> Someone please tell me how it is that saunas, known to a single
> cultural group in the Iron Age (i.e., the Scandinavians) are more
> typical than beekeeping, a practice (according to the archaeological
> record) widespread throughout Europe and Asia since the inception of
> the agrarian lifestyle in Neolithic times?
Perhaps the word 'sweat lodge' would be more appropriate for our use, as it is not so culturally specific as 'sauna' and emphasises the ritual connotations.
I personally don't think we can start assuming that sweat lodges are a major part of Sartarite culture, but there *is* a precedent (in my own writings at least) and if we can show how and why they are used (and we've had several suggestions so far) it will make a create addition to the corpus.
In many steads, sweat lodges may only be used in the colder seasons, and spend part of the year being used as a smoking house for meat or as a storage area. Healing and purification ceremonies will also use sweat lodges, and again, these may be reasonably rare.
At this stage of the project, I think we should be as inclusive as possible with all our ideas. We can explore a variety of different manifestations and means through the four steads.
Comments?
John
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