Fifth Annual Debates in Archaeology Symposium - Sacred Flames: The Place of Fire in Ritual, Religion and Cosmology

Use of fire is a human universal. Most evolutionary research on fire privileges its role in adaptations, particularly the importance of cooking within the hominin lineage. However, human engagements with fire were complex and multiple, and it played an especially important role in ritual, religion, and cosmology. A venerated source of power, creation, life, destruction, and divination, fire secured center stage in many religious traditions, ranging from Vedic rites and Zoroastrianism to Shang pyromancy (oracle bones) and the early fire temples of the Andean preceramic period. Fire also commonly mediated relationships between divine powers and dependent mortals as demonstrated by rites of cremation and the burning of incense documented across cultures. The ubiquity of world myths on the “theft of fire,” exemplified by the legend of Prometheus, further reveals the ambivalent status of fire as a bridge linking ontological others.

In this workshop, the Arch Centre will explore the intersection of fire and the sacred drawing on archaeological, historical, and ethnographic insights. Among the questions we will pose: were singular meanings attached to fire across cultures and time periods? How do the sensory aspects of fire, such as heat and the liberating smells in incense, factor in the use of fire in ritual? Are their tendencies across religious systems to contain and channel the power of fire? Why is fire (immolation) a cross‐cultural vehicle of sacrifice and offering? As one of the primal elements, how does fire relate to other aspects of the environment such as water, air, the sun, and the earth itself? How did the sacrality of fire differently condition its quotidian uses, such as cooking, keeping warm, and diverse technological processes? How can archaeologists interpret the diverse symbolism and ritual meanings of fire from the archaeological record? How is fire associated with the eternal, the soul, and with life?

Location Day 1 (September 20): FE Building (371 Bloor Street West), Room 114

Location Day 2 (September 21): Astronomy & Astrophysics Building (AB) (50 St. George Street), Room 107