Funerary Practices Research Articles

Funerary dining or offerings for the dead? An archaeobotanical analysis of remains from shaft tombs in Petra, Jordan

Ancient literary sources from the Hellenistic and Roman world describe the wide-spread practices of funerary feasting and supplying offerings for the deceased. However, the funerary customs of the Nabataeans are still not clearly understood within this broader cultural sphere. Evidence for feasting in Nabataean mortuary contexts largely relies on ceramic and faunal remains but rarely are plant remains included in these analyses. This paper presents archaeobotanical evidence from Nabatean-period tomb deposits from Petra, Jordan, to highlight the role plants played in this type of ritual context. Analysis of samples taken from eight rock-cut shaft tombs, excavated over three seasons (2012, 2014 and 2016), on the North Ridge of Petra, indicates the presence of a variety foodstuffs such as Triticum sp. (wheats), Hordeum vulgare (barley), Lens culinaris (lentil), Vitis vinifera (grape), Ficus carica (fig), Olea europaea (olive) and Phoenix dactylifera (date). These finds provide intriguing evidence of plants consumed or used as offerings during funerary ritual events. This study, in association with the analysis of bioarchaeological remains and ceramics expands our knowledge of Nabataean funerary practices and contributes to a broader understanding of the role of plants in ritual funerary events in the ancient world.

Cemeteries, social change and migration in the time of the Ancient Canarians

This paper delves into the proposal for periodisation of funerary practices among the Ancient Canarians. New radiocarbon dates are provided together with a Bayesian treatment used to estimate the onset and later tempo of the three burial categories previously established: caves, tumuli, and pit-graves/cists, as well as their temporal activity patterns. Changes in funerary practices can only be understood within the social framework of reference which in the case of Gran Canaria needs to be reconsidered. To substantiate this claim, the period corresponding to pit-graves and cist burials from 11th-15th centuries AD is reviewed, in an attempt to identify the innovations that arise during this phase. It is concluded that the new developments identified in the archaeological record seem to be caused by foreign stimuli, stemming from the arrival of new North African settlers that act as agents of change.

Funerary practices from columnata necropolis. Presentation of the last three burials excavated

We describe in this paper 3 burial practices from the last hunter-gatherers lower Holocene populations of Columnata locality (Tiaret-Algeria). Despite their poor bone condition and some obvious grave disturbances, these individual burials are seen as primary depositions. They were placed in clogged tombs in a dorsal position, with no particular orientation of the body and without any deliberate bone’s modification as noticed with iberomaurusian burials. Bovine horns can be considered as voluntary funerary goods as reported for iberomaurusian or capsian burial unlike the semewhat non-deliberate lithic and faunal remains discovered into the graves. In this respect, grave H1 deposit is a singular case. Another special feature of this site is the stone arrangement in the inner space of H1 and H2. Such an early stonework could be reported according to the graves dates to the 10th and 8th millenia BC. Two of the tombs were built with stones to mark their position which is quite advanced for that time.

EL ENTIERRO INDIVIDUAL “FERRADEIRA” DE HERDADE DO ÁLAMO (BEJA): FACETAS DEL CAMBIO SOCIAL A FINALES DEL III MILENIO A.C. EN EL SUR DE PORTUGAL

The individual burial of the Herdade do Álamo, located in Beja municipality, South Portugal, is presented along with its bioanthropological study, radiocarbon dating and isotopic approaches on diet and mobility. The results show a male, with a terrestrial diet and youth mobility, dating from the last quarter of the 3rd millennium BC. The archaeometallurgical study of the metal votive assemblage (one tongue dagger and three Palmela points) indicates a copper metallurgy with high values of Arsenic (As), typical of this period of transition. The burial is contextualized in a process of individuation of the funerary practices and in the “Ferradeira Horizon”, considered as a facet of the diversified funerary practices and of the complex social changes of the late 3rd millennium BC in the South of Portugal.

