Funerary Archaeology (Other Keyword)
1-12 (12 Records)
Archaeothanatology is increasingly important in the study of mortuary practices, as it allows us to study aspects of mortuary behaviour that were traditionally hard to assess. However, the archaeothanatological approach entails a detailed and very time-consuming excavation and documentation methodology that requires thorough training. Increasingly refined excavation and documentation methods have clear advantages for our understanding of the mortuary record, but there is a danger of rendering...
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust : the role of wood in ancient maya funerary sequences (2017)
From 2014 to 2016, the intensive excavation of the residential unit 5N6 in Naachtun (Guatemala) has yielded 13 burials intricately linked with the evolution of the architecture. Put together, these funerary contexts allow for a fine-scale reconstruction of the local dynamics and everyday life in the unit. However, funerary archaeologists often fail to consider the burial itself as a micro-context, a combination of significant gestures and actions that can be analyzed using the same principles as...
Bones Wearing Bow Ties: Differential Preservation in Funerary Taphonomy (2017)
The skeletal remains excavated from Scott Cemetery were well preserved while, in contrast, coffin and textile remains were generally poorly preserved. A soil pH test was conducted, with the sandy soil being an alkaline 7.8. The well preserved bone, adipocere formation, and poor textile preservation reflect established literature on the effects of alkaline soils. Burials with a high degree of roots, likely from remains of a tree that had grown through the grave shafts, were less preserved than...
Examining Variable Funerary Practices at Pottery Mound, New Mexico (2017)
Pottery Mound (LA 416) is a Pueblo IV village site located on the Rio Puerco in central New Mexico southwest of the modern city of Albuquerque and was occupied from the mid-14th to mid-15th centuries. This site is most notable for its abundance of local and non-local ceramic types and elaborate kiva murals (Schaafsma 2007). Excavations at Pottery Mound took place during several University of New Mexico (UNM) field schools under direction of Frank Hibben and later Linda Cordell between the 1950s...
Fire and Death: Cremation as a Ritualised Funerary Practice in the Southern Brazilian Highlands (2017)
Archaeological evidence from southern Jê mound and enclosure complexes in the southern Brazilian highlands points to the development of a complex funerary ritual focused on the practice of cremation from 1000 BP onwards. Drawing upon bioarchaeological, ethnographic and ethnohistorical analysis, this paper discusses the role of cremation as a ritualised practice aimed at transforming the dead, their body and their relations with society. Patterns of similarities and differences in such practice...
Interpreting the Archaeology of Pregnancy Loss (2017)
The status of pregnancy loss as taboo in Western culture, as well as the poor preservation of fetal remains, contributes to the absence of pregnancy loss from the anthropological study of funerary practices. Furthermore, pregnancy loss is rarely viewed by society as a legitimate cause for bereavement and perhaps consequently, has been overlooked in the archaeological record. Additionally, grief associated with a miscarriage or stillbirth is often described as a novel phenomenon, while parental...
Living with the Dead: Plastered Skulls and ‘Continuing Bonds’ (2017)
This paper considers the phenomenon of plastered skulls from the Neolithic of the Middle East, exploring a re-interpretation of evidence. Plastered skulls result from the burial and later retrieval of crania, onto which is sculpted a face using plaster. These were then used and displayed within household contexts. Rather than traditional interpretations which revolve around status and hierarchy or social cohesion, this paper suggests a reinterpretation based on the modern bereavement theory of...
Making medieval toys: Using experimental archaeology to engage students in academic enquiry (2016)
The early medieval period is often thought of as a grim, violent era, characterized by conflict and social inequality. It is typically dominated by adult male narratives, albeit with a growing body of work centred on women’s lives. Children have remained in the shadows, sometimes seen but rarely heard. There is limited archaeological evidence for children’s activities and even less appears in textual sources from the Middle Ages. This paper explores the ways in which medieval children’s toys and...
Rogue utopians or bumpkins on the margin? Bronze Age mortuary customs in the marshlands of the Great Hungarian Plain (2016)
Many archaeologists argue that the emergence of a social elite in the Bronze Age of the Great Hungarian Plain is due to the parallel appearance of a specialized trade network they were able to control. This poster focuses on the burial customs at the Békés 103 site, a Bronze Age cemetery in Eastern Hungary. This area saw growth in population, the intensification of farming, and increases in metal production during the Bronze Age, but the settlements lack any evidence for social hierarchy. Do...
A View from the Periphery. Bioarchaeology and Funerary Archaeology at Al Khiday, Central Sudan (2017)
Archaeological sites south of Khartoum are much scarcer compared to those further to the north and this presentation aims to report on a multi-phase cemetery that is situated at the periphery of our archaeological knowledge. At present, burials dating to three chronological periods have been recovered at Al Khiday. The site is located on the left bank of the White Nile, approximately 20 km south of Omdurman (Khartoum). Forty-two individuals are dated to the Classic/Late Meroitic period (end of...
A virtual documentation of excavation through 3D modeling; is it worth the effort? (2016)
Illustration of various means has always helped in visualising complex information, and archaeologists have used means such as photographs, drawings and even three-dimensional illustration to present complex archaeological data. Archaeologists began using three-dimensional models of various archaeological monuments only in 1990s. However, in recent years, and with high-end computer applications, archaeologists are able to document different stages of excavations using 3D illustration, which has...
What’s in a grave?: a preliminary analysis of material culture from the Milwaukee County Institution Grounds Cemetery (2015)
The Milwaukee County Institution Grounds (MCIG) Cemetery is located in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. This historic cemetery was in use from 1878 to 1974 and interred Milwaukee County’s indigent. The individuals represented consist mostly of poor European immigrants, subsequent generations, institutionalized residents, and the unclaimed deceased. The material culture associated with the 2013 MCIG cemetery excavations recovered from 685 individual graves, was stabilized, inventoried and accessioned....