Archaeology and Anthropology death

general courses

Blended learning

The human body is what remains after ones death. It makes people to experience their own temporality, and as such awakens thoughts concerning not only that feeling, but also thoughts on the supernatural powers behind the death, about the possibility of afterlife, and can be one of the driving forces behind many beliefs.

The deposition of the body - burial - reflects these thoughts and experiences, being therefore one of the most important archaeological sources to the knowledge on the ancient societies, their religion and their everyday life. The human remains give archaeologist and anthropologist the unique possibility to understand not only its cultural context but also, and possibly even more importantly, the possibility to deal with the actual creators of that context.

The human body is what remains after ones death. It makes people to experience their own temporality, and as such awakens thoughts concerning not only that feeling, but also thoughts on the supernatural powers behind the death, about the possibility of afterlife, and can be one of the driving forces behind many beliefs.

The deposition of the body - burial - reflects these thoughts and experiences, being therefore one of the most important archaeological sources to the knowledge on the ancient societies, their religion and their everyday life. The human remains give archaeologist and anthropologist the unique possibility to understand not only its cultural context but also, and possibly even more importantly, the possibility to deal with the actual creators of that context.

We observe enormous variability of human behavior related to the death and burial. It touches not only the sole relation towards the fact of inevitable death, but is also being reflected in many finds related to the burial, like structures the burial is part of, its funerary offerings and so on. Of course it is important to remember that all of the above also reflects the religious and ideological system the dead lived in.

The class will start with a few presentations on the death from many different points of view - biology, culture, religion, etc. Than the subject will shift towards the understanding how the beliefs and religion are reflected in the funerary contexts. And later towards the archaeology and interpretations of various aspects of the burial.

The class is not to be a simple lecture, but more an exchange of ideas and interpretations in the form of discussion on the subjects proposed by participants.

PEARSON M.P., 2005, The Archaeology of Death and Burial, Texas A&M University Anthropology Series

UBELAKER D.H., 1999, Human Skeletal Remains. Excavation, Analysis, Interpretation, Manuals on Archaeology 2

Bibliography will be provided during the class.