'It was brutal. It still is': a qualitative analysis of the challenges of bereavement during the COVID-19 pandemic reported in two national surveys.

Background:The COVID-19 pandemic has been a devastating, mass bereavement event characterised by high levels of disruption to end-of-life, grieving and coping processes. Quantitative evidence is emerging on the effects of the pandemic on grief outcomes, but rich qualitative evidence on the lived experiences of people bereaved during these times is lacking.Methods:We analysed qualitative data from two independent UK-wide online surveys to describe the experiences of 881 people bereaved during the pandemic. We analysed the data in two phases, conducting an inductive thematic analysis and then applying Stroebe and Schut’s Dual Process Model (DPM) and concepts of loss-oriented and restoration-oriented coping (1999; 2010) as an analytic lens to further contextualise and interpret the data.Results:We identified six main themes: troubled deaths; mourning, memorialisation and death administration; mass bereavement, the media and the ongoing threat of the pandemic; grieving and coping; work and employment; and support from the health and social care system. Examples of loss-oriented stressors included being unable to visit and say goodbye at the end of life and restricted funeral and memorialisation practices. Associated reactions were feelings of guilt, anger, and problems accepting the death and beginning to grieve. Examples of restoration-oriented stressors and reactions were severely curtailed support-systems and social/recreational activities, which impacted people’s ability to cope.Conclusion:Study results demonstrate the exceptionally difficult sets of experiences associated with pandemic bereavement, and the utility of the DPM for conceptualising these additional challenges and their impacts on grieving. Our analysis builds and expands on previous use of the DPM in explicating the impact of the pandemic on bereavement. We make recommendations for statutory, private and third sector organisations for improving the experiences of people bereaved during and following this and future pandemics.

Предметный комплекс одежды в погребальной обрядности населения Верхнего Приобья эпохи раннего железа

The article characterizes the clothing assemblage in the burial rituals of the Early Iron Age population of the Upper Ob River region. The work draws from the materials found on the Bolsherechenskaya sites of the 8th (7th) — 3rd (2nd) centuries BC. Using this archaeological material, the author examines the event-driven sacralized actions with items of clothing at the stage preceding the burial, and directly during its implementation. The complex of these actions is subdivided into actions associated with symbolic damage to things; actions associated with a change in the symbolic status of things and actions that mark the high symbolic status of things. The clothing assemblage, revealed during the study of the burial, is differentiated into truly aesthetic and symbolically significant things. Whole things, as a rule, related to objects of art, are found in characteristic places of their lifetime use. Things with a symbolic status changed during the funerary rite are recorded in an unusual topographic context. Event sacralization can be viewed as an adaptive strategy for integrating things and ideas into the funerary practice of a multicultural community, consisting of certain ethno-territorial groups “with a consanguineous or neighboring type of community”.

ПРОДОЛЖЕНИЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ ПОГРЕБЕНИЙ ХУННУ НА АРХЕОЛОГИЧЕСКОМ КОМПЛЕКСЕ ИХ НУУЛЭГТ В СЕВЕРНОЙ МОНГОЛИИ: ПРЕДВАРИТЕЛЬНОЕ СООБЩЕНИЕ

In 2021, excavations continued at the Ikh nuulegt archaeological complex, which consists of several Xiongnu burial sites and is located in Orkhontuul somon in Selenge aimag of Mongolia. As a result of the work carried out, four burials at the Ikh nuulegt-I and Ikh nuulegt-III sites were investigated. All the burial mounds had traces of looting incursions. This circumstance affected the preservation of the gravestones and intra-grave structures. Clearing at different levels and detailed fixation allowed the features of the funerary practices of the ancient nomadic population of the Xiongnu empire to be restored. In addition to human bones, osteological remains from animals as well as remains of funerary implements were discovered.

Life of the Death System: Tracing Sustainable Transitions in American Funeral Practices

Life of the Death System: Tracing Sustainable Transitions in American Funeral Practices

Juan Antonio Quirós Castillo, ed., Social Inequality in Early Medieval Europe: Local Societies and Beyond. Collection Haut Moyen Âge, 39. Turnhout, Belgium, 2020. 360 pp.

