The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Death and Burial (Oxford Handbooks)

This Handbook reviews the state of mortuary archaeology and its practice with forty-four chapters focusing on the history of the discipline and its current scientific techniques and methods. Written by leading scholars in the field, it derives its examples and case studies from a wide range of time periods and geographical areas. The Archaeology Of Death And Burial Provides A Privileged Source Of Insight Into The Lives Of People In The Past. This Kind Of Archaeological Feature Commonly Includes The Material Remains Of The Dead, Containing Biological Information Of Age, Sex, Pathologies, Dna Profiles, And Isotopic Signals Of Diet And Migration. The Analysis Of Burials Also Provides Archaeological Information About How The Dead Were Treated As Part Of The Mortuary Ritual, Which Gives The Archaeologist Insight Into Ritual Practice, Belief, And Emotional Responses To Death, And Also Speaks More Generally About Social Relationships Among The Living Including Identity, Gender, And Social Rank. This Volume Offers An Introduction To All These Dimensions Of The Archaeology Of Death And Burial. Contributions Range From Historical Overviews Of Several Different Significant Traditions Relating To Burials In The History Of The Discipline Of Archaeology. Other Chapters Examine Recent Methodologies To Retrieve And Analyse Biological Information, And Contemporary Theoretical Approaches To The Study Of Central Issues In Our Discipline Such As The Body, Identity, Gender, Emotion, Religion, And Ritual. The Volume Has An International Profile With Contributions From Leading Scholars Around The World, Providing Case Studies From A Range Of Different Cultural Contexts. The Volume Also Recognizes The Central Place Of Ethical Considerations In The Excavation, Analysis, And Exhibition Of Human Remains And Ritual Artefacts, And Provides Different Perspectives On The Ethical Implications For Any Archaeologist Working With This Kind Of Material.-- This Handbook Reviews The State Of Mortuary Archaeology And Its Practice With 44 Chapters Focusing On The History Of The Discipline And Its Current Scientific Techniques And Methods. Written By Leading Scholars In The Field, It Derives Its Examples And Case Studies From A Wide Range Of Time Periods And Geographical Areas. Beautiful Things And Bones Of Desire : Emerging Issues In The Archaeology Of Death And Burial / Liv Nilsson Stutz And Sarah Tarlow -- Cultural History, Race, And Peoples / Adam Stout -- Did Prehistoric Man Bury His Dead? : Early Debates On Palaeolithic Burials In A National Context / Nathalie Richard -- Death, Burial, And Social Representation / Robert Chapman -- Death And The Cultural Entanglements Of The Experienced, The Learned, The Expressed, The Contested, And The Imagined / Susan Kus -- The Bioarchaeology Of Health And Well-being : Its Contribution To Understanding The Past / Charlotte Roberts -- The Use Of Dna Analysis In The Archaeology Of Death And Burial / Barbara Bramanti -- Stable Isotope Analysis Of Humans / Gunilla Eriksson -- Cremation : Excavation, Analysis And Interpretation Of Material From Cremation-related Contexts / Jacqueline I. Mckinley -- Contextualizing Grave Goods : Theoretical Perspectives And Methodological Implications / Fredrik Ekengren -- Death, Memory, And Material Culture : Catalytic Commemoration And The Cremated Dead / Howard Williams -- African Perspectives On Death, Burial, And Mortuary Archaeology / David Edwards -- The Place Of Veneration In Early South Asian Buddhism / Lars Fogelin -- The Archaeology Of Death And Burial In The Islamic World / Andrew Petersen -- Burial Of The Christian Dead In The Later Middle Ages / Deirdre O'sullivan -- The Unburied Dead / Estella Weiss-krejci -- Upper Palaeolithic Mortuary Practices In Eurasia : A Critical Look At The Burial Record / Julien Riel-salvatore And Claudine Gravel-miguel -- Power And Society : Mesolithic Europe / Chantal Conneller -- Archaeological Study Of Mortuary Practices In The Eastern United States / James Brown -- The Living And The Dead In Later Prehistoric Iberia / Robert Chapman -- The Powerful Dead Of The Inca / Peter Kaulicke -- Land Ownership And Landscape Belief : Introduction And Contexts / Joshua Wright -- Megaliths In North-west Europe : The Cosmology Of Sacred Landscapes / Magdalena S. Midgley -- Creating Death : An Archaeology Of Dying / John Robb -- Treating Bodies : Transformative And Communicative Practices / Alexander Gramsch -- Preserving The Body / Melanie Giles -- Cremations In Culture And Cosmology / Terje Oestigaard -- Identities In Transformation : Identities, Funerary Rites, And The Mortuary Process / Chris Fowler -- Death And Gender / Joanna Sofaer And Marie Louise Stig Sørensen -- Ancient Identities : Age, Gender, And Ethnicity In Ancient Greek Burials / Gillian Shepherd -- Ethnicity And Gender In Roman Funerary Commemoration : Case Studies From The Empire's Frontiers / Maureen Carroll -- Engendering Ancestors Through Death Ritual In Ancient China / Alice Yao -- Death, Emotion, And The Household Among The Late Moche / Erica Hill -- Belief And The Archaeology Of Death / Sarah Tarlow -- Insights Into Early Mortuary Practices Of Homo / Erella Hovers And Anna Belfer-cohen -- Equipping And Stripping The Dead : A Case Study On The Procurement, Compilation, Arrangement, And