The ICTM Study Group on Music Archaeology was founded in the early 1980s by Ellen Hickmann, John Blacking, Mantle Hood and Cajsa S. Lund. This is the first volume of the new anthology series published by the study group, turning to the topic of music and religion in past cultures. Each volume of the series is composed of concise case studies, bringing together the world's foremost researchers on a particular subject, reflecting the wide scope of music-archaeological research world-wide. The series draws in perspectives from a range of different disciplines, including newly emerging fields such as archaeoacoustics, but particularly encouraging both music-archaeological and ethnomusicological perspectives.