scholarly journals ASH, DIRT, AND ROCK: BURIAL PRACTICES AT RÍO BEC

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 449-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grégory Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Domestic Space ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Socioeconomic Differences ◽  
Public Display ◽  
Burial Practices ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Ancestor Veneration ◽  
Residential Architecture ◽  
Residential Structures

AbstractRecent research at Río Bec has revealed that interments in residential structures were limited to a very small portion of the population. Although these burials are relatively modest compared to those found in many other Classic period Maya sites, the funerary procedure suggests that they were important individuals in the household. Grave wealth and the size/elaboration of the burial structure do not correlate with the striking socioeconomic differences expressed in residential architecture. In fact, it seems that Río Bec funerary ritual was a private affair focused within the domestic unit, rather than a public display. A study of the variation found among these residential burials reveals two important patterns of mortuary ritual that seem more reflective of ancestor veneration than of social hierarchy: (1) “transition burials” (stressing centrality,verticality,the link to earth, and the transformations of the dwelling) and (2) “occupation burials” (stressing laterality,horizontality,a link to fire and the domestic hearth, and the permanence of the domestic space).

BURIAL PRACTICES AT TEOTIHUACAN IN THE EARLY POSTCLASSIC PERIOD: The Vaillant and Linné Excavations (1931–1932)

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina M. Elson ◽  
Kenneth Mowbray
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Local People ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Burial Practices ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Early Postclassic

In 1931 and 1932, George Vaillant and Sigvald Linné excavated 34 burials and 17 offerings dating to the Early Postclassic period (a.d.900–1150). The features were located on the ruins of the Classic-period site of Teotihuacan and within the boundaries of a roughly 25–50 ha zone identified by the Teotihuacan Mapping Project as having a dense Early Postclassic-period occupation. The results of Vaillant's excavations have not been published. An examination of the Vaillant–Linné data sheds new light on Early Postclassic-period mortuary ritual and social organization. The identification of several types of burials shows that local people conducted primary and secondary mortuary rituals and indicates the presence of at least two social strata at the site. The content of the burials and offerings supports a division of the Early Postclassic period into two local phases, Mazapan (ca.a.d.900–1000) and Atlatongo (ca.a.d.1000–1100/1150), with these features dating to the earlier phase.

Mesolithic mortuary ritual at Franchthi Cave, Greece

Antiquity ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 69 (263) ◽  
pp. 270-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey Cullen
Keyword(s):  
Human Remains ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Burial Practices ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Southern Greece ◽  
Mesolithic Burials

Mesolithic sites are rare in the Aegean, and Mesolithic burials are uncommon throughout Europe. The Mesolithic human remains from Franchthi Cave, that remarkable, deeply stratified site in southern Greece, offer a rare glimpse into the burial practices of early Holocene hunter-gatherers of the Mediterranean.

From E-Group to Funerary Pyramid: Mortuary Cults and Ancestor Veneration in the Maya Centre of Nakum, Petén, Guatemala

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 451-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarosław Źrałka ◽  
Wiesław Koszkul ◽  
Bernard Hermes ◽  
Juan Luis Velásquez ◽  
Varinia Matute ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Structure ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Ancestor Veneration ◽  
Solar Observations ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
The Temple

Recent investigations at the Maya centre of Nakum (in Guatemala) enabled the study of the evolution of an interesting complex of buildings that started as the so-called E-Group, built during the Preclassic period (c. 600–300 bc). It was used for solar observations and rituals commemorating agricultural and calendrical cycles. During the Classic period (ad 250–800), the major building of the complex (Structure X) was converted into a large pyramidal temple where several burials, including at least one royal tomb, were placed. We were also able to document evidence of mortuary cults conducted by the Maya in the temple building situated above the burials. The architectural conversion documented in Structure X may reflect important religious and social changes: a transformation from the place where the Sun was observed and worshipped to the place where deceased and deified kings were apotheosized as the Sun Deity during the Classic. Thus the Maya transformed Structure X into one of the most sacred loci at Nakum by imbuing it with a complex solar and underworld symbolism and associating it with the cult of deified ancestors.

CONTINGENT ACTS OF REMEMBRANCE: ROYAL ANCESTORS OF CLASSIC MAYA COPAN AND QUIRIGUA

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Ashmore
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Model ◽  
Political History ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Temporal Orientation ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Ancestor Veneration ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Do So

AbstractClassic Maya history is deeply political, and religious and political activities frequently inseparable. This essay advocates directly comparing mortuary practices over time for rulers at politically and economically linked centers. Most specifically it outlines an experimental model of how acts of remembrance in royal ancestor veneration articulate with local and regional politico-economic dynamics, and to do so with respect to acts attested in archaeological, bioarchaeological, textual, and iconographic sources. The particular case here pairs Classic-period Copan and Quirigua, where for centuries, the former was overlord to the latter. The evidence suggests that while treatment of royal ancestors draws on a set of established Maya practices, scale, elaboration and choice among those practices was contingent on the role each of the decedents held at particular points in political history, and the temporal orientation of those who commissioned remembrance acts.

