were held as sacred. These places, as well as some urban sites, often had purpose-built...

Göbekli Tepe is the world's oldest example of monumental architecture; a 'temple' built at the end of the last Ice Age, 12,000 years ago. It was discovered in 1995 CE when, just a short distance from the city of Şanliurfa in Southeast Turkey...

The Bronze Age frescoes from Akrotiri on the Aegean island of Thera (modern-day Santorini) provide some of the most famous images from the ancient Greek world. Sometime between 1650 and 1550 BCE Thera suffered a devastating earthquake which...

Jade (nephrite) was regarded as the most precious stone in ancient China, and it symbolised purity and moral integrity. Prized for its durability and magical qualities, the stone was laboriously carved and polished into all manner of objects...

Prostitution in the ancient world usually referred to a classification of women and men who offered their sexual services outside the parameters of law codes for ancient society. The word 'prostitute' derives from the Latin prostituere ("to...

The central cultural value of ancient Egypt was ma'at – harmony and balance – which maintained the order of the universe and the lives of the people. Keeping balance in one's life encouraged the same in one's family and, by extension outward...