In the previous chapter, I considered some aspects of the symbolic value of animals. Because of this value, and the value of meat discussed in Chapter 4, animals and animal products have often played a key role in human rituals. Hunters’ rituals often focus on maintaining supplies of game by treating animals and especially animal remains with due respect. Herders may offer sacrifices to influence the course of events. Animal parts, often derived from sacrifice, may be used in divination or as components of costumes. Many of these ritual practices shape the animal remains in the archaeological record.

This is not the place for an exhaustive review of the theory of ritual. I simply note that recent discussions of ritual generally stress its performative aspects, with the power of ritual lying in the sensory experiences it creates (e.g., Bell 1997; Parkin 1992). Bobby Alexander (1997:139) defines ritual as “a performance, planned or improvised, that effects a transition from everyday life to an alternative context within which the everyday is transformed.” Catherine Bell (1992), taking a practice theory approach, has introduced the useful concept of “ritualization”: the process of marking actions as rituals. Ritualization is accomplished through devices such as formality, traditionalization, invariance, rule governance, and sacral symbolism.