This introductory lecture lays the groundwork for the archaeological adventures ahead. Professor Hale provides you with key definitions that will be of use throughout the course, briefly overviews the intriguing sites and religions that await, and reveals the importance of combing through the remains of these ancient faiths.
Visit the oldest religious site that we can vividly reconstruct: Shanidar Cave. Here, archaeologists uncovered a nearly 45,000-year-old burial site that provided a wealth of information on the cultural and religious practices of the Neanderthals—a controversial finding that revolutionized our understanding of our ancestors.
With their breathtaking paintings, prehistoric caves such as Lascaux mark an important new element in the development of human religion: the designation of a particular site as “sacred.” In this lecture, Professor Hale walks you through some of these caves and helps make sense of their mysterious imagery.
Explore another example of early religious artwork, this time on rocks in the Kalahari Desert. Learn what these fascinating images reveal about the ancient shamanistic practices and beliefs of the San people—specifically their belief in animism, in which every element of the environment is endowed with its own spirit and identity.
While excavating at a site in Turkey, archaeologists uncovered the enthroned figure of the Mother Goddess, one of the first representations of a single deity in history. Who was this Venus-like goddess? And what purpose did she serve in the religious life of a 9,000-year-old Neolithic community?
Travel to a rocky region in France that is home to the world's most extraordinary collection of megalithic monuments. Not only do these breathtaking stone structures serve as memorials for the dead, they reflect Neolithic attempts to express a grand cosmic vision in stone—one that presages Stonehenge.
Begin a six-lecture examination of burial customs, the most primordial element of religious practice. Your first stop: extensive cemeteries and a royal burial pit uncovered at the site of the ancient biblical city of Ur. This remarkable discovery reveals countless insights into ancient Sumerian views of the afterlife.
Peer inside the final resting place of Qin Shihuangdi: China's first emperor. His immense tomb—protected by a mass of life-sized terra cotta figures of men and horses—combines the desire to create a monument for everlasting worship with the desire to retain kingly attributes in the afterlife.
In contrast with the royal burial sites of the previous two lectures are the tombs and mausoleums of ordinary families in Petra, Jordan—one of the world's most famous archaeological sites. In this lecture, Professor Hale takes you on a detailed tour of these sacred spaces, laid out to resemble feasting halls.
Meet the Lindow Man, the preserved body of a young Celtic man that dates back to the A.D.E. 1st or 2nd century. Follow along with archaeologists as they use revolutionary scientific techniques to discover that this 25-year-old was not murdered but was instead the sacrificial victim for a religious rite.
Walk through the structures of Mound City, the site of the religious Hopewell cult that originated in what is now south-central Ohio. Beneath these mounds, archaeologists found large ceremonial houses where members of the cult would gather to honor their dead in elaborate ceremonies.
Conclude your look at the burial of the dead with a trip to an archaeological site in Norway. As you study the remains of a royal Viking burial ship intended for a queen, you strengthen your understanding of how this civilization launched its royalty into the mysteries of the afterlife.
In 1900, the famed archaeologist Arthur Evans began excavating the Greek site of the palace of Knossos. What he found, among other things, was a grand fresco of men and women dancing with a bull. Here, discover the spiritual meaning behind this mysterious ancient ceremony.
Journey back to Bronze-Age China and examine divination rituals that employed the use of oracle bones: fragments of ancient animal bones inscribed with Chinese characters. Also, learn what fascinating information archaeologists and scholars gleaned from a detailed study of these curious bone fragments.
While modern religions remove sexuality from their communal religious rituals, ancient Scandinavian communities gave sexuality a prominent role in their religious practices. Learn what petroglyphs—pictures on stone first studied in the 19th century—reveal about the fertility rites of these intriguing peoples.
From about 300 B.C.E. to A.D.E. 200, the oracle at Klaros was the most frequently consulted oracle in the classical world. In this lecture, investigate how recent archaeological work has provided us with a richly detailed look at what exactly went on during these mysterious divination ceremonies.
Explore the idea of human sacrifice, a startling aspect of ancient religions. When archaeologists studied painted scenes on pots used by the Moche people of South America, they found depictions of priests engaged in a bloody sacrificial ceremony. Remains found at a later 1991 excavation in Peru matched the figures from these pots.
Rituals held at the Mayan ceremonial center in Palenque embraced many aspects of those covered in earlier lectures. Professor Hale discusses a variety of intriguing Mayan rituals, including sacred ball games that symbolized cosmic battles and fertility rites that involved both prayers and human sacrifice.
