Remembering the Dead in the Ancient Near East : Recent Contributions From Bioarchaeology and Mortuary Archaeology

Remembering the Dead in the Ancient Near East is among the first comprehensive treatments to present the diverse ways in which ancient Near Eastern civilizations memorialized and honored their dead, using mortuary rituals, human skeletal remains, and embodied identities as a window into the memory work of past societies. In six case studies teams of researchers with different skill sets—osteological analysis, faunal analysis, culture history and the analysis of written texts, and artifact analysis—integrate mortuary analysis with bioarchaeological techniques. Drawing upon different kinds of data, including human remains, ceramics, jewelry, spatial analysis, and faunal remains found in burial sites from across the region's societies, the authors paint a robust and complex picture of death in the ancient Near East. Demonstrating the still under explored potential of bioarchaeological analysis in ancient societies, Remembering the Dead in the Ancient Near East serves as a model for using multiple lines of evidence to reconstruct commemoration practices. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian societies, the archaeology of death and burial, bioarchaeology, and human skeletal biology. Introduction : Bringing Out The Dead In The Ancient Near East / Benjamin W. Porter And Alexis T. Boutin -- Burying Things : Practices Of Cultural Disposal At Late Neolithic Domuztepe, Southeast Turkey / Stuart Campbell, Sarah Whitcher Kansa, Rachel Bichener, And Hannah Lau -- Strange People And Exotic Things : Constructing Akkadian Identity At Kish, Iraq / William J. Pestle, Christina Torres-rouff, And Blair Daverman -- Commemorating Disability In Early Dilmun : Ancient And Contemporary Tales From The Peter B. Cornwall Collection / Alexis T. Boutin And Benjamin W. Porter -- Bioarchaeological Reconstruction Of Group Identity At Early Bronze Age Bab Edh-dhra', Jordan / Susan Guise Sheridan, Jaime Ulliner, Lesley Gregoricka, And Meredith S. Chesson -- Identity, Commemoration, And Remembrance In Colonial Encounters : Burials At Tombos During The Egyptian New Kingdom Nubian Empire And Its Aftermath / Stuart Tyson Smith And Michele R. Buzon -- Abandoned Memories : A Cemetery Of Forgotten Souls? / Gretchen R. Dabbs And Melissa Zabecki. Edited By Benjamin W. Porter And Alexis T. Boutin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. 1 Benjamin W. Porter and Alexis T. Boutin: Introduction: Bringing Out the Dead in the Ancient Near East 2 Stuart Campbell, Sarah Whitcher Kansa, Rachel Bichener, and Hannah Lau: Burying Things: Practices of Cultural Disposal at Late Neolithic Domuztepe, Southeast Turkey 3 William J. Pestle, Christina Torres-Rouff, and Blair Daverman: Strange People and Exotic Things: Constructing Akkadian Identity at Kish, Iraq 4 Alexis T. Boutin and Benjamin W. Porte: Commemorating Disability in Early Dilmun: Ancient and Contemporary Tales from the Peter B. Cornwall Collection 5 Susan Guise Sheridan, Jaime Ullinger, Lesley Gregoricka, and Meredith S. Chesson: Bioarchaeological Reconstruction of Group Identity at Early Bronze Age Bab edh-Dhra‘, Jordan 6 Stuart Tyson Smith and Michele R. Buzon: Identity, Commemoration, and Remembrance in Colonial Encounters: Burials at Tombos during the Egyptian New Kingdom Nubian Empire and Its Aftermath 7 Gretchen R. Dabbs and Melissa Zabecki: Abandoned Memories: A Cemetery of Forgotten Souls? This book presents the diverse ways in which ancient Near Eastern civilizations memorialized and honored their dead, using mortuary rituals, human skeletal remains, and embodied identities as a window into the memory work of past societies. In six case studies, teams of researchers with different skillsets--osteological analysis, faunal analysis, culture history and the analysis of written texts, and artifact analysis--integrate mortuary analysis with bioarchaeological techniques. Drawing upon different kinds of data, including human remains, ceramics, jewelry, spatial analysis, and faunal remains found in burial sites from across the region's societies, the authors paint a robust and complex picture of death in the ancient Near East.--Publisher's description Remembering the Dead in the Ancient Near East is among the first comprehensive treatments to present the diverse ways in which ancient Near Eastern civilizations memorialized and honored their dead, using mortuary rituals, human skeletal remains, and embodied identities as a window into the memory work of past societies. In six case studies teams of researchers with different skillsets#x97;osteological analysis, faunal analysis, culture history and the analysis of written texts, and artifact analysis#x97;integrate mortuary analysis with bioarchaeological techniques. Drawing upon different kinds of d