Did the Indian and Babylonian astronomy evolve in isolation, was there mutual influence, or was one dependent on the other? Scholars have debated these questions for more than two centuries, and opinion has swung one way or the other with time. The similarities between the two systems that have been investigated are: the use of 30 divisions of the lunar month; the 360 divisions of the civil yea...

When monastics of the Indic North and Northwest around turn Common Era made decision to introduce art into monasteries, current cultural assumptions regarding aesthetic experience such objects, which were axiomatically negated by Buddhist ideology, led certain confrontations in law praxis an attempt resolve these within monastic legal codes (vinaya) redacted during this period. Tracing historic...

Scholars of religion have long sought to explain the persistent finding that women tend report greater religiosity than men. However, size this “gender gap” may depend on measure employed, religious tradition being sampled, and socio-demographic factors. Here, we conduct a systematic cross-cultural investigation into prevalence of, explanations for, gender gap in 2,002 individuals from 14 diver...

Abstract This article deals with two theological paradoxes in the Book of Esther (Masoretic Text). Arguably, most striking characteristic book is that it does not mention God. At same time, Jewish protagonists bear names are identical with, or at least strongly reminiscent of, those Babylonian deities Marduk and Ištar. While author seems to completely ignore cultic laws Pentateuch, end he empha...

Despite official bans, public criticism and concern over pollution, plastics are widely used in Buddhist material culture the Indian Himalayan state of Sikkim. Using framework seven bowls water offerings, undertaken every morning to Buddhas deities domestic shrine rooms, ethnographic observations, as a way frame discussions changing culture, I will interrogate how waste is re-purposed Sikkimese...

Human trophy heads from the Wari site of Conchopata (AD 600-1000) are examined to evaluate if recently deceased persons or old corpses were used to make trophy heads and determine if the modifications are standardized. Similarly styled trophy heads may suggest state oversight that ensured uniform modifications, while different styles may suggest that various factions or kin groups prepared them...

Runic echoes permeate saga literature; the runes of divine origin, rúnar reginkunnar, of the Sparlösa and Noleby stones recur in Hávamál, while the evocative Swedish Skarpåker runestone (Jör› skal rifna ok upphiminn) or the Danish Ribe stick (Jör› bi› ek uar›a ok upphiminn) are strongly reminiscent of Germanic poetry (cf. Jansson 1987: 140f.). References to elves and trolls, and even invocation...