In this instance, the “phallic symbols” appear to be parts of fire drills<\/a>. If you have ever watched someone start a fire with a drill\u00a0 (I have), it does seem sort of miraculous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I always chuckle at how when archaeologists cannot immediately ascertain the purpose of an ancient object, they describe it as “cultic,” in this case as a phallic symbol. This tendency was parodied in the steampunk-ish graphic novel Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay, who also created City, Cathedral, Ship, and others. In this instance, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-4522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-archaeology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-1aW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":333,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=333","url_meta":{"origin":4522,"position":0},"title":"\"Satan in the Groin\" It's\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 15, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Satan in the Groin\" It's the name of a site devoted to \"exhibitionist figures in medieaval churches,\" but with excursions to phallic standing stones in Ireland as well.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12811,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12811","url_meta":{"origin":4522,"position":1},"title":"New Pomegranate Published \u2014\u00a0New Editor Joins","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A new issue of The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies has been published online. The special double issue on the theme of Pagans, museums, and heritage organizations was guest-edited by Pomegranate's new associate editor, Caroline Tully. She is an archaeologist at the University of Melbourne, Australia and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"academia\"","block_context":{"text":"academia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=academia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/POME-23.1-2-TOC-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6549,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6549","url_meta":{"origin":4522,"position":2},"title":"Literary British Paganism and an Unusual Thor’s Hammer","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00b6 Ethan Doyle White reviews Ronald Hutton's Pagan Britain and Marion Gibson's Imagining the Pagan Past (free PDF download). The first I have, but the second might actually be more valuable to anyone studying contemporary Paganism, for it looks not at \"not at paganism [sic] itself, but instead explores how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"archaeology\"","block_context":{"text":"archaeology","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=archaeology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pasthorizonspr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/hammertop.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":314,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=314","url_meta":{"origin":4522,"position":3},"title":"Pastors on the playa Over\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 28, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Pastors on the playa Over the past several years, the annual Burning Man event in Nevada has gained a higher and higher profile. In some quarters, this event is viewed with alarm. Is it a convocation of \"earth-worshipping pagans\" and a preview of Hell? Does the Lord tell you to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1210,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1210","url_meta":{"origin":4522,"position":4},"title":"The Not-Quite-Pagan ‘Pioneer Day’ Parade","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Think of a typical American small-town parade: the Apple Queen and her court in a convertible, the honorary marshalls (some respected elderly couple) in an antique car, the high-school band kids' faces earnest and nervous under their shakos, Shriners in miniature cars, a military vehicle or two, horses, alpacas, old\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chascli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0814797083","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":750,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=750","url_meta":{"origin":4522,"position":5},"title":"Who’s a Celt now? – 4","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Part 1, Part 2, Part 3There is no gene for \"Celtic,\" and, as we have seen (if you followed the links), \"Celtic culture\" is largely an invention of the late 18th and 19th centuries--created by the English and\/or of Welsh, Irish, and other tradition-inventors who went to London to make\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4522"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4524,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4522\/revisions\/4524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}