Early Bronze Age IA mortuary practices and difference on the south-eastern Dead Sea Plain, Jordan

Abstract

Early Bronze Age I mortuary practices present a fascinating opportunity to consider how archaeologists approach the question of regionalism, a task rooted fundamentally in the identification and assessment of difference. This paper discusses the intellectual scaffolding in archaeological approaches to assessing variation and homogeneity in our social, economic and political reconstructions of the EB IA by focusing on the cemeteries of Bâb adh-Dhrâʿ, Fifa and Naqʾ on the south-eastern Dead Sea Plain, Jordan. A communities of practice approach is employed to understand the nature of variation in EB IA mortuary practices. By framing mortuary practices as a craft, embedded in the sociality of technology and learning, alternatives to understanding the similarities and differences of treating the dead, and how mortuary practices on the south-eastern Dead Sea Plain offer insights into EB IA society, are considered.