The Appropriation of Death In Classical Athens

<p>This thesis is about the change in Athenian burial practices between the Archaic and Classical periods (500-430 B.C.E.), within the oikos and the polis. I argue that during this period there was a change in both burial practice and ideology. I hypothesise that the Homeric conception of death was appropriated by the state leading to a temporary ideological change in Athens between 500-430 B.C.E., with the result that the aristocratic Athenian oikoi exhibited a trend of anti-display. There then followed another shift in ideology, whereby the Athenian aristocrats reappropriated death, taking state funerary symbols and applying them to private death, which then resulted in the re-emergence of lavish yet iconographically different grave monuments. This is a study of varied and disparate sources ranging from archaeological evidence to later literature. It is divided into three parts. Chapter One outlines exactly what the changes in funeral practice were between the Archaic and Classical periods. It focuses on the decline of grave markers, the shift to extramural burial, the change in how funerals and death were depicted, the increased emphasis on state burial and the change in both public and private mourning practices around 480 B.C.E. I argue that there was a definite change in how the Athenians interacted with their dead, both physically and ideologically. Chapter Two examines the reasons behind the change in burial practices around 480 B.C.E. I argue that it is improbable such a complex change had simple factors or motivations behind it but rather that the most likely cause of such a shift in attitude was a combination of complex reasons, where a few predominate, such as appropriation of death by the polis resulting in glorified state burials and development of democracy. Chapter Three examines the re-emergence of grave monuments. The archaeological record reveals a reappearance of stone funerary sculpture a decade or so after the middle of the fifth century (c. 440-430 B.C.E.). I argue that the re-emergence of funeral sculpture was influenced heavily by foreign workers who brought with them their own burial practices which in turn inspired Athenian aristocrats to re-appropriate death and begin erecting private funeral monuments, however instead of only using Homeric imagery, as they had in earlier periods, they appropriated state symbols and incorporated them into private monuments.</p>

The Appropriation of Death In Classical Athens

<p>This thesis is about the change in Athenian burial practices between the Archaic and Classical periods (500-430 B.C.E.), within the oikos and the polis. I argue that during this period there was a change in both burial practice and ideology. I hypothesise that the Homeric conception of death was appropriated by the state leading to a temporary ideological change in Athens between 500-430 B.C.E., with the result that the aristocratic Athenian oikoi exhibited a trend of anti-display. There then followed another shift in ideology, whereby the Athenian aristocrats reappropriated death, taking state funerary symbols and applying them to private death, which then resulted in the re-emergence of lavish yet iconographically different grave monuments. This is a study of varied and disparate sources ranging from archaeological evidence to later literature. It is divided into three parts. Chapter One outlines exactly what the changes in funeral practice were between the Archaic and Classical periods. It focuses on the decline of grave markers, the shift to extramural burial, the change in how funerals and death were depicted, the increased emphasis on state burial and the change in both public and private mourning practices around 480 B.C.E. I argue that there was a definite change in how the Athenians interacted with their dead, both physically and ideologically. Chapter Two examines the reasons behind the change in burial practices around 480 B.C.E. I argue that it is improbable such a complex change had simple factors or motivations behind it but rather that the most likely cause of such a shift in attitude was a combination of complex reasons, where a few predominate, such as appropriation of death by the polis resulting in glorified state burials and development of democracy. Chapter Three examines the re-emergence of grave monuments. The archaeological record reveals a reappearance of stone funerary sculpture a decade or so after the middle of the fifth century (c. 440-430 B.C.E.). I argue that the re-emergence of funeral sculpture was influenced heavily by foreign workers who brought with them their own burial practices which in turn inspired Athenian aristocrats to re-appropriate death and begin erecting private funeral monuments, however instead of only using Homeric imagery, as they had in earlier periods, they appropriated state symbols and incorporated them into private monuments.</p>

