Stag and Stone - Religion, Archaeology and Esoteric Aesthetics - Jay Johnston
Chapter 6. Speaking Stones: Runic Inscriptions and the Legacy of Religious Discourse on their Interpretation
Stag and Stone - Religion, Archaeology and Esoteric Aesthetics - Jay Johnston
Jay Johnston [+]
University of Sydney
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Jay Johnston is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the interface of religious studies, art history, continental philosophy and cultural studies. Her research is centrally concerned with the interrelationship of aesthetics and ethics, theories of embodiment and agency, ritual material culture, epistemology and multispecies studies.
Description
Providing a further case study of the overt and covert influence of religious belief on archaeological (and philological) practice, this chapter is a discourse analysis of the antiquarian interpretations of the runic inscriptions of Maes Howe (Orkney). In particular it exemplifies the interrelationship of the subject areas as the different disciplinary identities emerged in the nineteenth century and identifies the enduring contemporary legacy of these early studies.