Living with the Dead: Plastered Skulls and ‘Continuing Bonds’

Summary

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 ‘continuing bonds’. This paper suggests that grief and mourning may be a more appropriate explanation for the phenomenon, and examines the role that contemporary theories of grief might play in the interpretation of (some) ancient funerary remains.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Manipulated Bodies: Investigating Postmortem Interactions with Human Remains

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15288