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Is it possible to reconstruct a prehistoric religion? Latvian archaeology versus the believers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2021

Zenta Broka-Lāce
Zenta Broka-Lāce*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia, Latvia Email: zentabroka@inbox.lv
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Abstract

Today there is a revival of groups who claim to practice ancient Latvian religion. They often accuse archaeologists of lying and concealing the evidence of Latvian past superiority. On the one hand, this might be considered a misuse of archaeological data in order to support religious or nationalistic beliefs. On the other hand, hypothetical reconstructions of prehistoric religious beliefs are related to public archaeology and the relationship between science and the wider society. The aim of this paper is to investigate attempts to reconstruct ancient Latvian prehistoric religion through the lens of the archaeology of religion, and at the same time to broaden the discussion into the problematic relationship between nationalism and public archaeology.

Keywords

Archaeology of religionpublic archaeologynational identitynationalismneopaganismDievturība
Type
Articles
Information
Archaeological Dialogues , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , December 2021 , pp. 141 - 162
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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