Indo-European Fire Rituals is a comparative study of Indo-European fire ritualsfrom modern folklore and ethnography in Scandinavia and archaeologicalmaterial in Europe from the Bronze Age onwards to the Vedic origins ofcosmosin India and today’s cremations on open pyres in Hinduism.Exploring Indo-European fire rituals and sacrifices throughout history andfire in its fundamental role in rites and religious practices, this book analysesfire rituals as the unifying structure in time and space in Indo-Europeanculturesfrom the Bronze Age onwards. It asks the question how and why wasfire the ultimate power in culture and cosmology? Fire as an agent and divinitywas fundamental in all major sacrifices. In Europe, ritual fires in relation toagriculture and fertility may also explain the enigma of cremation. Crematedremains were ground and used in fertility rituals, and ancestral fires played anessential role in metallurgy and the creation of cosmos. Thus, the role of firerituals in culture and cosmology enables a unique understanding of historicdevelopmental processes.For students and academics studying Indo-European culture history fromthe Bronze Age onwards, this book has a broad interdisciplinary audienceincluding archaeology, ethnography, folklore, religious and Indo-Europeanstudies.