Abstract This collection of articles grew out of a 2016 symposium, “Archaeology of Social In­equality in Early Medieval Europe,” that honored the interdisciplinary work of historian Chris Wickham, who also provides the conclusion to this publication while J. A. Quirós Castillo wrote the introduction. The topic of social inequality in this context refers to the creation of the state, followed by the development of class systems, the basis of social inequality. Here the historian and the archaeologist join in a common effort to examine the beginnings and evolution of social inequality through both documentary evidence, and material evidence, ranging from pottery fragments to funeral practices. This collection focuses on the Iberian Peninsula with the occasional foray into Italy, one article on France, one on Portugal, and one on Mississippian culture.

"ЭТО БЫЛ (НЕ)ПРАВИЛЬНЫЙ ОБЫЧАЙ": РИТУАЛ ПОДНЯТИЯ ЛЕВОЙ РУКИ В ТАНАТОЛОГИЧЕСКОМ ДИСКУРСЕ ЧЕРКЕСОВ ДИАСПОРЫ

The custom of raising the left hand has been preserved until recently in the thanatological practices of one of the Circassian diaspora communities in Turkey (Uzunyayla – Kayseri). According to the stereotypical narrative descriptions of the ritual, one of the groups arriving at the funeral slowly steps forward, taking three steps from the left foot, and slowly raises the left wrist to the level of the chin, temple, or crown. By raising his hand, the condolent publicly expresses the recognition of the social status of the deceased. According to informants, in the late 1980s, the custom was eradicated under the pressure from the Islamic clergy. Those who opposed its cessation understood this custom as a sacred one ‘brought from the ancestral homeland’ and bequeathed by Zhabagi Kazanoko (the folkloric and historical hero, philosopher, humanist and reformer of the 18th century). The idea of “reviving” the ritual was initiated during the pandemic, when mass gatherings and physical contacts (handshakes and embraces, which are common in ordinary funeral practices) were prohibited. In particular, in relation to the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Caucasian War (celebrated by the Circassian community annually on May 21), it was proposed to hold an online campaign for posting photos with a raised left hand. The explicit and hidden strategies of actualizing the ritual of raising the left hand as “our own”, “the primordial” and ‘undeservedly forgotten one’ are analyzed in this work on the material of the texts of classical folklore (heroic legends) and memoranda recorded by the author during fieldwork, as well as posts on the social media. The main aim of the research is to show how the bearers of the tradition reproduce (verbally and visually) the stable and changeable structures of a narrative / a ritual under the influence of certain ideological dominants.

«Psalm» of the Doukhobors Javakheti «Uzrekh Mnogo Narodu» as a Typical Example of the Genre

Psalm «Uzrekh mnogo narodu» is the most important in the liturgical and funeral practices of the Doukhobors of Javakheti. Its text, containing nine Evangelical Beatitudes, borrowed from the Orthodox Typicon, conveys the most important Christian values, which observance helps to achieve the Heavenly Kingdom. The features of musical style of the psalm (composition, scale, intonation, rhythmic) are characteristic also of other samples of a genre. The musical stanzas are of considerable length. The composition is characterized by the complexity of the principles of coordination of poetic text and melody. The wide chant of syllables is one of the genre and style features. In the development of the tune, the trichord musical phrase (a-c1-d1) plays a leading role, which varies and repeats many times. The question of the origin of the Dukhobor psalm genre is still open, but its links with Orthodox culture at the level of texts and of principles of inclusion in ritual, at the level of tune with narrative genres of musical folklore are obvious

