Week 02: Mortuary Archeology Flashcards
What is a mortuary program
a basic three stage structure that can be applied to many cultural rights of passage, in terms of funeral consists of death, transition and reintegration
Define seperation
the loss of the individual
Define transition
the person transitions from being alive to being dead
Define reintegration
the social system reintegrates the individual as they believe them to exist in death
Mortuary Program of the Nyakyusa
- in Tanzania
- agriculturalists, cattle herding, grain and banana, skilled with iron
- when someone dies word is quickly disseminated to the community, social and familial obligation to attend the ceremony (not attending could be accused of witchcraft), burial happens quickly in fromt of the family hut, followed by the ceremony spirit of the dead person is driven away, women wailing, followed by men dancing, the dance is a war dance of mourning over the course of the day, fights often break out, dancing and wailing continues
gradually things shift, wailing ceases, women join the dance, dancing becomes joyous, the heir is presented with the widows of the dead individual, beer is brewed, cattle are slaughtered
By the end of the day, dancers go home, closes relatives gather round fires and roast meat
Death- Separation - burial-spirit driven away
transition - wailing and men dancing
reintegration - men and women dancing, family reconstituted, communal sharing of beer and beef
Things to note: proximity of burial to the house (right outside), prescriptive rules about participation (if you don’t come you’re a witch), sharing of resources (beer and beef)
Ngadju- Dayak of Borneo Mortuary Program
- Indonesia
- depend on cultivation of rice, fishing and pigs and ducks
-settlements have a core along a river bank
-houses often contain 2-3 families - at death, the should of the deceased is released and may affect the living
-two stage burial process - initial interment/exposure followed by secondary burial - it is the final burial that confines the soul
-there appears to be some variation in the first stage - generally kept outside of the community
-length of time is also variable - 8 months to several years
-involves the breakdown of the corpse to the bones, which are viewed to be the permanent part of the body and thus ready for final burial - once the temporary burial time is completed, the secondary burial is an elaborate ritual
- it’s elaborateness and length seems to be limited only by the amount of food that the family can put together for the feast
- small shrine is constructed as the focus of the ceremony
- the shrine and village is purified by a pries and bone depository is contracted
the feast includes pigs, poultry, rice and wine - a procession brings the remains of the deceased either by foot or canoe
- dancing, yelling, beating of gongs
the soul is encouraged to leave
the bones are washed and placed into the depository then taken for ultimate burial
Death-separation
transition - temporary burial/exposure period
reintegration - secondary burial ceremony
transitional period is lasting longer and longer, likely reflects and erosion of traditional beliefs and the expense of the feast for the secondary burial, the elaborateness of the feast represents the wealth of the family as a whole, not of the individual person
Things to note about Dayak Mortuary program
lengthy transition period allows the body to decompose to its essence, allows the accumulation of resources for the feast
- decomposition takes place away from the community
- ceremony includes a sharing of resources
Yuma in Quechan California
settle agriculturalists, egalitarian, warlike
- upon the death of an individual the body is cremated, usually on the same day, but the soul continues to exist after death
- the soul is finally liberated during the Karuk ceremony, a four day ceremony that involves several families and the mourning of several individuals
- develops as the families gradually agree to work together to put on the ceremony (multiple individuals done at one_
takes 6 months to a year to prepare
involves the gathering of a considerable amount of wood
food for feasting
ritual items - bird feathers, deer hooves etc.
Day 1 of Quechan (Yuma) mortuary program
build a sheltered area - the “ordinary house”, people gather and begin preparations, making necklaces, war bonnets etc.
Day 2 of Quechan (Yuma) mortuary program
preparations continue
Day 3 of Quechan (Yuma) mortuary program
gather wood (that was previously gathered and stored)
construct the “real house”
construct images/effigies of the deceased and dress them, placed in real house, the soul occupies the image, speeches honouring the deceased
Day 4 of Quechan (Yuma) mortuary program
the images of the deceased are brought out reuniting them with their family members, dancing ensues, at midnight, the images and all the ceremonial items are placed back in the Real House, and the whole thing is set on fire, at that point, the souls of the deceased are released and sent away permanently
separation of Quechan (Yuma)
death and initial cremation
transition of Quechan (Yuma)
lengthy time period while the soul is in limbo, joint efforts by the families to mobilize the resources for the ceremony
reintegration of Quechan (Yuma)
the images of the dead are thought to be reanimated by the souls of the departed, reuniting them with the family, but then they are released by the cremation, and a new social order is constructed
Things to note about Quechan (Yuma) mortuary program
lengthy transition period - allows family members to work with other families to collect resources and prepare for the ceremony
the body is replaced by images but still has the power of the soul
sharing of resources
What is Mortuary Archaeology
the analysis of the material and mortal remains of funerary rituals practiced by past populations
What can we learn from mortuary archaeology
- window onto the broader world of the society under study
- organizational structure/complexity of the society
- and that this context in some way reflects the biological and social persona of the deceased individual, and the society’s response to their death
Rakita & Bulkstra quote about mortuary archaeology
death is surely as much a cultural process as it is a biological one
Things to note about the Charles Reading on Mortuary Archeology
-energy expenditure (in a mortuary ritual) is a direct reflection of social organization
- formal disposal areas for the dead will reflect group rights over crucial but restricted resources
- mortuary ritual is a hegemonic practice that serves to reproduce society and maintain relations of dominance
- funerary practice comprise though and action, forming duality that must be understood in terms of people’s beliefs and agency rather than simply rationalized in some epic sense
- key message is “can” should be used in statements like this
- caution against being terministic
New (Processual) Archeology
- 1970s to today
- materialist view of culture
science based - objective - analysis structured by systems theory, ecology & evolution
- human behaviour is an adaptation to social and environmental change
- mortuary ritual reflects and reinforces social organization
Post-Processual Archaeology
- 1980s to today
- ideational view of culture
- recognize subjectivity
- analysis structured around the individual
- human behaviour is highly variable with room for individuals to exercise agency
- mortuary ritual emphasizes ideology and presents an opportunity to renegotiate and modify social organization
Mortuary Archeology and mummy studies
hybridization of the two perspectives
the focus of analysis is typically the individual
we have a very social/ideational perspective
incorporate biomedical research methods, techniques and perspectives
when possible move from the individual to the collective seeking patterns of behaviour reflective of the culture
Charles 2005 post-processual interpretation
- mount is a symbolic representation of the structure of the world
- artifacts in the burial of the woman do not indicate status per se, but indicate her specific roles in life (possibly a shaman)
- context indicates the changing roles of women in the increasingly sedentary society
