The new and updated edition of Archaeology of Religion explores how archaeology interprets past religions, offering insights into how archaeologists seek out the religious, ritual, and symbolic meaning behind what they discover in their research.

Sharon R. Steadman is SUNY Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the State University of New York at Cortland. She is Director of the Rozanne Brooks Ethnographic Museum and Director of the archaeological excavations at Çadir Höyük in central Türkiye. Her fieldwork has focused on Near Eastern archaeological work across the Middle East, Cyprus, and the Transcaucasian region. She has also carried out ethnographic work in Türkiye and India. Her research focuses on the archaeology of architecture, the investigation of ancient religions, and cultural responses to climate change.

Part I: Method, Theory, and the Study of Religion - Chapter 1: Introducing the Archaeology of Religion; Chapter 2: Interpreting Religion in the Archaeological Past; Chapter 3: The World of the Shaman; Part II: The Emergence of Religion in Human Culture - Chapter 4: The First Spark of Religion: Neanderthals; Chapter 5: Hunter-Gatherer Religions in North Asia and the Early Americas; Chapter 6: Rock Art and Ritual in Africa and Australia; Part III: Religions in Europe and Western Asia - Chapter 7: Europe and Western Asia in the Palaeolithic and Neolithic: From Cave to Village; Chapter 8: European Megaliths, Religion, and Power; Part IV: Religions in the Americas - Chapter 9: The Mound-Building Cultures of North America; Chapter 10: Puebloan Cultures of the American Southwest; Chapter 11: Mesoamerica and the Religions of Empire; Chapter 12: Lords and Gods: Religions of Andean South America; Part V: Religions in South and East Asia - Chapter 13: From Harappans to Hinduism and Beyond: Religions in South Asia; Chapter 14: Religion in Ancient China: Elites and Ancestors; Part VI: Africa and the Middle East - Chapter 15: Religion and Empire in Egypt; Chapter 16: Ancient Sumer and Religions in Ancient Mesopotamia; Chapter 17: Levantine Religions and the Origins of Judaism; Chapter 18: Revitalizing the People: The Origins of Christianity and Islam; Bibliography; Index.