Wait you are telling me they were not for some religious rites? Or had some religious significance? Isn't that the usual reasoning for nearly everything found ever...
It very rarely is. Most things found are known to be tools, dwellings, pottery for storage or cooking, clothing, etc.
Wierd stuff, the stuff without a mundane explanation is labeled ritual, and since its wierd - you (presumably non-archaeologist) are more likely to see articles (etc) about "look at this wierd thing we found".
It's also worth noting that "ritual" doesn't mean "religious". Yes there are a lot of religious rituals in the world today, and throughout written history - so there's a reasonable assumption that often the "ritual" stuff might have been associated with religion. There are however many secular rituals in modern life (and throughout history). Some examples from the present day US:
* Swearing in for various offices/jobs
* Many aspects of court and the legal system (gavels, the whole trial format, the bill signing ceremonies, etc)
* the national anthem before sports games
* parades
* school graduations, awards presentations, and other ceremonies
Many objects associated with these are "ritual objects" - gavels, mortarboard hats, medals on soldiers, fancy diplomas, and on and on. Just because you can provide a deeper explanation of the symbolism doesn't change the fact that they are ritual objects.
Even outside of those secular ceremonial rituals, old "religions" simply don't look like new religions.
In old Finland, they believed you could transfer a sickness from a person to a rock, and then throw that rock away. Was that religious?
They believed you could heal an arrow wound if you chanted the origin story of how arrows came to be, and told the prototypal first arrow it was used wrongly, that it should be ashamed and take back the harm. Was that religious?
