Small Things Remembered: Scale, Materiality, and the Archaeology of Religion

Abstract This afterword seeks to identify major themes cross-cutting the papers within this edited collection in order to explore what we can gain from directing our attention to “the religion of little things.” How and why is scale – especially small scale – important to the archaeology of religion? Additionally, how do ritual encounters with miniaturized objects (for example, figurines representing human bodies at much smaller scale) compare to those of “always already small” objects (for example, votive loomweights), whose diminutive size offers similar affordances for portability and intimate tactile and visual interaction, but which may not evoke the marvelous or fantastic qualities of the miniature? This volume’s focus on the “religion of little things” pulls together three paradoxically large concepts: religion, scale, and materiality. Accordingly, I analyze the interactions of these themes from a multiscalar perspective, exploring the affordances of small-scale objects (both miniatures and “always already small”) for the lived religious experience of individuals as well as the social and economic aspects of religion. Finally, at the disciplinary level, small-scale religious objects present a range of theoretical and methodological challenges and opportunities for archaeological practice.