Reconstructing Mortuary Rites through Micro-CT Forensic Taphonomy at Ancient Aksum, Ethiopia (50-400 AD)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper uses micro-CT and funerary taphonomy to reconstruct ancient Aksumite burials (50-400 AD). Aksum, in northern Ethiopia, was the capital of an ancient polity that spread across the northern Horn of Africa and became a major power in the Indian Ocean trade. The most notable remains of the ancient capital are its towering funerary stelae and monumental tomb complexes. This paper presents data analyzing previously excavated human remains from two stelae tombs in the central cemetery at Aksum. Data looking at element representation and patterning of cutmarks point to the post-mortem processing of Aksumite remains. Micro-CT histology of bacterial bioerosion on 20 samples from the two tombs supports this conclusion. Differences in stable isotopes between tombs further suggest their family orientations. When contextualized with previous excavation data, it is possible to reconstruct a rough sequence of burial and post-mortem steps, and demonstrate their relevance in shaping Aksum’s mortuary architecture. I also show that these mortuary rites fit with a larger Aksumite history as inventions of tradition that negotiated the rising cosmopolitanism in the Indian Ocean trade.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40473.0