Rituals and Ceremonies at the Mycenaean Cemetery at Dendra

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Louise Schallin
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Political System ◽  
Power Structure ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Burial Practices ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
Settling Process ◽  
Network Type

Chapter 4 focuses on the ritual practices connected with the burials at the Late Bronze Age cemetery at Dendra in the Argolid in Greece, ca. 1600–1100 B.C. During this time, the central Argolid became an archaic state with a pronounced site hierarchy, with Mycenae at the top. In the settling process of this power structure, the various practices, including mortuary ritual, were characterized by competition and the negotiation of sociopolitical positions. Part of the material evidence connected with mortuary practices at the Dendra site and its surrounds is used in Schallin’s analysis of the components of the rituals as she proposes a possible scenario of how the burial practices were materialized at Dendra and how they can be seen as a constituent part in the strategies of elite legitimation. In short, Schallin examines material evidence to identify various components in the mortuary ritual at the Dendra cemetery while suggesting how this ritual linked with the network-type political system at Mycenae.

Understanding Late Classic Maya Mortuary Ritual in Caves

2018 ◽  
pp. 133-158
Author(s):  
Amy R. Michael ◽  
Gabriel D. Wrobel ◽  
Jack Biggs
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Dental Health ◽  
Health Data ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Mortuary Practice ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Analytical Approaches

Bioarchaeology frequently investigates dental health in burial populations to make inferences about mortuary variability within and between ancient groups. In this chapter, micro- and macroscopic dental defects were examined in a series of ancient Maya mortuary cave and rockshelter burials in Central Belize. The nature of mortuary cave ritual use and funerary performance in the Late Classic is widely debated in the literature. This study utilizes two analytical approaches, mortuary practice and paleopathology, to better understand mortuary variability between two site types that may be distinguished by social status in life. Ethnohistoric accounts focused on mortuary activities in the Late Classic period have described sacrificial victims as individuals originating outside of the elite population. To test these accounts, this study compares the dental health data of individuals from non-elite (rockshelter) populations to elite (cave) burial contexts.

OUT OF CONTROL? RETHINKING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT WEALTH GOODS PRODUCTION AND THE CLASSIC MAYA

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erick T. Rochette
Keyword(s):  
Final Stage ◽  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Direct Control ◽  
Need To Evaluate ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Middle Formative

AbstractObjects crafted from jade played a prominent role in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica from at least the Middle Formative period (ca. 1000–400b.c.). Based primarily on the consumption of jade artifacts by Classic Maya elites, scholars have argued that their production was under the direct control of elite members of society. Recent research in the middle Motagua Valley and elsewhere in Mesoamerica suggests that that the production of wealth goods varied much more widely than previously assumed. These data and subsequent technological analyses indicate that jade artifact production took place in a variety of domestic and nondomestic, as well as elite and nonelite, contexts. In particular, the current evidence from the middle Motagua Valley suggests that households at all levels of the local social hierarchy were engaged in the production of jade beads and preformed blanks intended for final-stage production elsewhere. This evidence runs counter to many previous models of wealth goods production, which have viewed such production as an elite-dominated activity. This article brings together recent evidence from the middle Motagua Valley, Guatemala, to propose new ways of conceptualizing the place of elites in Classic period Maya wealth goods production and the extent of their role in controlling ancient economies. The current evidence suggests that we need to evaluate models of wealth goods production in regard to specific temporal and spatial circumstances.

scholarly journals Female Identity in the Language of Space of the 19th Century Residential Architecture in Sarajevo

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Erdin Salihović ◽  
Nermina Zagora
Keyword(s):  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Female Identity ◽  
Domestic Space ◽  
Traditional Model ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
Traditional Architecture ◽  
Residential Architecture ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Residential Space

The traditional architecture of Bosnia and Herzegovina echoes historical and cultural narratives of ancient Ottoman patriarchal society. The Oriental culture had specifically defined the way in which the gender roles in family and society were manifested in the domestic space, and vice versa, space itself was shaped according to the criterion of gender. While exploring the gender criterion of differentiation of space in the traditional Bosnian residential architecture, this paper will particularly focus on the link between female identity and the spatial characteristics of the traditional Bosnian house. Critical evaluation of elements and principles that compose the traditional model of residential space within its cultural and historical context will be followed by a contemporary insight and interpretation of its universal architectural meanings.

scholarly journals A Comparison of Mortuary Practices among the Tucson Basin Hohokam and Trincheras Traditions

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Jessica I. Cerezo-Román
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
The Body ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Tucson Basin ◽  
Cerro De Trincheras ◽  
The Dead

Mortuary rituals are compared and contrasted in order to better understand social interaction between the Tucson Basin Hohokam of southern Arizona and the Trincheras tradition populations of northern Sonora. This interaction is explored through the examination of ideas about personhood and embodiment, and their relationship to the biological profiles and posthumous treatments of individuals during the Hohokam Classic period (AD 1150–1450) and the occupation of Cerro de Trincheras (AD 1300–1450). In both areas, cremation was the main burial custom, and both groups had complex, multistage cremation rituals, in which burning of the body played only a small part. Examination of rich archaeological data and well-excavated contexts at these sites revealed remarkable similarities and differences in body treatment during the mortuary ritual. Tucson Basin Hohokam mortuary practices suggest a stronger connection to, and remembrance of, the deceased within smaller social groups. In contrast, mortuary practices at Cerro de Trincheras emphasize similarities among the various cremated individuals, with rituals directed more toward the broader social group. Results suggest that the two groups were fundamentally similar in how they treated the bodies of the dead during the cremation process, but different in how the dead were remembered and commemorated.

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