Revisiting the Dead: Tomb Reuse and Post-Burial Practices at Ascoli Satriano (Pre-Roman Apulia, Seventh–Fourth Centurybc)

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-285
Author(s):  
Matthias Hoernes ◽  
Christian Heitz ◽  
Manuele Laimer

In the archaeology of death and burial, the premise that the dead were buried ritually and not simply disposed of seems to be accepted without argument. Where graves were reopened and reused for subsequent burials, however, the post-funeral manipulation of ‘older’ depositions is often regarded as having been primarily pragmatic and circumstantial. Countering this interpretative imbalance, we argue that the reuse of tombs was a highly complex procedure that forced communities into negotiating and formalizing, or even ritualizing, the way in which bodies and objects were acted on and engaged with. Taking the necropolis Giarnera Piccola/Ascoli Satriano in pre-Roman northern Apulia as a case study, and employing a microarchaeological-archaeothanatological perspective, we discuss the diverse and sometimes conflicting practices used to deal with pre-existing graves, objects and human remains, identifying tensions between maintaining or reconstructing the integrity of the body and intentionally manipulating and fragmenting it. We argue that repeatedly reused tombs constituted a socially and symbolically charged arena for a prolonged, active relationship with the deceased and for mobilizing, mediating and maintaining inter-generational memories.

Author(s):  
Oksana Kolomiets ◽  
Vladislav Nuvano

В настоящей статье исследуются погребальные чукотские традиции, сохранившиеся до настоящего времени. Многие ученые полагали, что архаичные формы похорон уступят место современному унифицированному обряду. Однако, в некоторых национальных селах Чукотки попрежнему хоронят путем сожжения или оставления тела умершего на холме или на открытой местности; современный похоронный обряд также часто сопряжен с некоторыми элементами традиционной культуры. Авторы рассматривают мировоззренческие установки, связанные со смертью, отношение к смерти у чукчей и соседних этнических групп. Для сравнительного анализа обрядов, бытующих в разные годы, авторы приводят описания погребального обряда учеными и путешественниками XVIII–XX вв. Существующие обрядовые практики в современной чукотской культуре представлены следующими способами погребения умерших: сожжение, оставление тела под открытым небом, захоронение «по-русски». Среди традиционных погребальных практик наиболее распространен обряд сожжения. Причем, в с. Ваеги Анадырского района, похороны «по-чукотски» наиболее предпочтительны для коренных жителей. Исключения составляют случаи, когда супруги, близкие родственники – представители другой национальности, могут не исполнить волю умершего на обряд сожжения. Остальные традиционные способы погребения немногочисленны, однако еще встречаются в с. Илирней (Билибинский район), с. Рыткучи (Чаунский район), в некоторых селах Анадырского и Чукотского районов. Опросы жителей показали, что чаще всего «по-чукотски» хоронят стариков, которые озвучили свою волю еще при жизни, или «тундровиков», занимающихся традиционным хозяйством вдали от поселков. Следует отметить, что сейчас мало кто из информантов может описать обряд целиком, многие знают порядок ритуальных действий, но при этом не могут раскрыть их смысл. Да и сами погребальные обряды не редко проводятся в «усеченном» варианте (некогда обязательные манипуляции с умершим уже не производят, например, надрез сухожилий, «открывание» груди и т. д.). В сельской местности до сих пор остаются знатоки, владеющие традиционными погребальными практиками. Они участвуют в подготовке и проведении обряда, учат молодое поколение проведению ритуалов.This article examines the funeral Chukchi traditions that have survived to the present time. Many scientists believed that archaic forms of funerals would give way to a modern unified ritual. However, in some national villages of Chukotka people are still buried by burning or leaving the dead body on a hill or in an open area; modern funeral rites are also often associated with some elements of traditional culture. The authors consider the worldview associated with death, the attitude to death in the Chukchi and neighboring ethnic groups. For a comparative analysis of the rites occurring in different years, the authors give descriptions of the funeral rites by scientists and travelers of the XVIII–XX centuries. Existing ritual practices in modern Chukchi culture are represented by the following methods of burial of the dead: burning, leaving the body in the open air, laying the body with stones, burial "in Russian". Among the traditional burial practices, the most common is the ritual of burning. Moreover, in the village of Vaegi of Anadyr districts the funeral "in Chukchi" is the most preferable for residents. The exceptions are the cases when the spouses and close relatives of the representatives of other nationalities can not do the will of the dead in the ceremony of burning. Other traditional methods of burial are few but still occur in the village of Ilirney (Iultinsky district), Rytkuchi village (Chaunsky district), in some villages of Anadyr and Chukotka district. Surveys of residents showed that most often "in Chukchi" they bury the old people, who voiced their will during his lifetime, or "tundra-people" engaged in traditional farming away from the villages. It should be noted that nowadays few informants could describe the ritual as a whole, many people know the order of ritual acts, but cannot disclose their meaning. The funeral rites are frequently held in a "truncated" version (once the mandatory manipulations with the dead are no longer produced, for example, tendons cut, "open" chest, etc.). In rural areas, there are still experts who own traditional burial practices. They participate in the preparation and conduct of the rite, teach the younger generation to conduct rituals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1(Special)) ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Edda E. Guareschi ◽  
Paola A Magni