Horses from Xiongnu Elite Burial Complex Tsaram

The paper presents morphological description of horse remains from the elite burial complex Tsaram dated to the Xiongnu period. The complex is located in the Kyakhtinsky district of the Republic of Buryatia (Russia) and consists of one central burial № 7 and accompanying funerary objects. In the grave pit of the largest burial a typical Han chariot was found, which was damaged during later intrusions. The skeletal remains (skull, two cervical vertebrae, metapodials and phalanges) belonged to one stallion were excavated near the chariot. At the northern edge of the grave pit the sacrificial complex with numerous remains of domestic animals was discovered. The animal sacrifice included remains of 25 horse individuals, both males and females. All bone remains originate from incomplete skeletons: only bones of the head, distal parts of the forelimbs and hind limbs are presented. The anatomical composition of the skeletons suggests that in the funeral practice horse skins were used instead of whole carcasses. Among sacrificed horses, adult and senile individuals predominated. The number of young individuals is small, while juveniles are absent. The withers height attributes horses to the small, short and medium Vitt's categories. The chariot horse had a larger body size than other horses. The morphometric analysis demonstrates that Tsaram horses are different in the size and proportions of the limb bones from the Paziryk and Bulan-Kobin horses.

EARLY SYMBOLISM AND EARLY FORMS OF RELIGION OF THE PEOPLES OF THE LOWER AMUR REGION

The purpose of the article is, firstly, to determine the territorial and chronological boundaries of the formation of early symbolism and early forms of religion in the basin of the Lower Amur, and secondly, to explicate early beliefs and practices in the context of modern theories of religion. The territorial boundaries of early symbolism and early forms of religion are located in the Lower Amur region within the boundaries of the distribution of the Osipovskaya and Mariinskaya archaeological cultures. These cultures belong to the Early Neolithic and are located in chronological intervals of 13,000-10,000 years ago ( Osipovskaya culture ) and 10,000-9,000 years ago ( Mariinskaya culture ). The oldest beliefs and practices archaeologically recorded in the Lower Amur region are the gender cult, zoolatry and thanatology. The gender cult is represented by its male and female varieties. Zoolatry is manifested primarily in the forms of bear cult, ichthyolatria (worship of fish) and ornitholatria (worship of birds). Thanatology reveals itself in thanatocracies - the funeral practice of inhumation of the body with the ritual use of fire and buried objects. Gender cult and zoolatry are objectified in the objects of mobile art. Thanatology is objectified in the burial complex.

Orientation of buried people in the necropolises of Bystryanka culture (northern foothills of Altai, Scythian-Saka time)

The article presents the results of studying the orientation of buried in a certain sector of the horizon on the basis of materials from the excavations of the necropolises of the Bystryanka archaeological culture. Information about 168 burials investigated at 26 necropolises of the northern foothills of Altai of the Scythian-Saka period was used. It has been established that the dominant tradition was to direct the buried people with their heads to the western sector of the horizon. At the same time, deviations are recorded due to various factors. A number of approaches traditionally used in this kind of research were used to interpret the identified orientations. The authors concluded that the observed deviations from the westerly direction are associated with the seasonal movement of the sun. At the same time, a possible basis on which the population of Bystryanka culture relied when orienting the dead is the sunset point. The most probable explanation for the spread of directions other than those in the West is the contacts with carriers of other cultural traditions. Opportunities for further study and interpretation of the revealed patterns in the orientation of the buried people based on the materials of the Bystryanka culture are associated with a more detailed analysis of individual necropolises, including the specification of the landscape features of specific monuments. Of particular importance is the expansion of the data used by attracting information about unpublished complexes. In addition, the correlation of the considered element of the ritual with other indicators of funeral practice, including the peculiarities of the position of the buried people and the traditions of placing goods in the grave, seems promising.

