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Book Cover
E-book
Author Wright, Aaron M. (Aaron Michael)

Title Religion on the rocks : Hohokam rock art, ritual practice, and social transformation / Aaron M. Wright
Published Salt Lake City : The University of Utah Press, 2014

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Description 1 online resource (xiii, 306 pages) : illustrations, maps
Contents 1. Introduction -- 2. Ritual Practice, Religious Knowledge, and Social Reproduction -- 3. Ritual, Religion, and Society among the Hohokam -- 4. The South Mountains Archaeological Landscape -- 5. Chronicling Hohokam Rock Art -- 6. Ritualization of Hohokam Rock Art -- 7. Hohokam Rock Art as Religious Knowledge -- 8. Rock Art and Transformation of the Hohokam Social World -- 9. Conclusion -- Appendix: Petroglyph Typology
Summary "Intrigued by the petroglyphs and pictographs of the American Southwest, people commonly ask what these symbols mean. Religion on the Rocks redirects our attention to the equally important matter of what compelled ancient farmers to craft rock art in the first place. To answer this, Aaron Wright presents a case study from Arizona's South Mountains, an area once flanked by several densely populated Hohokam villages. Synthesizing results from recent archaeological surveys, he explores how the mountains' petroglyphs were woven into the broader cultural landscape and argues that the petroglyphs are relics of a bygone ritual system in which people vied for prestige and power by controlling religious knowledge. The features and strategic placement of the rock art suggest this dimension of Hohokam ritual was participatory and prominent in Hohokam life. Around AD 1100, however, petroglyph creation, along with other ritual practices began to wane, denoting a broad transformation of the Hohokam social world. Wright's examination of the South Mountains petroglyphs offers a novel narrative of how Hohokam villagers negotiated a concentration of politico-religious authority around platform mounds. Readers will come away with a fuller understanding of the Hohokam legacy and a greater appreciation for rock art's value to anthropology"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Hohokam culture -- Arizona -- South Mountains
Petroglyphs -- Arizona -- South Mountains
Rock paintings -- Arizona -- South Mountains
Sacred space -- Arizona -- South Mountains
Religion, Prehistoric -- Arizona -- South Mountains
Social change -- Arizona -- South Mountains -- History -- To 1500
Social archaeology -- Arizona -- South Mountains
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Archaeology.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- General.
ART -- History -- Prehistoric & Primitive.
HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- General.
Antiquities
Hohokam culture
Manners and customs
Petroglyphs
Religion, Prehistoric
Rock paintings
Sacred space
Social archaeology
Social change
SUBJECT South Mountains (Ariz.) -- Social life and customs
South Mountains (Ariz.) -- Antiquities
Subject Arizona -- South Mountains
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2014018329
ISBN 1607813653
9781607813651