archaeomancy means divination using sacred relics. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 82 out of 100.
Why this word is great
ARCHAEOMANCY — [Noun] Divination by means of ancient or sacred relics. From the Ancient Greek ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos, "ancient") and μαντεία (manteía, "prophecy, divination"). Unlike arithmancy, which traffics in the abstract purity of numbers, or hieromancy, which can employ any consecrated item, archaeomancy seeks the oracle specifically in the dust of ages. It is the cold weight of a cuneiform tablet in the palm, the cryptic whisper from a sherd of funerary pottery, or the ominous shadow cast by a standing stone at dusk—a quiet consultation with the cold, indifferent continuum of which we are a momentary part. It is the melancholy art of asking questions of things that have outlived their answers.
noun
- Divination using sacred relics.“Predicting the Future State of the World Using Archaeological Data: An Exercise in Archaeomancy”