Cremation Mortuary Practices during the Archaic Period in Ancient Athens and Attica

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In this paper, we provide preliminary results for reconstructing cremation mortuary practices from the Archaic site of Phaleron (ca. 750–480 BCE), located in Athens, Greece. We build on performance theory and embodiment ideas to answer two main research questions: (1) Who were the cremated individuals? and (2) How were cremation mortuary rituals performed? We do this by reconstructing the biological profile of individuals, examining thermal alterations, burial construction, and broader archaeological information from the site. Preliminary results highlight the variation in cremation rituals between different individuals. Some individuals were highly burned while others were not, suggesting different levels of pyrotechnological efficiency and/or resource accessibility. Additionally, the necropolis of Phaleron was an active space where people buried and memorialized their dead in many different ways. This research project emphasizes the benefits of exploring cremation rituals within a holistic view, considering the decedent and how their mourners and community treated the individual at death.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36624.0