Divinity Atlas
Things this atlas does not know. Each entry is a question that specialists
have posed and not settled, recorded with what would actually resolve it and which
expertise the answer needs.
These are kept deliberately, rather than quietly omitted. An atlas that shows
only what it is sure of implies a confidence it has not earned, and the gaps are often where
the interesting work is. Several sit exactly where two fields fail to meet: identifying the
hyssop of the Hebrew Bible needs a botanist and a philologist of Biblical Hebrew, and neither
one settles it alone.
You can send evidence on some of these. A pilot is open on 55 questions in one field, Palaeography. Each says what would resolve it; send something that meets that bar, with a source anybody can check, and an editor will weigh it. Sending evidence does not guarantee the question will be resolved, and it does not have to be your field to read what is being asked. See what is open.
Grouped by the shape of the gap rather than its subject: what sort of thing is unresolved.
Filter By Specialty 99 fields
Showing 361 to 380 of 610 open questions, page 19 of 31.
location 38
Recorded as unresolved.
Leonard Horowitz
Where was Leonard Horowitz born?
Open Leonard Horowitz
Why It Is Open His birth year and professional credentials are widely documented, but no source found, including his own author biography pages, states where he was born.
What Would Settle It A biographical profile or public statement from Leonard Horowitz naming his birthplace.
Expertise Needed Biographical research
Question posed in
Leonard Horowitz (reference article), SourceWatch contributors.
Russ Hudson
Where was Russ Hudson born?
Open Russ Hudson
Why It Is Open He is extensively documented as a teacher and author, but no interview, profile or biographical page found states his birthplace or hometown.
What Would Settle It An interview or biographical profile from the Enneagram Institute or elsewhere naming his birthplace.
Expertise Needed Biographical research
Question posed in
Divinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition.
Deborah Blake
Where was Deborah Blake born?
Open Deborah Blake
Why It Is Open Her Llewellyn author page and her own official site describe only her current residence in upstate New York, not where she was born or grew up.
What Would Settle It An interview or profile of Deborah Blake naming her birthplace or hometown.
Expertise Needed Biographical research
Question posed in
Deborah Blake (Llewellyn author page), Llewellyn.
J. R. Rivera
Where was J. R. Rivera born?
Open J. R. Rivera
Why It Is Open His public bios across retailers and his own blog focus entirely on his tarot practice and interests, not personal geography.
What Would Settle It An interview or profile of J. R. Rivera naming his birthplace or hometown.
Expertise Needed Biographical research
Question posed in
Divinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition.
Jasmine Becket-Griffith
Where was Jasmine Becket-Griffith born?
Open Jasmine Becket-Griffith
Why It Is Open Secondary summaries claiming Kansas or Kansas City, Missouri, trace only to a conflation with her university location, not to any statement by her; her own site and Wikipedia give her birth date only, with no place.
What Would Settle It A statement from Jasmine Becket-Griffith herself, or a primary record, naming her actual birthplace.
Expertise Needed Biographical research
Question posed in
Divinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition.
Michelle A. Motuzas
Where was Michelle A. Motuzas born?
Open Michelle A. Motuzas
Why It Is Open Her official site describes her only as a "native New Englander," with no specific city, state or hometown named.
What Would Settle It An interview or profile of Michelle A. Motuzas naming her specific birthplace or hometown.
Expertise Needed Biographical research
Question posed in
Michelle A. Motuzas (official site), Michelle A. Motuzas.
Michelle Buchanan
Where was Michelle Buchanan born?
Open Michelle Buchanan
Why It Is Open She is a fairly public figure with a known birth name and date, but no source found states where she was born or grew up.
What Would Settle It An interview or profile of Michelle Buchanan naming her birthplace or hometown.
Expertise Needed Biographical research
Question posed in
Divinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition.
Radleigh Valentine
Where was Radleigh Valentine born?
Open Radleigh Valentine
Why It Is Open He is candid in interviews about his career change and formative spiritual experiences, but no source found states where he was born or grew up.
What Would Settle It An interview or profile of Radleigh Valentine naming his birthplace or hometown.
Expertise Needed Biographical research
Question posed in
Radleigh Valentine (Hay House U profile), Hay House.
Theresa Reed
Where was Theresa Reed born?
Open Theresa Reed
Why It Is Open She writes and speaks extensively and personally about her family and upbringing across many interviews and podcasts, yet no specific hometown or birthplace has surfaced in any of them; her own site names only her current base in Milwaukee.
What Would Settle It A statement from Theresa Reed herself naming her actual birthplace or hometown, which her extensive interviews so far have not covered.
Expertise Needed Biographical research
Question posed in
Divinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition.
Yoshi Yoshitani
Where was Yoshi Yoshitani born?
Open Yoshi Yoshitani
Why It Is Open A commonly repeated line describes her as born in California and raised in numerous locations, but no primary source could be found actually saying this; interviews specifically about her mixed race, multi location upbringing discuss moving frequently without ever naming a place.
What Would Settle It A statement from Yoshi Yoshitani herself, or a primary record, naming her actual birthplace.
Expertise Needed Biographical research
Question posed in
Yoshi Yoshitani (official site), Yoshi Yoshitani.
União do Vegetal
Where was the Uniao do Vegetal founded on 22 July 1961?
