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"Funeral customs and rites"
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Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya
From the tombs of the elite to the graves of commoners, mortuary remains offer rich insights into Classic Maya society. In Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya: Rituals of Body and Soul, the anthropological archaeologist and bioarchaeologist Andrew K. Scherer explores the broad range of burial practices among the Maya of the Classic period (AD 250–900), integrating information gleaned from his own fieldwork with insights from the fields of iconography, epigraphy, and ethnography to illuminate this society’s rich funerary traditions.Scherer’s study of burials along the Usumacinta River at the Mexican-Guatemalan border and in the Central Petén region of Guatemala—areas that include Piedras Negras, El Kinel, Tecolote, El Zotz, and Yaxha—reveals commonalities and differences among royal, elite, and commoner mortuary practices. By analyzing skeletons containing dental and cranial modifications, as well as the adornments of interred bodies, Scherer probes Classic Maya conceptions of body, wellness, and the afterlife. Scherer also moves beyond the body to look at the spatial orientation of the burials and their integration into the architecture of Maya communities. Taking a unique interdisciplinary approach, the author examines how Classic Maya deathways can expand our understanding of this society’s beliefs and traditions, making Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya an important step forward in Mesoamerican archeology.
eBook
Death Rites and Hawaiian Royalty : Funerary Practices in the Kamehameha and Kalākaua Dynasties, 1819/1953
\"The bones of Hawaii's King Kamehameha the Great were buried in a secret location. His successor Kamehameha III had a half-mile funeral procession. Drawing on missionary journals, government publications and Hawaiian and English language newspapers, this book describes changes in funerary practices for Hawaiian royalty following continuous contact with the West beginning in the 19th century\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Exploring Ontologies of the Precontact Americas
Applying social theory and incorporating non-Western
perspectives in the interpretation of bioarchaeological
research
This volume demonstrates how researchers in bioarchaeology and
mortuary archaeology can work to better understand concepts of life
and death in past societies of the Indigenous Americas. Through
case studies that apply the \"ontological turn\" to human funerary
and skeletal remains, contributors set aside Western views of
reality, nature, and personhood to explore how people of various
cultures understood existence and the human body.
Contributors examine mortuary records from Inuit groups in
Labrador and Greenland, Hopewell culture in the Lower Illinois
River Valley, and Weeden Island and Puebloan traditions in the
United States Southeast and Southwest. They look at the Paquimé
community in Mexico, iconography of the Maya civilization, the
demographics of Inka populations, and an ancient village on the
Amazon River in Brazil. With attention to the viewpoints of these
cultures, these essays deconstruct the boundaries between human
remains and other interred artifacts, the living and the dead, and
other binaries rooted deeply in Western science.
Exploring Ontologies of the Precontact Americas reminds
readers that their own ontological perspectives affect how they
interpret the past. By considering diverse, non-Western worldviews
and engaging with novel social theories of the body, this volume
inspires new understandings of precontact societies.
Contributors: Gordon F. M. Rakita | Pamela
Geller | Jason L. King | Sarah Jackson | Jane Buikstra | Robert
Pickering | Peter Whitridge | John Krigbaum | Neill J. Wallis |
Adrianne Offenbecker | Avelino Gambim Júnior | Bethany L. Turner |
Mari Kleist | María Cecilia Lozada | Debra L. Martin | Kyle Waller
| James L. Fitzsimmons | J. Christina Freiberger
eBook
Tomb Treasures of the Late Middle Kingdom
During the late Middle Kingdom (about 1850-1700 B.C.E.), ancient Egyptian women of high standing were interred with lavish ornamentation and carefully gathered possessions. Buried near the pyramids of kings, women with royal connections or great wealth and status were surrounded by fine pottery and vessels for sacred oils, bedecked with gold and precious stones, and honored with royal insignia and marks of Osiris. Their funerary possessions include jewelry imported from other ancient lands and gold-handled daggers and claspless jewelry made only to be worn in the tomb.
Extensively illustrated with archival images and the author's own drawings,Tomb Treasures of the Late Middle Kingdomdescribes and compares the opulent tombs of eminent and royal women. In addition to the ornaments, many of which are considered masterpieces of Middle Kingdom craft, Egyptologist Wolfram Grajetzki examines the numerous grave goods, artifacts of daily life, and markers of social status that were also placed in tombs, presenting a more complete picture of funerary customs in this period. By considering celebrated examples of female burials together for the first time,Tomb Treasures of the Late Middle Kingdomsheds new light on the role and status of women in the royal court and explores how the gendered identity of those women was preserved in the grave.
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The book of resting places : a personal history of where we lay the dead
\"In the aftermath of his father's untimely death and his family's indecision over what to do with the remains, [the author] became obsessed with the type and variety of places where we lay the dead to rest. The result is a singular collection of essays that weaves together history, mythology, journalism, and personal narrative into the author's search for a place to process grief\"--Amazon.com.
Book
Living with the Dead in the Andes
The Andean idea of death differs markedly from the Western view. In the Central Andes, particularly the highlands, death is not conceptually separated from life, nor is it viewed as a permanent state. People, animals, and plants simply transition from a soft, juicy, dynamic life to drier, more lasting states, like dry corn husks or mummified ancestors. Death is seen as an extension of vitality.Living with the Dead in the Andesconsiders recent research by archaeologists, bioarchaeologists, ethnographers, and ethnohistorians whose work reveals the diversity and complexity of the dead-living interaction. The book's contributors reap the salient results of this new research to illuminate various conceptions and treatments of the dead: \"bad\" and \"good\" dead, mummified and preserved, the body represented by art or effigies, and personhood in material and symbolic terms.Death does not end or erase the emotional bonds established in life, and a comprehensive understanding of death requires consideration of the corpse, the soul, and the mourners. Lingering sentiment and memory of the departed seems as universal as death itself, yet often it is economic, social, and political agendas that influence the interactions between the dead and the living.Nine chapters written by scholars from diverse countries and fields offer data-rich case studies and innovative methodologies and approaches. Chapters include discussions on the archaeology of memory, archaeothanatology (analysis of the transformation of the entire corpse and associated remains), a historical analysis of postmortem ritual activities, and ethnosemantic-iconographic analysis of the living-dead relationship. This insightful book focuses on the broader concerns of life and death.
eBook
Ancestral Mounds
Ancestral Moundsdeconstructs earthen mounds and myths in examining their importance in contemporary Native communities. Two centuries of academic scholarship regarding mounds have examined who, what, where, when, and how, but no serious investigations have addressed the basic question, why? Drawing on ethnographic and archaeological studies, Jay Miller explores the wide-ranging themes and variations of mounds, from those built thousands of years ago to contemporary mounds, focusing on Native southeastern and Oklahoma towns.
Native peoples continue to build and refurbish mounds each summer as part of their New Year's celebrations to honor and give thanks for ripening maize and other crops and to offer public atonement. The mound is the heart of the Native community, which is sustained by song, dance, labor, and prayer. The basic purpose of mounds across North America is the same: to serve as a locus where community effort can be engaged in creating a monument of vitality and a safe haven in the volatile world.
eBook