Humans haven鈥檛 learned much in 2,000 years when it comes to religion and politics.
Religion has led to social tension and conflict, not just in today鈥檚 society, but dating back to 700 B.C., according to a new study published today in Current Anthropology.
University of Colorado anthropology Professor Arthur A. Joyce and University of Central Florida Associate Professor Sarah Barber found evidence in several Mexican archeological sites that contradict the long-held belief that religion acted to unite early state societies. It often had the opposite effect, the study said.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter if we today don鈥檛 share particular religious beliefs, when people in the past acted on their beliefs, those actions could have real, material consequences,鈥� Barber said about the team鈥檚 findings. 鈥淚t really behooves us to acknowledge religion when considering political processes.鈥�
Sounds like sage advice in today鈥檚 world that has multiple examples of politics and religion intersecting and resulting in conflict.
The team published their findings 鈥淓nsoulment, Entrapment, and Political Centralization: A Comparative Study of Religion and Politics in Later Formative Oaxaca,鈥� after spending several years conducting field research in the lower R铆o Verde Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico鈥檚 Pacific coastal lowlands. They compared their results with data from the highland Valley of Oaxaca.
They looked at archaeological evidence from 700 B.C. to A.D. 250, a period identified as a time of the emergence of states in the region. In the lower Verde, religious rituals involving offerings and the burial of people in cemeteries at smaller communities created strong ties to the local community that impeded the creation of state institutions.
And in the Valley of Oaxaca, elites became central to mediating between their communities and the gods, which eventually triggered conflict with traditional community leaders. It culminated in the emergence of a regional state with its capital at the hilltop city of Monte Alb谩n.听听听听听听听听听听
鈥淚n both the Valley of听Oaxaca and the Lower R铆o Verde Valley, religion was important in the formation and history of early cities and states, but in vastly听different ways,鈥� said Joyce, lead author on the study.听鈥淕iven the role of religion in social life and politics today, that shouldn鈥檛 be too surprising."
The conflict in the lower R铆o Verde valley is evident in rapid rise and fall of its state institutions. At R铆o Viejo, the capital of the lower Verde state, people had built massive temples by AD 100. Yet these impressive, labor-intensive buildings, along with many towns throughout the valley, were abandoned a little over a century later.
鈥淎n innovative aspect of our research is to view the听burials of ancestors and ceremonial offerings in the lower Verde听as听essential to these ancient communities,鈥� said Joyce, whose research focuses on both political life and ecology in ancient Mesoamerica. 鈥淪uch a perspective is also more consistent with the world views of the Native Americans听that lived there.鈥澨�
Barber is an associate professor at UCF specializing in the archaeology of Mesoamerica. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2005 and joined the UCF faculty in 2007. The central goal of her research is to understand the various processes that enabled and constrained early political centralization. Her fieldwork has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, and the Religion and Innovation in Human Affairs program.
Joyce, whose research has been funded by the NSF and the Religion and Innovation in Human Affairs Program, which is funded in part by the John Templeton Foundation, is the author of Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico.
Contact:
Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala, UCF News and听Information, 407-823-6120
zenaida.kotala@ucf.edu
Arthur Joyce, 303-735-3055
arthur.joyce@colorado.edu
Jim Scott, University of Colorado Boulder media relations, 303-492-3114
jim.scott@colorado.edu