In the analysis of any forensic case, the estimation of time, cause and manner of death is affected by post-mortem changes. These are inextricably linked to both intrinsic characteristics of the body and a variety of external factors, mainly environmental, such as the presence and types of scavengers. While there are several research and case-studies on terrestrial environments, there is scant knowledge regarding aquatic environments, either stable or cyclical/seasonal. At present, no case studies have considered human remains discovered in the mud, following a flooding event. This case study describes a body discovered in a floodplain area in northern Italy. After a flood event, the water progressively drained out, leaving the body in the mud. Besides the unique conditions of the remains, of particular interest was the colonization by larvae of Calliphora vomitoria (L.) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and raft spiders, Dolomedes fimbriatus (Clerck) (Araneae: Pisauridae), for thefirst-time recorded colonizing a corpse. The multidisciplinary approach to such an investigation is described.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiloh R Krupar

This article explores changing American death care – the handling of the dead body and its materiality beyond death – in the context of US-based power relations over administration of human remains. The article briefly surveys efforts to make the afterlife of the dead more ‘sustainable’. I argue that this expanding governance entails intensified bioremediation: the reuse and reprocessing of dead bodies/parts, intensified forms of material-biological extraction, and the conversion of afterlife to forms of biovalue beyond death. First, some disposal efforts encourage an economy of body/parts and a utilitarian ethic of ‘no remains’. Accordingly, the afterlife is not ‘the end’ but a renewable material resource and opportunity to economize the body in death and put the dead body to work. Second, a range of practices now reimagine death as an opportunity for personal legacy and redeem the dead body’s decomposition as natural/as part of the natural world. Bioremediation in this case conceptually recuperates death into life so that death is not wasted; instead, the corpse serves as a material input for nature and a vehicle for personal ‘biopresence’. The article then considers some of the paradoxes and costs of greening the dead and outlines future research directions that might advance our understanding of the ways new sustainable disposal and commemorative technologies of the dead entrench racism and impact civil, consumer, and environmental rights. How bodies affect our environments today will impact people and landscapes in years to come. Because US governance of the dead has historically entailed the differential treatment of bodies after life, the article critically reflects on ‘death equity’ issues that operate across the living and the dead. The article concludes by querying how conduct for the dead might advance social justice through a material politics of human remains.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik R. Seeman

Scholars of the body and religion readily acknowledge that corpses have agency. ‘The work of the dead,’ as Thomas Laqueur puts it, includes everything from sacralizing the landscape to creating imagined communities. Scholars have been less successful, however, in documenting the continuing relations between ordinary Protestants and their departed loved ones. In their focus on cemetery designers and political leaders, historians have overlooked the spiritual journals – mostly by women – that document relations between the living and dead. This article argues that corpses were central to such relations, even for mainstream Protestants whose ministers insisted otherwise. This argument challenges the way most scholars think of Protestantism. Rather than considering it as a religion of internal beliefs and creeds, I emphasize the material and tactile foundations of Protestant belief. And rather than seeing a religion dedicated to maintaining the Reformation’s divide between the living and dead, I put relations with the dead at the heart of lived Protestantism.


