Anthropological and Archaeological Approaches to Mortuary Rituals – a Synthesis

Abstract

Anthropology and archaeology have a long tradition in shaping a discourse on the phenomenon of death. From the very beginning of the archeological discipline there is to be noticed a special interest regarding the funerary contexts – the funerary inventory, the body of the deceased and the treatment applied to it. This paper is an attempt to review a vast literature concerned with the significance of funerary rituals, from both disciplines – cultural anthropology and archaeology – while seeking to capture the emergence of some research paradigms that marked the history of archaeological thought from the beginning of the 20th century till today. In an attempt to determine what funerary archaeology means for the researcher of the 20th and 21th century, I bring into discussion the two major current of archaeological thought known as processual and post-processual paradigms. What information may be obtained from the analysis of mortuary rituals and what methodologies have been formulated within such research? Which were the purposes of funerary rituals? What is the relevance of funerary archaeology in shaping of a discourse about past societies? These are just some of the questions whose answers I am seeking for.