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How Does One Read Ancient Egyptian Letters to the Dead?
In ancient Egypt, an inheritance argument could outlive the people who started it. Surviving ancient Egyptian letters to the dead describe requests about illness, family disputes, and wrongs left unresolved. These were not sentimental notes slipped into a tomb for comfort. They were petitions, sometimes tender and sometimes rather firm, written for dead people who…
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How Does One Read the Rituals at Pömmelte?
A timber circle can rot away almost completely, yet still leave a troublingly clear record behind. At Pömmelte, near Schönebeck in Saxony-Anhalt, the ground preserved outlines of posts, pits, bones, pottery, and evidence of repeated communal activity more than 4,000 years ago. The Pömmelte rituals were not a single ceremony with a neat explanation. They…
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How Does One Understand Mayan Bloodletting Rituals?
These rites can sound like something taken from the most alarming corner of a history textbook. They were painful, yes, but reducing them to spectacle misses what ancient Maya communities believed they were doing. For royal families in Mayan civilization, drawn blood could be understood as a sacred life force, an offering, and a political…