Between 1915 and 1919, a Maltese archaeologist excavated a massive, eight-foot-tall stone monument to a female deity. Just who was this commanding figure? Discover the intriguing answer in this lecture, which takes you back to the very origins of the concept of godhood.
During the 18th dynasty, the pharaoh Akhenaten revolutionized the polytheistic Egyptian faith by promoting the worship of a single god, Aten. Examine the story of this experiment in ancient monotheism through the hieroglyphic records discovered on tomb and temple reliefs from sites at Tell el Amarna and Luxor.
Contrary to popular belief, the Athenian Acropolis was home to more gods than just Athena. Tour the grounds of this popular archaeological site, encounter the roster of deities who populated the Acropolis throughout its early history, and discover the intricate link between Athenian religion and statehood.
Here, visit the remains of Teotihuacan, the ancient Mexican “City of Gods.” By examining the iconography of this prosperous and powerful city, gain insights into its god Quetzalcoatl, its twin pyramids dedicated to the sun and moon, and a mysterious cave that has provided archaeologists with new lines of inquiry.
Another urban center—located right in our own backyard—is Cahokia, a mound site in Illinois created by a Native American chiefdom between A.D.E. 900 and 1200. Climb to the summit of “Monk's Mound,” a 100-foot-high square pyramid that contains startling evidence of how these people worshiped their central sun deity.
Travel to Machu Picchu, the famous abandoned city in the clouds first discovered by famed archaeologist Hiram Bingham in 1911. With Professor Hale as your guide, learn the truth about the importance of religion in Inca society and locate where evidence of the sun god appears around this astounding site.
The Great Pyramids at Giza, built during the 4th Egyptian dynasty, are the only one of the ancient world's seven wonders to remain standing. What religious beliefs inspired their creation? And what meaning can you find encoded within the vast mortuary landscape they dominate even today?
Equally as famous and mysterious as the Giza pyramids is Stonehenge: the iconic Neolithic and Bronze Age structure that represents the pinnacle of the megalithic tradition. Explore the history of this impressive wonder and mull over various interpretations archaeologists have put forth about this sacred landscape's true purpose.
Created by the Nazca people in the early 1st millennium A.D.E., the Nazca Lines are more than 100 gigantic “line drawings” that span hundreds of miles along the Peruvian desert. Professor Hale reveals how these abstract symbols and realistic figures were created and explains the possible religious meanings behind the world's largest sacred site.
Discover the secrets of Chaco Canyon, an ancient Native American complex located in northwestern New Mexico. In addition to investigating its ancient roads, irrigation systems, and 800-room houses for storing ritual equipment, look inside the site's sacred meeting places—which contained supposed access points to the underworld.
Investigate the religious symbolism behind Angkor Wat, the iconic temple designed to venerate the Hindu god Vishnu and serve as a mausoleum for the warrior-king Suryavarman II. Built between 1113 and 1150, the temple would later be stripped of its Hindu images and become venerated by Buddhists.
In this lecture, travel to Easter Island and study the more than 700 giant stone heads (moai) that dot the landscape and have captivated the world for centuries. Learn how these megaliths were created, the purpose they served in religious rituals, and the reasons they were mysteriously abandoned.
Zoroastrianism is among the world's oldest “revealed” religions and became recognized by three great holy fires that symbolized the power of the fire-god Ahura-Mazda. Peer over the shoulders of archaeologists as they sort through the ruins of an ancient city known as Adur Gushnasp.
In the 1940s, young sheepherders made a startling discovery: a collection of several hundred scrolls from an ancient Jewish sect known as the Essenes. Here, explore the sensational discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and examine the numerous insights they provide into early religious reform movements.
Descend into the catacombs and chambers that lay underneath the city of ancient Rome and were home to the cult of Mithraism and early Christianity. Archaeological evidence illustrates why, among Rome's many competing religious groups that practiced their faith underground, Christianity eventually emerged triumphant.
Before the rise of Islam, regions of West Africa were home to a religious cult whose members were united only by their occupation: blacksmithing. Discover how the work of archaeologists in the 1970s unearthed the remains of Jenne-jeno (“old Jenne”), an ancient city where this intriguing faith once flourished.
Walk through an ancient Buddhist monastery carved into the hills of India's Deccan Plateau. The treasure trove of paintings, sculptures, inscriptions, and humble cells provide a breathtaking perspective on the lives and beliefs of the monks who populated the Ajanta Caves.
Conclude the course by revisiting key questions with the knowledge you've learned. What are the common threads between ancient faiths? Why has religion served as such a cohesive force in human society? And finally: What does archaeology reveal about religious impulses that theological studies cannot?