Погребения с изделиями из шелка эпохи Золотой Орды: проблемы интерпретации

Introduction. The Golden Horde epoch in the East European steppe was marked, among other things, by the emergence of urban culture in the region. The urban centers and, first of all, the Golden Horde capital in the Lower Volga were the seats of the ruling elite, but also the centers of trade and crafts people coming from all over the places. Around the towns, there were cemeteries with hundreds of burials that were opened and examined by specialists. In the steppe, near the bank of the river, the Golden Horde epoch is represented by a limited number of burials scattered among a variety of kurgan groups. The article aims to examine Golden Horde burials which comprise silk items; these Volga-Manych sites have previously been part of the studies of steppe elite burials. Materials and methods. The grave goods of most sites in question comprised weaponry, ceramics, and animal bones, the traces of funeral feasts, while luxury items were few. Of much interest in this respect are a Volga-Manych series of Golden Horde burials that comprised silk items. According to numerous data of the written sources, silk was equaled to gold in the medieval time. The fact that the Volga-Manych nomads had clothes made of silk was not only the evidence of their high social status and wealth but also a mark that they were the subjects of the Mongolian Empire. Results. In the burials under study, the silk finds were exclusively the clothing and headdress items of the buried. The fabric originated from the eastern (China, Egypt) and western (Byzantium) production centers. Remains of silk products were found both in the burials of men and women. These were both latitudinal-oriented graves, in which the buried were laid with their heads to the west, and meridionally-oriented graves, with the person’s head to the north. According to the present authors, the latter type may be interpreted as a feature characteristic of ethnic Mongolians’ funeral practice, while the former type graves were those of the Polovtsy and other Turkic-speaking groups.

Princely Funerals in Europe 1400–1700: Commemoration, Diplomacy and Political Propaganda edited by Monique Chatenet, Murielle Gaude-Ferragu, and Gérard Sabatier

<i>Princely Funerals in Europe 1400–1700: Commemoration, Diplomacy and Political Propaganda</i> edited by Monique Chatenet, Murielle Gaude-Ferragu, and Gérard Sabatier

Investigating intentionality of burning through macroscopic taphonomy in complex legacy funerary assemblages: Opportunities and challenges

Although there has been extensive experimental research on the thermal modification of bone, the results have rarely been applied to complex legacy funerary assemblages. The human skeletal remains from an Early Bronze Age IA tomb at Jericho were analysed to assess the utility of macroscopic taphonomic approaches both to interpreting intentionality in complex funerary practices involving the burning of human bones, and in understanding legacy assemblages that often lack the depth of contextual information available for their modern counterparts. These analyses generated valuable evidence for the interpretation of complex funerary practices in legacy assemblages, including the state of remains prior to burning, the approximate intensity of thermal modification and the deposition practice. This investigation highlights the value of non-destructive macroscopic taphonomic analysis as the foundation in the investigation of burning in complex legacy assemblages.

The collective burials of Provence in the long term

Natural cavities, dolmens and hypogees are the three main categories of tombs containing collective burials. The choice of natural cavities with limited space results from the rules of management of the dead which also prevail in dolmens and in most hypogees. Certain original characteristics of the Provençal dolmens, the same material that they share with the other types of tomb and their limited distribution in certain territories, argue in favour of the creation of these tombs by the local populations under the influence of an exogenous ideology. The large number of individuals deposited in the hypogees, the preserved completeness of the skeletons and the abundant material distinguish some of these tombs from the other categories and lead us to think of a management where the attention is paid more to the individual than to the group. Understanding the multiple facets of the functioning of collective burials over time is not an easy task. One must have at one's disposal a panel of examples of funerary sites resulting from methodical and well-documented excavations to attempt a rational approach to funerary practices. Provence benefits from a few recent or fairly recent cases of excavations of collective burials in shelters, hypogees or dolmens, used at different periods of the Neolithic. They have provided a series of information allowing certain aspects of sepulchral management systems to be identified. Thus, with the help of recent radiocarbon dating, it has been possible to identify permanent features in burials from different periods, linked to the structuring of space and the codification of certain operating rules, as well as variants of these rules and their loosening in the recent Final Neolithic phase. Also at the end of this period, the even more restricted spaces presented by the new forms of architecture tend to reduce the number of burials. The unstructured architecture of the Provençal tumuli represents the ultimate evolution of built tombs. These burials no longer seem to be designed to accommodate several individuals but only one, even if later, very often, other individuals were buried there.

