Death and changing rituals : function and meaning in ancient funerary practices / edited by J. Rasmus Brandt, Håkon Roland and Marina Prusac.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Brandt, J. Rasmus, editor.

Roland, Håkon, editor.

Prusac, Marina, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Funeral rites and ceremonies, Ancient.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (481 pages)

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; Philadelphia : Oxbow Books, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The forms by which a deceased person may be brought to rest are as many as there are causes of death. In most societies the disposal of the corpse is accompanied by some form of celebration or ritual which may range from a simple act of deportment in solitude to the engagement of large masses of people in laborious and creative festivities. In a funerary context the term ritual may be taken to represent a process that incorporates all the actions performed and thoughts expressed in connection with a dying and dead person, from the preparatory pre-death stages to the final deposition of the corpse and the post-mortem stages of grief and commemoration. The contributions presented here are focused not on the examination of different funerary practices, their function and meaning, but on the changes of such rituals - how and when they occurred and how they may be explained. Based on case studies from a range of geographical regions and from different prehistoric and historical periods, a range of key themes are examined concerning belief and ritual, body and deposition, place, performance and commemoration, exploring a complex web of practices.

Contents:

Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Contents; Acknowledgements; Contributors; Introduction Ritual, Change, and Funerary Practices J.Rasmus Brandt; Chapter 1: A Proper Burial Some Thoughts on Changes in Mortuary Ritual, and how Archaeology can begin to understand them Liv Nilsson Stutz; Chapter 2: Neolithic and Copper Age Mortuary Practices in the Italian Peninsula Change of Meaning or Change of Medium? Andrea Dolfini; Chapter 3: Change and Continuity in Early Bronze Age Mortuary Rites A Case Study from Northumberland Chris Fowler

Chapter 4: Causes and Contexts of Long-Term Ritual Change The Iron Age to Early Medieval Cemetery of Klin-Yar (North Caucasus, Russia) Heinrich Härke & Andrej BelinskijChapter 5: Passage to the Underworld Continuity or Change in Etruscan Funerary Ideology and Practices (6th-2nd Century BC)?1 J. Rasmus Brandt; Chapter 6: "Whether by Decay or Fire Consumed...":1 Cremation in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor Sven Ahrens; Chapter 7: A 'Civilised' Death? The Interpretation of Provincial Roman Grave Good Assemblages John Pearce

Chapter 8: Friends, Foes and Hybrids The Transformation of Burial Ritualin Roman Dalmatia Marina PrusacChapter 9: Commemorating the Dead in North Africa Continuity and Change fromthe Second to the Fifth Century CE Eric Rebillard; Chapter 10: Churches and Graves of the Early Byzantine Period in Scythia Minor and Moesia Secunda* The Development of a Christian Topography at the Periphery of the Roman Empire Irina Achim; Chapter 11: Social Anxiety and the Re-Emergence of Furnished Burial in Post Roman Albania William Bowden

Chapter 12: Changing Rituals and Reinventing Tradition: The burnt Viking Ship at Myklebostad, Western Norway Terje OestigaardChapter 13: Transforming Medieval Beliefs The Significance of Bodily Resurrection to Medieval Burial Rituals Roberta Gilchrist; Chapter 14: Changing Beliefs About the Dead Body in Post-Medieval Britain and Ireland Sarah Tarlow; Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9781782976400

178297640X

9781782976424

1782976426