Mortuary archaeology (Other Keyword)
126-150 (294 Records)
The Roman/Parthian period (200 BCE - 300 CE) at the site of Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad, Syria existed during a period in the region characterized by political instability and military movement. This "borderland," existing at the extremities of both empires, created a unique sphere of potential interactions both on the individual level and broader scale. A cemetery from this period shows four distinct burial forms (mud-brick graves, earthen graves, amphora graves and clay sarcophagi). In an effort to better...
An Investigation into Topographic Distribution Patterns Associated with Wetlands Surrounding Bog Body Burial Sites (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. History is imprinted in our landscapes, and the creation of bog deathscapes indicates the agency of wetland environments to the mortuary customs of European Iron Age and North American Archaic Age communities. The functionality and ideological value of bog landscapes vary spatially and temporally, yet there is a unilateral use of bogs as unique burial...
An Investigation of Bone Preservation as a Result of Environmental and Cultural Variables in Mortuary Contexts (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This study investigates preservation and molecular integrity of bone through an experimental study focused on variation in mortuary practices. The objective of this study examines how different mortuary rituals affect bone preservation, particularly in an area with a freeze/thaw effect, and how simulated mortuary contexts will impact the stable isotope...
Keeping the Dead Close (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Embodied Essence: Anthropological, Historical, and Archaeological Perspectives on the Use of Body Parts and Bodily Substances in Religious Beliefs and Practices" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper explores the use of anatomical body parts—namely, skulls and crania—in the Neolithic of southwest Asia. It is clear that for many, the dead were kept close to the living, with their remains physically used by the...
Key Factors Impacting the Efficacy of Canine Resources on Archaeological Surveys (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Canine Resources for the Archaeologist" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Canine resources, used alone or as part of a multidisciplinary approach, are proven to be effective at assisting archaeologists in locating human remains. Just as geophysical instruments and analysts have limitations and factors that impact their success on surveys, so do canine teams. This paper will examine the key factors that determine...
The Labor of Building a Community: Collective Organization and Mortuary Practices in Copper Age Iberia (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Cooperative Bodies: Bioarchaeology and Non-ranked Societies" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Iberian Copper Age (c.3200-2250 BC) witnesses a suite of interrelated changes, including expansion of exchange networks, intensification of agriculture, increases in population density, and greater investment in site infrastructure. Accordingly, it is noteworthy that third millennium collective mortuary practices hark back...
Lamenting the Dead: The Acoustic Element in Bronze Age Funerary Rituals in Syro-Mesopotamia (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeoacoustics: Sound, Hearing, and Experience in Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper will employ GIS in exploring the experiential aspects of the burial process in Early Bronze Age North Mesopotamia, with a particular attention to funerary soundscapes. To investigate the potential impact of vocal and musical sound, a 10 m resolution digital elevation model (DEM) was developed, and the "System for...
Landscapes of Death and Burial in the South Caucasus: The Kurgans of Naxçivan, Azerbaijan (2016)
While burials have long been an important source of archaeological information, they have traditionally been studied mainly from a site-based perspective. This traditional view focuses on the form of the burial, the grave goods contained, and osteological evidence on the age, sex and health of the interred individual. By contrast, the landscape approach studies burials as part of a broader natural and cultural landscape that extends beyond site boundaries. This project focuses on kurgan burials...
Landscapes of the Dead: Using GIS to Model Social Relationships in a Large Bronze Age Cemetery (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is an important tool for examining social relationships in large horizontally stratified cemeteries. This study applies GIS-based cluster analysis to identify multiscalar patterning at the Middle Bronze Age Maros cemetery at Ostojićevo, Serbia. Three successive scalar clusters were identified: (i) primary...
Las practicas funerarias del Formativo en la costa ecuatoriana : resultado de (2018)
El presente estudio se organiza en torno a una dobla problemática relacionado al Formativo de la costa ecuatoriana (4400 – 300 BC): el examen de los gestos funerarios y su comparación en una perspectiva diacrónica e intercultural. Con un examen teórico y estadístico se puede identificar normas funerarias propias a cada cultura. La comparación intercultural permite de subrayar similitudes y diferencias entre las diferentes culturas del Formativo. Procede de los diferentes trabajos arqueológicos...
The Last Great Escape: Recovery of 1st Lt. Ewart Sconiers, an American World War II Bombardier Imprisoned at the Stalag Luft III POW Camp (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Applying the Power of Partnerships to the Search for America's Missing in Action" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Like many recoveries, locating 1st Lt. Ewart Sconiers required research, persistence, and good old-fashioned luck. While imprisoned at the Stalag Luft III POW camp in German-occupied Poland, complications from an injury sent Sconiers to a hospital in a neighboring town—where he died. His burial occurred in...
Late Horizon Mortuary Traditions at Las Huacas, Chincha: Preliminary Results from a Subterranean Collective Tomb (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological and osteological analyses of burial features allow archaeologists to explore questions related to an individual’s life, activities, social status and potential role in society. This poster presents the analysis of a Late Horizon tomb from the site of Las Huacas in the Chincha Valley of Perú, with an emphasis on human skeletal remains. Las Huacas...
Laying Down with Dogs: The Role of Canis familiaris in Mongolia and Transbaikal during the Xiongnu Period (2023)
This is an abstract from the "From the Altai to the Arctic: New Results and New Directions in the Archaeology of North and Inner Asia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Xiongnu period (ca. 250 BC–AD 150) of Mongolia and Transbaikal marks a dramatic change in the frequency and treatment of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) in the archaeological record. While this shift in burial and consumptive practices are indirectly acknowledged in the academic...
