Dans l’ombre du rite : vestiges d’animaux et pratiques sacrificielles en Grèce antique. Note sur la diversité des contextes et les difficultés de recherche rencontrées

In all ancient civilisations, as well as in numerous contemporary societies, animals were implicated in many aspects of religion. Sacrifice and alimentary rituals regulated social life and animals underwent diverse treatments in accordance with particular cults. Zooarchaeological material constitutes direct evidence for animals that were slaughtered and often eaten in a sacred context. Also, the status of a departed person in life could be indicated by the faunal and vegetal funerary offerings that accompanied him or her to the grave. Still, it is not possible to ascribe every zooarchaeological deposit showing unusual characteristics a religious significance, nor does all animal bone assemblages found in a sanctuary constitute the remains of a sacrifice. The interpretation must rest on the interaction between the archaeological context, the taphonomy and the iconographical and literary sources relevant for the particular society. The present article aims at exploring existing hypotheses concerning the zooarchaeological evidence by posing questions and confronting the Greek prehistoric and historical material, as ritual practices were neither static nor linear. This discussion brings to bear on the most recent discoveries, partly still unpublished. Examination of the zooarchaeological evidence from 63 sites allows us to conclude that focus on a particular criterion can result in misinterpretations, as what was common practice in one community was not necessarily so in another. The definition of the actual length of every event is also paramount. Only a careful stratigraphic and zooarchaeological methodology, combined with a multitude of questions posed, will yield information precise enough to determine the species, reconstruct the practices and reformulate our questions.