Dolmens, sepulchral caves and hypogea in Provence

This contribution concerns the regional administrative entity of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and the south of Drôme. A cartographic analysis looking for possible territorial and geographical specificities allowed us to identify some trends: the distribution of cave burials is not proportional to the density of natural cavities; the distribution zones of dolmens and caves are not exclusive; hypogees, strongly dependent on suitable rocks for their excavation, were chosen as burials in a very limited sector. On the other hand, as the documentation is very unequal for the 262 collective burials selected, the comparison of funerary practices according to architectural type unfortunately remains an open question.

Ethnoarchaeology of funeral practices: aspects of the management of current dolmens and collective tombs in the tribal societies of Sumba Island (Indonesia)—abridged version

This article presents an ethnoarchaeological study which aims to identify the main characteristics of the practice of collective burial among traditional societies on the island of Sumba (Indonesia). The results also show how the data collected can lead us to modify our understanding of Neolithic collective tombs in European records. These societies are the last in the world to build megalithic monuments intended to be used as collective tombs. Knowledge of the social and religious background and of the subjective experience of the individuals involved is, in this case, the main asset of the ethnoarchaeological approach. Within the systematic study of a village a large number of “biographies” of dolmens were established. The main results are the following: first, the simultaneous use of several collective burials by the same reference group (in the case of Sumba the lineage) could be identified, which led us to propose the notion of a dolmen “pool”; second, a reflection on the causes of the interruptions (temporal hiatus) observed in the use of Neolithic collective tombs could be proposed; third, an initial assessment of the potential contribution of the Sumbanian reference system with regard to the interpretation of the results of paleogenomic studies (those oriented towards the analysis of kinship links) of Neolithic tombs could be established.

Les rites funéraires en Égypte ancienne et chez quelques ethnies africaines aujourd’hui : éclairage des auteurs grecs

This paper deals with ancient Egyptians, Sereers, Diolas, Dogons, Mossis who tried to find solace in the face of the pain and emptiness of death. So they came to perceive the latter as a continuation of human existence in another world and in another form with the hope of one day seeing their deceased parents again. However, this belief did not prevent them from adopting funeral attitudes and practices, the study of some of which plunges us into the heart of funerals in ancient Egypt, as this study reveals.

An infant burial from Arma Veirana in northwestern Italy provides insights into funerary practices and female personhood in early Mesolithic Europe

The evolution and development of human mortuary behaviors is of enormous cultural significance. Here we report a richly-decorated young infant burial (AVH-1) from Arma Veirana (Liguria, northwestern Italy) that is directly dated to 10,211–9910 cal BP (95.4% probability), placing it within the early Holocene and therefore attributable to the early Mesolithic, a cultural period from which well-documented burials are exceedingly rare. Virtual dental histology, proteomics, and aDNA indicate that the infant was a 40–50 days old female. Associated artifacts indicate significant material and emotional investment in the child’s interment. The detailed biological profile of AVH-1 establishes the child as the earliest European near-neonate documented to be female. The Arma Veirana burial thus provides insight into sex/gender-based social status, funerary treatment, and the attribution of personhood to the youngest individuals among prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups and adds substantially to the scant data on mortuary practices from an important period in prehistory shortly following the end of the last Ice Age.

Les rites funéraires en Égypte ancienne et chez quelques ethnies africaines aujourd’hui : éclairage des auteurs grecs

This paper deals with ancient Egyptians, Sereers, Diolas, Dogons, Mossis who tried to find solace in the face of the pain and emptiness of death. So they came to perceive the latter as a continuation of human existence in another world and in another form with the hope of one day seeing their deceased parents again. However, this belief did not prevent them from adopting funeral attitudes and practices, the study of some of which plunges us into the heart of funerals in ancient Egypt, as this study reveals.