Burial Customs as an Archaeological Source [and Comments]

Abstract

Burial practices as an archaeological source contain a variety of information. Since they represent a stable system, the reconstruction of burial practices permits one to identify six informational units. The first unit reveals the ancients' ideas about the means of passage of the deceased to the other world and of life in the realm of the dead. The second unit permits the reconstruction of the process of replacement of one archaeological culture by another. The third unit can be used to draw conclusions about the social positions of various sex-age groups in ancient societies. The fourth unit allows one to characterize the social differentiation of ancient societies, as many features of the burial rite are determined by the social rank of the deceased. The fifth unit provides information about the evolution of forms of the family in ancient societies and permits the identification of "outsiders" in the community to which the cemetery belongs; the presence of "outsiders" may be explained in terms of marriage contacts with neighboring communities. The sixth unit contains demographic factors such as life span, stature, disease, and trauma. Thus the burial rite is an indispensable source of religious, cultural, sociological, and demographic information on ancient societies.

Keywords

Related Publications