Necromagikon: Comparing Egyptian and Casas Grandes Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Magic, Spirits, Shamanism, and Trance" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Death exists at the cornerstone of every culture. Each culture has death rituals through which humans seek to control the unknown. These rituals may focus on the event of dying and “crossing over” as dictated by each culture, but also include the role the dead might play even after their bodily death. Archaeologists have focused on mortuary ritual, but the magical practices surrounding death and the dead are less heavily studied. We have coined the term necromagikon, meaning death magic, to refer to magic practices involving death, and the dead. This term brings into focus the ways the living can interact with the dead with sacra that include associated myths, magic, artifacts to complete specific rituals. Our categories include the intent of the practitioner (e.g., controlling demons with magic wands, reanimating human remains to help the recently deceased) and subcategories that include the desired effects of these rituals (e.g., allowing the dead to pass on). We present two case studies from Middle Kingdom Egypt (BC 2055–1650) and the Medio Period (AD 1200–1450) Casas Grandes of the Greater Southwest to illustrate the utility of our model.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Magic, Spirits, Shamanism, and Trance   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38421.0