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A comment on The mysterious doodles hidden in a 1,300-year-old book. Parent comment

Re:The mysterious doodles hidden in a 1,300-year-old book by groffee on Wednesday February 15, 2023 @06:16AM (#34802378)
Almost literally everything is called 'ritual' or done for 'religious reasons'.

If you have a gnome garden ornament on your shelf, no-one would seriously think you worship it, just that it looks nice. But this entire profession will call it a 'mysterious religious figure' etc.

Same with tattoos, ask any girl why they have a tramp stamp they'll say it looks 'cute' or something, these guys will call it 'symbolic'.

It's embarrassing.

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Re:The mysterious doodles hidden in a 1,300-year-old book by themaninthedark on Wednesday February 15, 2023 @08:24AM (#34803465)
Various phallic shaped objects that are recovered are also recorded as "being used in a fertility ritual"
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Re:The mysterious doodles hidden in a 1,300-year-old book by delecti on Wednesday February 15, 2023 @11:44AM (#34806493)
It's not entirely wrong. In a certain sense it is "practicing" "fertility".
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Re:The mysterious doodles hidden in a 1,300-year-old book by TheMaskedCoder on Wednesday February 15, 2023 @09:43AM (#34804437)
I recommend Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay, which explores this concept by having a future archaeologist investigate a motel from the 20th century and arrive at extremely bizarre conclusions.
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Re:The mysterious doodles hidden in a 1,300-year-old book by onemoresoop on Wednesday February 15, 2023 @11:47AM (#34806554)
An owner of a tattoo may not care or know it's symbolic, but someone observing it may project that aspect onto it. I think it depends on the context of the analysis..
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