SPECIAL FEATURES OF DEMEMBRATION IN THE FUNERAL PRACTICE OF THE LOWER DON CATACOMB CULTURE PEOPLE

The paper is devoted to the analysis of a series of Middle Bronze Age burials from the barrow cemeteries of Veselyi I, Chaltyrskiy XI, Glubokaya II and Molokanovskiy III in the Lower Don region. All of them present a hitherto unknown type of demembration which involves a complete of partial displacement of bones “in blocks”, i. e. in anatomical articulation. Judging by both their inventory and ritual details, the burials in question belong to the late stage of the Catacomb culture (late stage of the Donets culture, Bakhmur variant, and the Manych culture). The displacement of bones “in blocks” (and penetration into the grave) took place during the first year after the funeral. There is a number of hypotheses that attempt to explain the appearance of demembration in ritual practices of ancient people. The burial contexts described in this paper support the hypothesis ac- cording to which demembration served as a method of rendering the dear harmless.

Excavation of the Jiahu Site in Wuyang County, Henan in 2013

The eighth season of excavation at the Jiahu Site in the autumn of 2013 uncovered eight house foundations, 25 ash pits and 97 burials, along with hundreds of artifacts made of pottery, stone, bone and ivory. One of the most intriguing findings was the burial of two adult males underneath the living floor of a house foundation 2013F5 belonging to Phase I. They yielded rich grave goods that included bone flutes, engraved ivory plaque, a set of turtle shells, and other high-ranking artifacts. They are, to date, the first ever in-house burials found in Chinese archaeology. In addition, the other burials also yielded large amount of turquoise ornaments and exquisitely engraved ivory plaques. These findings are significant to the study of the prehistoric funeral practice and social differentiation during the early and middle Neolithic Age of China.

THE MATERIALS OF THE KOMAROVO AND SOSNITSA CULTURES IN THE EXPOSITION OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF THE INSTITUTE OF ARCHEOLOGY OF THE NAS OF UKRAINE

The article republishes the ceramics and bronze decorations of Komarovo and Sosnitsa cultures of the Trzciniec cultural circle (TCC) from the exposition of the Archaeological Museum of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Detailed descriptions of the exhibits and their author’s graphic reconstructions are given. These things, which became a textbook long time ago, previously were published only in the form of schematic and inaccurate drawings or in the form of not very high-quality photographs. The materials originate from the sites of the northern part of the forest-steppe eastern Volhynia (Wojciechowka), Kiev (Ukrainka, Zavalovka, Zdvizhevka, Plitovische, Gostomel) and Chernigov (Rudnya) Polesie. The finds refer to different periods of the formation and development of the TСC and date back to 2nd thousand BC. Special attention is paid to vessels discovered in 1956 by N. T. Evstropov at the site Gostomel, Stekol’nyy zavod 1. S. S. Berezanskaya came to the conclusion that this point is not a household site, but «a small soil burial ground with burning», referring to a series of observations of N. T. Evstropova. Detailed comparison of the primary publication of N. T. Evstropov with subsequent re-publication of the site of S. S. Berezanskaya, allow us to call into question conclusions of the latter. One of the reasons for skepticism is the miraculous transformation of «destroyed teeth of a ruminant animal» (in N. T. Evstropov publication) into «worn-out» and «calcified bones» (in S. S. Berezanskaya publications). Fragments of the teeth of a ruminant animal (bull?) are still folded into one of the vessels exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Could the vessels from Gostomel be connected with ritual-funeral practice, such as the vessels found in the ritual-funeral complexes of the Malopolovetskoe, Wojciechowka, Bukovna cemeteries? It is possible, but there is no evidence for this. Similarly, they can be associated with any other rituals, as well as with the remains of an ordinary household complex. N. T. Evstropov did it at the first publication of the site. Analysis of the ceramic complex allows us to attribute the Gostomel, Stekol’nyy zavod 1 point to the turn of the middle and late stages of the TCC Sosnitsa culture and date it to the end of the 13th — the beginning of the 12th centuries BC.