Download or read book An Archaeology of Human Decapitation Burials written by Katie Tucker and published by Pen and Sword Archaeology. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an in depth yet accessible study of human decapitation burials in Roman Britain. Dr Katie Tucker studied this subject for her doctorate and so is a leading expert in the area. Her findings go against conventional views of human decapitation burials of this period, which traditionally favor the view of a post-mortem removal of the head. Instead, Katie found the majority of the evidence did not support this theory and so concluded that most decapitations were likely to have been performed prior to death, potentially as a result of execution or human sacrifice. In order to gain a full insight into the ways in which these burials were formed and the reasoning behind these practices, Katie compares the decapitation burials to the burials of the wider Romano-British cemetery population. In doing this, Katie is able to better understand the differences between decapitated individuals and the rest of the population in terms of burial practice, demographics and ante-mortem health status. Decapitation burials are not only confined to the Roman period and so Katie also discusses the context of them in the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Early Medieval, Medieval and Post Medieval periods in order to assess whether there is continuity between periods.
Download or read book An Archaeology of Human Decapitation Burials written by Katie Tucker and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Whence this Severance of the Head written by Katie Tucker and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Decapitation burials (burials in which the cranium and mandible are displaced from correct anatomical position and replaced elsewhere in the grave) are a relatively common minority burial practice in Romano-British cemeteries. They have usually been ascribed to a post-mortem funerary ritual with various different motives being postulated. However, these interpretations seem to have largely been based on assumption rather than evidence from the archaeological context or the human remains, only small numbers of which have been subjected to detailed skeletal analysis. Decapitated burials are also found in the early medieval period, and, conversely, these are normally concluded to be the victims of judicial execution, an interpretation that is only very rarely used when discussing Romano-British examples. This thesis examines the archaeological and osteological data from a large sample of Romano-British decapitated burials and compares them with the wider Romano-British cemetery population, in order to better understand the differences between decapitated individuals and the rest of the population, in terms of burial practice, demographics, and ante-mortem health status. The evidence for decapitation in the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages, early medieval, medieval and post-medieval periods was also examined, with the analysis of samples of decapitated individuals being undertaken where possible, in order to provide comparanda for the Romano-British examples, and assess whether there is any evidence for continuity in the practice between the periods. The thesis focuses particularly on the evidence for decapitation-related peri-mortem trauma, and this data is used to identify and describe a number of different types of decapitation amongst the samples of individuals. The complete body of evidence is then used to discuss the feasibility of each of the different interpretations previously suggested for the practice of decapitation, with the intention that it can be used to inform any future discussion of such burials.
Download or read book The Bioarchaeology of the Human Head written by Clark S. Larsen and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Explores the symbolic significance of the human head in cultural, political, economic, and religious ritual across the world"-- ǂc Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Human Decapitation in Ancient Mesoamerica written by Christopher L. Moser and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Buried Soul written by Timothy Taylor and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2005-08-15 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do cannibals exist? Is there evidence for contemporary human sacrifice? What are vampires? The Buried Soul charts the story of the human response to death from prehistory to the present day. This book is a radical adventure into the sepulchral world.
Download or read book Deviant Burial in the Archaeological Record written by Eileen M. Murphy and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2008-08-19 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume contains twelve papers that present evidence on non-normative burial practices from the Neolithic through to Post-Medieval periods and includes case studies from some ten countries. It has long been recognised by archaeologists that certain individuals in a variety of archaeological cultures from diverse periods and locations have been accorded differential treatment in burial relative to other members of their society. These individuals can include criminals, women who died during childbirth, unbaptised infants, people with disabilities, and supposed revenants, to name but a few. Such burials can be identifiable in the archaeological record from an examination of the location and external characteristics of the grave site. Furthermore, the position of the body in addition to its association with unusual grave goods can be a further feature of atypical burials. The motivation behind such non-normative burial practices is also diverse and can be related to a wide variety of social and religious beliefs. It is envisaged that the volume will make a significant contribution towards our understanding of the complexities involved when dealing with non-normative burials in the archaeological record.
Download or read book Grave Disturbances written by Edeltraud Aspöck and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2020-07-31 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaeologists excavating burials often find that they are not the first to disturb the remains of the dead. Graves from many periods frequently show signs that others have been digging and have moved or taken away parts of the original funerary assemblage. Displaced bones and artefacts, traces of pits, and damage to tombs or coffins can all provide clues about post-burial activities. The last two decades have seen a rapid rise in interest in the study of post-depositional practices in graves, which has now developed into a new subfield within mortuary archaeology. This follows a long tradition of neglect, with disturbed graves previously regarded as interesting only to the degree they revealed evidence of the original funerary deposit. This book explores past human interactions with mortuary deposits, delving into the different ways graves and human remains were approached by people in the past and the reasons that led to such encounters. The primary focus of the volume is on cases of unexpected interference with individual graves soon after burial: re-encounters with human remains not anticipated by those who performed the funerary rites and constructed the tombs. However, a first step is always to distinguish these from natural and accidental processes, and methodological approaches are a major theme of discussion. Interactions with the remains of the dead are explored in eleven chapters ranging from the New Kingdom of Egypt to Viking Age Norway and from Bronze Age Slovakia to the ancient Maya. Each discusses cases of re-entries into graves, including desecration, tomb re-use, destruction of grave contents, as well as the removal of artefacts and human remains for reasons from material gain to commemoration, symbolic appropriation, ancestral rites, political chicanery, and retrieval of relics. The introduction presents many of the methodological issues which recur throughout the contributions, as this is a developing area with new approaches being applied to analyze post-depositional processes in graves.
Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict written by Christopher Knüsel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-17 with total page 753 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If human burials were our only window onto the past, what story would they tell? Skeletal injuries constitute the most direct and unambiguous evidence for violence in the past. Whereas weapons or defenses may simply be statements of prestige or status and written sources are characteristically biased and incomplete, human remains offer clear and unequivocal evidence of physical aggression reaching as far back as we have burials to examine. Warfare is often described as ‘senseless’ and as having no place in society. Consequently, its place in social relations and societal change remains obscure. The studies in The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict present an overview of the nature and development of human conflict from prehistory to recent times as evidenced by the remains of past people themselves in order to explore the social contexts in which such injuries were inflicted. A broadly chronological approach is taken from prehistory through to recent conflicts, however this book is not simply a catalogue of injuries illustrating weapon development or a narrative detailing ‘progress’ in warfare but rather provides a framework in which to explore both continuity and change based on a range of important themes which hold continuing relevance throughout human development.
Download or read book Death and Dying in the Neolithic Near East written by Karina Croucher and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-21 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Croucher explores what mortuary practices can reveal about the living populations in the Neolithic Near East. Incorporating evidence from excavations, she provides an overview of the period and offers a unique insight into changing attitudes towards the human body, identity, and the experiences of the lived populations of the Neolithic Near East.
Download or read book The Archaeology of Cremation written by Tim Thompson and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human societies have disposed of their dead in a variety of ways. However, while considerable attention has been paid to bodies that were buried, comparatively little work has been devoted to understanding the nature of cremated remains, despite their visibility through time. It has been argued that this is the result of decades of misunderstanding regarding the potential information that this material holds, combined with properties that make burned bone inherently difficult to analyse. As such, there is a considerable body of knowledge on the concepts and practices of inhumation yet our understanding of cremation ritual and practice is by comparison, woefully inadequate. This timely volume therefore draws together the inventive methodology that has been developed for this material and combines it with a fuller interpretation of the archaeological funerary context. It demonstrates how an innovative methodology, when applied to a challenging material, can produce new and exciting interpretations of archaeological sites and funerary contexts. The reader is introduced to the nature of burned human remains and the destructive effect that fire can have on the body. Subsequent chapters describe important cremation practices and sites from around the world and from the Neolithic period to the modern day. By emphasising the need for a robust methodology combined with a nuanced interpretation, it is possible to begin to appreciate the significance and wide-spread adoption of this practice of dealing with the dead.
Download or read book The Archaeology of Human Bones written by Simon Mays and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-06-01 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aim of this book is to provide an introduction to what can be learnt from the scientific study of human skeletal remains from archaeological sites.
Download or read book Cremation and the Archaeology of Death written by Jessica Cerezo-Román and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-14 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fiery transformation of the dead is replete in our popular culture and Western modernity's death ways, and yet it is increasingly evident how little this disposal method is understood by archaeologists and students of cognate disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. In this regard, the archaeological study of cremation has much to offer. Cremation is a fascinating and widespread theme and entry-point in the exploration of the variability of mortuary practices among past societies. Seeking to challenge simplistic narratives of cremation in the past and present, the studies in this volume seek to confront and explore the challenges of interpreting the variability of cremation by contending with complex networks of modern allusions and imaginings of cremations past and present and ongoing debates regarding how we identify and interpret cremation in the archaeological record. Using a series of original case studies, the book investigates the archaeological traces of cremation in a varied selection of prehistoric and historic contexts from the Mesolithic to the present in order to explore cremation from a practice-oriented and historically situated perspective.
Download or read book Human Burials Sacred Objects and You written by Arizona Archaeological Council and published by . This book was released on 1990* with total page 1 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Remembering the Dead in the Ancient Near East written by Benjamin W. Porter and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2014-10-15 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Remembering the Dead in the Ancient Near East is among the first comprehensive treatments to present the diverse ways in which ancient Near Eastern civilizations memorialized and honored their dead, using mortuary rituals, human skeletal remains, and embodied identities as a window into the memory work of past societies. In six case studies teams of researchers with different skillsets—osteological analysis, faunal analysis, culture history and the analysis of written texts, and artifact analysis—integrate mortuary analysis with bioarchaeological techniques. Drawing upon different kinds of data, including human remains, ceramics, jewelry, spatial analysis, and faunal remains found in burial sites from across the region’s societies, the authors paint a robust and complex picture of death in the ancient Near East. Demonstrating the still underexplored potential of bioarchaeological analysis in ancient societies, Remembering the Dead in the Ancient Near East serves as a model for using multiple lines of evidence to reconstruct commemoration practices. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian societies, the archaeology of death and burial, bioarchaeology, and human skeletal biology.
Download or read book Normative Atypical or Deviant Interpreting Prehistoric and Protohistoric Child Burial Practices written by Eileen Murphy and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2023-08-24 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the response of the living when dealing with the death of a child. Papers focus on juvenile burial practices in Europe and the Near East during recent prehistory and protohistory. The interpretation of normative, atypical or deviant is interrogated based on the context of the burials and the intentionality of the practice.
Download or read book The Bioarchaeology of the Human Head written by Michelle Bonogofsky and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title explores the symbolic significance of the human head in cultural, political, economic, and religious ritual across the world.
