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Between Worlds

Understanding Ritual Cave Use in Later Prehistory

  • Identifies novel approaches to the recording, interpretation, and presentation of caves

  • Demonstrates innovative new technologies used to scan and model caves

  • Provides a nuanced understanding of the role of caves in prehistoric ritual

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
  2. Theoretical Frameworks for Caves as Dynamic Spaces

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7
    2. Caves as Vibrant Places: A Theoretical Manifesto

      • Agni Prijatelj, Robin Skeates
      Pages 9-28
    3. Do Caves Have Agency?

      • Rick Peterson
      Pages 29-44
    4. Animate Caves and Folded Landscapes

      • Dimitrij Mlekuž
      Pages 45-66
    5. How to Detect Ritual in Middle Bronze Age Italy? A Contextual Approach at Pastena Cave

      • Letizia Silvestri, Katia Francesca Achino, Micaela Angle, Maurizio Gatta, Mario Federico Rolfo
      Pages 87-112
    6. Pan Rituals of Ancient Greece Revisited

      • Nektarios-Petros Yioutsos
      Pages 113-135
  3. Innovative Digital Capture Techniques in Cave Archaeology

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 163-163
    2. The Bronze Age Decorated Cave of Les Fraux: Ritual Uses of an Atypical French Heritage Site

      • Albane Burens, Laurent Carozza, Raphaelle Bourrillon, Stephane Petrognani, Pierre Grussenmeyer, Samuel Guillemin et al.
      Pages 165-198
    3. From Macro to Micro: Multi-Scalar Digital Approaches at the Sculptor’s Cave, North-East Scotland

      • Lindsey Büster, Ian Armit, Adrian Evans, Tom Sparrow, Rachael Kershaw, Andrew S. Wilson
      Pages 199-220
  4. Back Matter

    Pages 265-270

About this book

The recent resurgence of academic interest in caves has demonstrated the central roles they played as arenas for ritual, ceremony and performance, and their importance within later prehistoric cosmologies. Caves represent very particular types of archaeological site and require novel approaches to their recording, interpretation and presentation. This is especially true in understanding the ritual use of caves, when the less tangible aspects of these environments would have been fundamental to the practices taking place within them. 

Between Worlds explores new theoretical frameworks that examine the agency of these enduring 'natural' places and the complex interplay between environment, taphonomy and human activity. It also showcases the application of innovative technologies, such as 3D laser-scanning and acoustic modelling, which provide new and exciting ways of capturing the experiential qualities of these enigmatic sites. Together, these developments offer more nuanced understandings of the role of caves in prehistoric ritual, and allow for more effective communication, management and presentation of cave archaeology to a wide range of audiences.

Editors and Affiliations

  • School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Lindsey Büster

  • Centre de Recherches en Archéologie et Patrimoine, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium

    Eugène Warmenbol

  • Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Dimitrij Mlekuž

About the editors

Dr Lindsey Büster is a Teaching Fellow in European Iron Age Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh. With a PhD in later prehistoric roundhouses (2013), her research interests include ritual and domestic life in later prehistoric Europe, and complex later prehistoric funerary practices, which she is exploring through excavations at the Covesea Caves in north-east Scotland.

Professor Eugène Warmenbol is Professor of North-Western European Archaeology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He is a specialist of the Bronze and Iron Ages, with interests in cave occupation and the dynamics of long-distance exchanges. Formerly, he spent time excavating in Egypt and Syria, and has organised several exhibitions on Ancient Egypt. 

Dr Dimitrij Mlekuž is a Research Associate and Lecturer at the University of Ljubljana and is Heritage Officer at the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia. He completed a PhD on the Neolithic landscapes of East Adriatic, and his main interests are landscape archaeology, remote sensing and the Neolithic societies of south-eastern Europe.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Between Worlds

  • Book Subtitle: Understanding Ritual Cave Use in Later Prehistory

  • Editors: Lindsey Büster, Eugène Warmenbol, Dimitrij Mlekuž

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99022-4

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-99021-7Published: 03 January 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-99022-4Published: 18 December 2018

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XI, 270

  • Number of Illustrations: 17 b/w illustrations, 85 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Archaeology

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access