Open União do Vegetal
Why It Is Open The date is agreed in every account, including the church's own. The place is not. The church describes the founding as taking place in the Amazon forest without naming a settlement, and several accounts place it at a rubber camp near the Bolivian frontier, while widely circulated reference summaries give the town of Porto Velho instead.
What Would Settle It The church's own founding records and the recollections of the first members, read against Brazilian civil registration and land records for the rubber camps of the upper Madeira in 1961.
Expertise Needed Brazilian religious history and archival research
Question posed in
Ayahuasca, Ritual and Religion in Brazil, Beatriz Caiuby Labate and Edward MacRae (eds.).
dating 33
When something happened, where the sources disagree or are silent.
Agarwood
Which surviving text or find gives agarwood's earliest securely dated attestation?
Open Agarwood
Why It Is Open Aguru and related terms appear in later Sanskrit, Chinese and Arabic sources, but which candidate early mention, several sit in texts of disputed date, is genuinely the earliest surviving reference has not been settled against a securely dated source.
What Would Settle It A philological study fixing the earliest secure and datable occurrence of aguru or a cognate term in a text whose date scholars agree on, or an archaeobotanical identification of Aquilaria resin residue from a securely dated find.
Expertise Needed Philology, archaeobotany
Question posed in
Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.).
Camphor
Which text gives camphor's genuinely earliest securely dated attestation?
Open Camphor
Why It Is Open Camphor appears in the Sushruta Samhita, an Ayurvedic compilation whose textual layers and dating are themselves disputed, and in early medieval Chinese and Arabic sources, without the relative priority of these candidate mentions having been established here.
What Would Settle It A philological study fixing the earliest securely datable layer of the Sushruta Samhita naming camphor, compared against the earliest dated Chinese or Arabic trade record for it.
Expertise Needed Philology, history of medicine
Question posed in
Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.).
Juniper
Which text gives the earliest securely dated attestation of juniper's aromatic or incense use?
Open Juniper
Why It Is Open Juniper is used in numerous ancient contexts, medicinal, embalming and ritual, but no single dated text or excavation has been confirmed as the earliest securely dated reference to its aromatic or incense use specifically.
What Would Settle It A study of ancient Egyptian or Near Eastern medical and ritual texts fixing the earliest securely dated mention of juniper's aromatic or fumigant use.
Expertise Needed Egyptology, archaeobotany
Question posed in
Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.).
Lavender
When is lavender first attested as a burned incense, rather than a bathing or laundry herb?
Open Lavender
Why It Is Open Lavender's Latin name derives from washing, its best documented ancient use, and no specific dated source for lavender burned as incense, as opposed to used in bathing, has been confirmed.
What Would Settle It A study of ancient or medieval texts distinguishing lavender's earliest attestation as a burned aromatic from its far better documented use in bathing and laundry.
Expertise Needed Classical history, history of perfumery
Question posed in
Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.).
Palo Santo
What is the earliest securely dated documentary or archaeological attestation of palo santo's ceremonial use?
Open Palo Santo
Why It Is Open Palo santo's traditional use predates any documentation checked so far, and no specific dated colonial era or archaeological source naming it has been located.
What Would Settle It An ethnohistorical study of early colonial Spanish accounts of coastal Ecuadorian and Peruvian ritual practice, or an archaeobotanical identification of Bursera graveolens residue from a securely dated find.
Expertise Needed Ethnohistory, archaeobotany
Question posed in
Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.).
Pine
In which specific tradition is pine's earliest securely dated use as incense attested?
Open Pine
Why It Is Open Pine is native and ritually used across multiple, unrelated regions and periods, so no single earliest attestation can honestly be named without first specifying which tradition's use of pine as incense is being dated.
What Would Settle It A comparative study establishing the earliest securely dated attestation of pine resin or needles burned as incense in a specific named tradition.
Expertise Needed Comparative religion, archaeobotany
Question posed in
Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.).
Rose
When is rose first attested as a burned incense, rather than a garland or distilled perfume?
Open Rose
Why It Is Open Rose's documented ancient uses are overwhelmingly as a garland, perfume or, later, a distilled water, and no specific dated source for rose burned as incense specifically has been confirmed.
What Would Settle It A study of ancient or medieval aromatic use texts distinguishing rose's earliest attestation as a burned incense from its far better documented uses as a garland and distilled perfume.
Expertise Needed Classical history, history of perfumery
Question posed in
Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.).
Saffron
What is the earliest securely dated pictorial or textual attestation of saffron's cultivation or harvest?
Open Saffron
Why It Is Open Saffron's cultivation and harvest are widely reported as depicted in Bronze Age Aegean wall painting, but a specific, checkable excavation report or scholarly publication establishing the secure date of that evidence, and confirming what it actually depicts, has not been confirmed.
What Would Settle It Citation of the excavation report or scholarly publication dating the Bronze Age Aegean saffron harvest imagery and confirming its subject.
Expertise Needed Aegean archaeology
Question posed in
Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.).
Sandalwood
Which candidate early text gives sandalwood's genuinely earliest securely dated attestation?
Open Sandalwood
Why It Is Open Sandalwood appears in Sanskrit literature whose precise dating is disputed among scholars, and in early Chinese Buddhist sources, without it having been established which candidate reference is earliest on a securely datable basis.
What Would Settle It A philological study fixing the earliest securely datable Sanskrit or Chinese text naming sandalwood specifically, rather than aromatic wood generally.
Expertise Needed Philology, Indology
Question posed in
Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.).