The Routledge Handbook of Archaeothanatology spans the gap between archaeology and biological anthropology, the field and laboratory, and between francophone and anglophone funerary archaeological approaches to the remains of the dead and the understanding of societies, past and present.
Interest in archaeothanatology has grown considerably in recent years in English-language scholarship. This timely publication moves away from anecdotal case studies to offer syntheses of archaeothanatological approaches with an eye to higher-level inferences about funerary behaviour and its meaning in the past. Written by francophone scholars who have contributed to the development of the field and anglophone scholars inspired by the approach, this volume offers detailed insight into the background and development of archaeothanatology, its theory, methods, applications, and its most recent advances, with a lexicon of related vocabulary.
This volume is a key source for archaeo-anthropologists and bioarchaeologists. It will benefit researchers, lecturers, practitioners and students in biological anthropology, archaeology, taphonomy and forensic science. Given the interdisciplinary nature of these disciplines, and the emphasis placed on analysis in situ, this book will also be of interest to specialists in entomology, (micro)biology and soil science.
Author(s): Christopher J. Knüsel, Eline M. J. Schotsmans
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 767
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
CONTENTS
List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Foreword I
Foreword II
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Archaeothanatology, funerary archaeology and bioarchaeology: perspectives on the long view of death and the dead
PART I: Archaeothanatology – methodological guidelines
1. Methodological guidelines for archaeothanatological practice
2. A tale of two worlds: Terminologies in archaeothanatology
3. Words between two worlds: Collective graves and related issues in burial terminology
4. Secondary cremation burials of past populations: Some methodological procedures for excavation, bone fragment identification and sex determination
5. The accompanying dead
6. Denied funeral rites: The contribution of the archaeothanatological approach
PART II: Period-specific applications
7. Early primary burials: Evidence from Southwestern Asia
8. The earliest European burials
9. Beyond the formal analysis of funerary practices? Archaeothanatology as a reflexive tool for considering the role of the dead amongst the living: A Natufian case study
10. What can archaeothanatology add? A case study of new knowledge and theoretical implications in the re-study of Mesolithic burials in Sweden and Denmark
11. Neolithic burials of infants and children
12. Defining collective burials: Three case studies
13. Different burial types but common practice: The case of the funerary complex at Barbuise and La Saulsotte (France) at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age
14. Deathways of the Durotriges: Reconstructing identity through archaeothanatology in later Iron Age southern Britain
15. The Roman cemetery of Porta Nocera at Pompeii: The contribution of osteological re-associations to the study of secondary cremation burials
16. Reopening graves for the removal of objects and bones: Cultural practices and looting
17. Cluniac funerary practices
18. ‘Bring out your dead’: Funerary and public health practices in times of epidemic disease
19. Jewish funerary practices in Medieval Europe
20. Islamic burials: Muslim graves and graves of Muslims
21. Recognising a slave cemetery: An example from colonial-period Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles
PART III: Archaeothanatology of associated remains
22. Archaeothanatological approaches to associated remains in European funerary contexts: An overview
23. An archaeothanatological approach to the identification of Late Anglo-Saxon burials in wooden containers
24. Ceramic studies in funerary contexts from Roman Gaul
25. Animal remains in burials
26. The walking dead – life after death: Archaeoentomological evidence in a Roman catacomb (Saints Marcellinus and Peter, central area, 1st–3rd century AD)
PART IV: Applied sciences, experiments and legal considerations
27. From flesh to bone: Building bridges between taphonomy, archaeothanatology and forensic science for a better understanding of mortuary practices
28. Exploring the use of actualistic forensic taphonomy in the study of (forensic) archaeological human burials: An actualistic experimental research programme at the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University (FACTS), San Marcos, Texas
29. An experimental approach to the interpretation of prehistoric cremation and cremation burials
30. The taphonomic and archaeothanatological potentials of diagenetic alterations of archaeological bone
31. 3D models as useful tools in archaeothanatology
32. Use of archaeothanatology in preventive (salvage/rescue) archaeology and field research archaeology
33. Managing and reburying ancient human remains in France: From legal and ethical concerns to field practices
PART V: Lexicon of archaeothanatological terms
34. Lexicon of terms used in archaeothanatology: A work still in the process of becoming
Index