Fragmentation Of Grave Inventories In New Kingdom Thebes / Claudia Näser -- 'sapient Trouble-tombs'? : Archaeologists' Moral Obligations To The Dead / Geoffrey Scarre -- Looting Matters : Early Bronze Age Cemeteries Of Jordan's Southeast Dead Sea Plain In The Past And Present / Morag M. Kersel And Meredith S. Chesson -- How Ancients Become Ammunition : Politics And Ethics Of The Human Skeleton / Joe Watkins -- In Search Of Others : The History And Legacy Of 'race' Collections / Cressida Fforde -- Repatriation, Reburial, And Biological Research In Australia : Rhetoric And Practice / Colin Pardoe -- The Archaeology And Material Culture Of Modern Military Death / Layla Renshaw -- The Exhumation Of Civilian Victims Of Conflict And Human Rights Abuses : Political, Ethical, And Theoretical Considerations / Layla Renshaw -- Contested Burials : The Dead As Witnesses, Victims, And Tools / Liv Nilsson Stutz. Edited By Sarah Tarlow And Liv Nilsson Stutz. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Boxes Abbreviations List of Contributors 1. Beautiful Things and Bones of Desire: Emerging Issues in the Archaeology of Death and Burial PART I: APPROACHES TO DEATH AND BURIAL 2. Cultural History, Race, and Peoples 3. Did Prehistoric Man Bury his Dead?: Early Debates on Palaeolithic Burials in a National Context 4. Death, Burial, and Social Representation 5. Death and the Cultural Entanglements of the Experienced, the Learned, the Expressed, the Contested, and the Imagined PART II: THE NATURE OF THE EVIDENCE 6. The Bioarchaeology of Health and Well-Being: Its Contribution to Understanding the Past 7. The Use of DNA Analysis in the Archaeology of Death and Burial 8. Stable Isotope Analysis of Humans 9. Cremation: Excavation, Analysis, and Interpretation of Material from Cremation-Related Contexts 10. Contextualizing Grave Goods: Theoretical Perspectives and Methodological Implications PART III: THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE OF DEATH ACROSS CULTURAL CONTEXTS 11. Death, Memory, and Material Culture: Catalytic Commemoration and the Cremated Dead 12 African Perspectives on Death, Burial, and Mortuary Archaeology 13. The Place of Veneration in Early South Asian Buddhism 14. The Archaeology of Death and Burial in the Islamic World 15. Burial of the Christian Dead in the Later Middle Ages 16. The Unburied Dead 17. Upper Palaeolithic Mortuary Practices in Eurasia: A Critical Look at the Burial Record 18. Power and Society: Mesolithic Europe 19. Archaeological Study of Mortuary Practices in the Eastern United States 20. The Living and the Dead in Later Prehistoric Iberia 21. The Powerful Dead of the Inca 22. Land Ownership and Landscape Belief: Introduction and Contexts 23. Megaliths in North-West Europe: The Cosmology of Sacred Landscapes 24. Creating Death: An Archaeology of Dying 25. Treating Bodies: Transformative and Communicative Practices 26. Preserving the Body 27. Cremations in Culture and Cosmology 28. Identities in Transformation: Identities, Funerary Rites, and the Mortuary Process 29. Death and Gender 30. Ancient Identities: Age, Gender, and Ethnicity in Ancient Greek Burials 31. Ethnicity and Gender in Roman Funerary Commemoration: Case Studies from the Empire’s Frontiers 32. Engendering Ancestors through Death Ritual in Ancient China 33. Death, Emotion, and the Household among the Late Moche 34. Belief and the Archaeology of Death 35. Insights into Early Mortuary Practices of Homo 36. Equipping and Stripping the Dead: A Case Study on the Procurement, Compilation, Arrangement, and Fragmentation of Grave Inventories in New Kingdom Thebes PART IV: THE ETHICS AND POLITICS OF BURIAL ARCHAEOLOGY 37. ‘Sapient Trouble-Tombs’?: Archaeologists’ Moral Obligations to the Dead 38. Looting Matters: Early Bronze Age Cemeteries of Jordan’s Southeast Dead Sea Plain in the Past and Present 39. How Ancients Become Ammunition: Politics and Ethics of the Human Skeleton 40. In Search of Others: The History and Legacy of ‘Race’ Collections 41. Repatriation, Reburial, and Biological Research in Australia: Rhetoric and Practice 42. The Archaeology and Material Culture of Modern Military Death 43. The Exhumation of Civilian Victims of Conflict and Human Rights Abuses: Political, Ethical, and Theoretical Considerations 44. Contested Burials: The Dead as Witnesses, Victims, and Tools Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Death and Burial reviews the current state of mortuary archaeology and its practice, highlighting its often contentious place in the modern socio-politics of archaeology. It contains forty-four chapters which focus on the history of the discipline and its current scientific techniques and methods. Written by leading, international scholars in the field, it derives its examples and case studies from a wide range of time periods, such as the middle palaeolithic to the twentieth century, and geographical areas which include Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Asia. Combining up-to-date knowledge of relevant archaeological research with critical assessments of the theme and an evaluation of future research trajectories, it draws attention to the social, symbolic, and theoretical aspects of interpreting mortuary archaeology. The volume is well-illustrated with maps, plans, photographs, and illustrations and is ideally suited for students and researchers.