Let’s Shed Some Light: Computed Tomography and GIS in Bioarchaeological Analysis of Funerary Urns from Los Tamarindos Cemetery, Tierra Caliente, Michoacán (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Looking to the West: New insights into Postclassic Archaeology in Michoacán" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Spatial distribution and relations between the osteological material and grave and/or pyre goods within cremation funerary urns are crucial aspects of the bioarchaeological analysis of cremation burials. Through meticulous examination of material distribution, valuable insights can be gleaned regarding the...
Life and Death after Chavín: A Comparative Mortuary and Bioarchaeological Analysis of Salinar from the Perspective of José Olaya–La Iglesia (Huanchaco, Moche Valley) (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Beyond Borders at the End of a Millennium: Life in the Western Andes circa 500–50 BCE" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. On the north coast of Perú, the collapse of the Chavín Sphere of Influence ca. 500/400 cal BC had a marked impact that brought about sociopolitical changes within the Moche Valley. For many years, archaeologists have investigated structural changes (e.g., settlement patterns and architectural shifts),...
Life and Death in Iron Age Wales: Results from Radiocarbon Dating, Histological, and Stable Isotope Analyses from Case Study Sites (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Integrating Isotope Analyses: The State of Play and Future Directions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Iron Age in Wales is understudied compared to other regions in Britain largely due to the lack of osteological evidence. A study by Rowan Whimster in 1981 found only eight burial records in the entire country, leading to the assumption that Iron Age peoples in Wales conducted "archaeologically invisible" funerary...
Life and Death of Lakam Elites at the Maya Center of El Palmar, Campeche, Mexico (2018)
During the Late Classic period (A.D. 600-800), Maya non-royal elites frequently appeared in courtly scenes, which are depicted on polychrome vessels and carved monuments. While epigraphic studies over the last two decades have gradually shed light on their political and ritual roles, little is known about their life histories and mortuary practices. One group of these elites held the title of lakam, which has been reported only at three archaeological sites. We detected tangible evidence of...
Life and Death: How Infant Burial Practices in Buen Suceso Reflect Social Practices, Status, and Community (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Infant burials during the Ecuadorian Formative (3800 BC - 1450 BC) took several forms, including as offering deposits at ritual locations, as burials accompanying adults, and as primary burials in cemetery contexts.This variation may reflect important differences in the status of these infants, their life experiences, and/or how Formative peoples viewed...
Life within Death: Contextualizing Burial Practice at Kenan Tepe, Turkey, from the Ubaid Period to the Early Bronze Age (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Kenan Tepe, Turkey, is a multi-period archaeological site that was occupied during the Ubaid period (5000–4000 BCE), the Late Chalcolithic (3360–3020 BCE), and early Bronze Age (3000–2800 BCE) (Parker and Cobb 2012). During each of these periods residents of Kenan Tepe conducted distinct burial practices. These burials included the remains of individuals...
Linking Life and Death at the Early–Mid-Holocene Hunter-Gatherer Cemetery of Zvejnieki, Lativa, Northern Europe (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Northeast Asian Prehistoric Hunter-Gather Lifeways: Multidisciplinary, Individual Life History Approach" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The nature of the relationship between the living and the dead as seen through funerary rites is central to many aspects of archaeological interpretation. Indeed, this was the focus of early processual/postprocessual debates, with the former seeing a “real,” if distorted, connection...
Lipidomic Analysis of Arch Street Project Brain Tissue (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Bones and Burials in Philadelphia: The Arch Street Project’s Multidisciplinary Research" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Arch Street Project provided desiccated brain tissue recovered from a cemetery uncovered in Philadelphia, PA to the DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine Metabolomics Unit. As the Arch Street cemetery burials predate chemical fixation funerary practices, analysis of biological soft tissue...
Local Mortuary Practice and Inca Imperial Conquest in the Middle Chincha Valley, Peru (2019)
This is an abstract from the "From the Paracas Culture to the Inca Empire: Recent Archaeological Research in the Chincha Valley, Peru" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. I investigate the relationship between local mortuary practice and imperial conquest in the middle Chincha Valley of Peru, a landscape that was incorporated into the Inca Empire in the 15th century. Indigenous groups developed strategies for dealing with invasive imperial control. One...
A Look at Local Populations during Wari Expansion: Bioarchaeology and Funerary Contexts at Ak’awillay, Cusco, Peru (2018)
Although the climate and rich cultural history of Peru frequently offers a perfect setting for bioarchaeological analysis, the pre-Inca peoples of the central Andean highlands often lack full representation within that analysis. Yet, excavations at Ak’awillay, a village in the Cusco region, between 2006 and 2016, revealed 79 bodies. Most of the remains recovered from the site date to the Middle Horizon (AD 600–1000); however, previous analysis of the architecture and artifacts at the site...
Love beyond What Is Lost: Expressions of Kinship through Mortuary Practice at Phaleron Cemetery (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. While discussions of kinship in Ancient Greece have largely been limited to the elite and their families, the Archaic cemetery of Phaleron (700–480 BC) provides a unique opportunity to investigate kinship relationships among people of lower socioeconomic status. This is especially true of interments of children, which can be interpreted not only as a...
Lucayan Burials in the Bahama Archipelago (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Advances in the Archaeology of the Bahama Archipelago" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The first archaeological evidence for the native peoples of the Bahama archipelago was found in dry caves, many of which were excavated for cave earth to fertilize agricultural fields. Human remains were found in some of these caves, but in such small numbers it was thought this could not have been the only location in which the...