Author(s):  
Erin Lambert

Chapter 1 explores the central role that the promise of universal resurrection and its enactment in the liturgy played in the constitution of the late medieval Christian community of faith. Together, it argues, raised voices and the promise of the resurrection of the dead created the ideal of a universal Christian community that was to remain forever united and that was bound together by a shared experience of ritual. The chapter presents a case study of the ways in which resurrection pervaded the aural, visual, and material culture of Nuremberg, particularly in the commemoration of the dead with the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead. Throughout the late medieval city, sounds, objects, and gestures defined a community of faith that was understood to encompass all Christians from the time of Christ until the apocalypse.


Author(s):  
Rick Peterson

This chapter introduces two important questions for the study. It looks at the possible relationships between Neolithic cave burial and other Neolithic burial practices. It then introduces the important idea that caves and other natural places had agency and were actively incorporated into funerary rites. The chapter also introduces the data set used in the book, 48 cave sites in Britain with Neolithic radiocarbon dates on human remains. The chapter concludes by reviewing problems in interpreting this data and introduces the theoretical themes discussed in the following chapters: temporality; object agency and funerary ritual.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-198
Author(s):  
Alexandra Ion

With this paper I propose a reflection on the way interdisciplinarity is framed in reference to the study of archaeological human remains. It is often taken for granted that interdisciplinarity is valuable for archaeology – but why should it be? By taking the case study of the way ancient genomics research is rewriting the ‘Neolithic Revolution’ narratives I show how the use of scientific methodologies in- fluences and biases the kind of work that gets done and the questions that are asked.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 60-72
Author(s):  
Mansour Safran

This aims to review and analyze the Jordanian experiment in the developmental regional planning field within the decentralized managerial methods, which is considered one of the primary basic provisions for applying and success of this kind of planning. The study shoed that Jordan has passed important steps in the way for implanting the decentralized administration, but these steps are still not enough to established the effective and active regional planning. The study reveled that there are many problems facing the decentralized regional planning in Jordan, despite of the clear goals that this planning is trying to achieve. These problems have resulted from the existing relationship between the decentralized administration process’ dimensions from one side, and between its levels which ranged from weak to medium decentralization from the other side, In spite of the official trends aiming at applying more of the decentralized administrative policies, still high portion of these procedures are theoretical, did not yet find a way to reality. Because any progress or success at the level of applying the decentralized administrative policies doubtless means greater effectiveness and influence on the development regional planning in life of the residents in the kingdom’s different regions. So, it is important to go a head in applying more steps and decentralized administrative procedures, gradually and continuously to guarantee the control over any negative effects that might result from Appling this kind of systems.   © 2018 JASET, International Scholars and Researchers Association


Author(s):  
Pramukti Dian Setianingrum ◽  
Farah Irmania Tsani

Backgroud: The World Health Organization (WHO) explained that the number of Hyperemesis Gravidarum cases reached 12.5% of the total number of pregnancies in the world and the results of the Demographic Survey conducted in 2007, stated that 26% of women with live births experienced complications. The results of the observations conducted at the Midwife Supriyati Clinic found that pregnant women with hyperemesis gravidarum, with a comparison of 10 pregnant women who examined their contents there were about 4 pregnant women who complained of excessive nausea and vomiting. Objective: to determine the hyperemesis Gravidarum of pregnant mother in clinic. Methods: This study used Qualitative research methods by using a case study approach (Case Study.) Result: The description of excessive nausea of vomiting in women with Hipermemsis Gravidarum is continuous nausea and vomiting more than 10 times in one day, no appetite or vomiting when fed, the body feels weak, blood pressure decreases until the body weight decreases and interferes with daily activities days The factors that influence the occurrence of Hyperemesis Gravidarum are Hormonal, Diet, Unwanted Pregnancy, and psychology, primigravida does not affect the occurrence of Hyperemesis Gravidarum. Conclusion: Mothers who experience Hyperemesis Gravidarum feel nausea vomiting continuously more than 10 times in one day, no appetite or vomiting when fed, the body feels weak, blood pressure decreases until the weight decreases and interferes with daily activities, it is because there are several factors, namely, hormonal actors, diet, unwanted pregnancy, and psychology.


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