Mortuary archaeology (also said burial archaeology, funerary archaeology, or archaeology of death) studies burial assemblages and human remains in order to understand ancient mortuary (or funerary) behaviors. Mortuary archaeology can be considered a sub-field of bioarchaeology, which is the study of human remains in their archaeological context. However, while bioarchaeology studies the full range of information about the lives and deathways of ancient individuals that is preserved on their skeletal remains, mortuary archaeology seeks to comprehend ancient concepts of status, religion, afterlife, and identity through the treatment of dead body.
Theoretical approaches to the study of archaeological burials Mortuary archaeologists draw upon the humanities, as well as social and hard sciences to have a full understanding of the individual and the sociocultural context that built the burial.
Mortuary contexts hold a prominent role in the analyses of the archaeological past, since human bones are the most direct evidence of the lives and experiences of ancient individuals. As a result, burials have long attracted the attention of those archaeologists interested in significant issues such as the rise of social inequality, intracultural differentiation, concepts of property, religion and ritual, and the construction of identity. However, the ways in which burials are classified and interpreted largely depends on the research questions being asked and the theoretical perspectives adopted by the scholars that study them. These approaches have been increasingly diverse, especially over the last half century.
Processual and postprocessual mortuary archaeologies The Saxe-Binford research program marked the initial systematic effort to develop a theory of mortuary archaeology. Processual archaeologists adopted a structuralist perspective, positing a direct correlation between funerary contexts and socio-economic organization. The greatest source of variability between burials was considered to be the number and nature of socio-economic and affective relationships in which the deceased was involved in life. Funerary goods were interpreted as reflections of such socio-economic variation.
Processual archaeologists argued that intra- and inter-cemetery diversity could offer insights into the socio-economic structure of past societies. They aimed to find cross-cultural patterns regarding variation and similarities of funerary treatments within a given society. Ethnographic evidence played a crucial role in these analyses. Some archaeologists applied revised versions of the Saxe-Binford program to carry out inter- or intra-regional comparisons to understand the determinants for funerary variability. These works integrated additional variables in their analysis. Some of these cross-cultural investigations considered that religious and philosophical concepts are a significant ("if obvious”, quoting Parker-Pearson) source for funerary diversity. Ian Morris recognized that, even though mortuary treatments ideally reflect social structures, ancestor cult and burial could be part of strategies of integration and exclusion.
The postprocessual movement(s) came in the later 1970s as a reaction to processual axioms. Especially, it asserted two main flaws in understanding sociocultural processes and burials:
1) burials do not reflect socio-economic organization; instead, they are the materialization of practices that contribute to the constant construction and modification of social relationships.
2) cross-cultural generalizations fail to consider specific ideological contexts. Such analyses erroneously disregard the specificity of each context and ignored that the “framework of cultural meaning” where action acquires sense is always historically constructed.
Post-processual archaeologists argued that funerary contexts did not reflect the social identities and status of the deceased during life. Instead, they considered ideology and meaningful action as compelling variables in mortuary diversity. The focus is on agency, on how individuals participate actively to the construction of social ties. Hence, funerary practices are part of active sets of practices carried out to fulfil political agendas through the manipulation of ideologically charged symbols.
Archaeothanatology
Archaeothanatology is the study of taphonomic processes that contribute to the formation of ancient burials. Despite being a methodological effort, it has had profound impacts on archaeological theory, especially theory of formation processes and how the archaeological context is formed. Several studies have demonstrated the intermingling of human and natural causes to the differential preservation and integrity of human remains, challenging previous ideas that consider human activities as the only field of inquiry for mortuary archaeologists. Working especially alongside bioarchaeologists, archaeothanatologists attempt to unravel the complexity of archaeological bones' diagenesis and its relationship to ancient funerary practices.
Methodology There are two main methods used by mortuary archaeologists to analyze the context of a burial as well as the individual that is buried. The first type of method looks at the burial and human remains context. The next method looks at the remains in the lab to see what information can be collected from the remains. These methods help researchers understand different aspects of the culture of a group.
Burial excavation Analyzing burials helps understand the social organization of populations and the meaning behind how individuals are buried. Burial Excavation has been a source of controversy because remains are removed from their original burial in the process, and as a result it has been compared to "grave robbing". All cultures have a different way of disposing of the dead. These differences can stem from the environment that populations live in and their beliefs. One well known phrase, “the dead do not bury themselves,” means that the living places their ideas of the deceased as well as death on the burial practices. Some cultures have different burial practices depending on age and sex. When analyzing the burial, researchers look at:
Type of disposal Location of burial Body preparations Articulation Position Deposition Orientation Grave goods
Disposal of the body There are two broad categories for the disposal of the body: simple and compound disposal. A simple disposal is one inhumation at a specific point in time. Simple disposal has three different types of inhumations First, the body is placed underground or in a mound. Second, is aquatic disposal, in which the body is placed in water directly or in a craft and sent afloat. Third is a surface disposal, where the body is left on the surface to decompose naturally through the exposure of different living organisms. A compound disposal deals with two or more stages of disposal. These different stages include a variation of two of the following: exposure, burial, reburial, and cremation. There are two processes in a compound disposal. First, the reduction process, where the body decays completely before the next process. Second is the final or secondary disposal. This is the location where the individual will eventually end up permanently.
Location of burial The researcher takes note of where the burial is located. While Western cultures usually bury their dead in cemeteries, many ancient cultures did not have designated cemeteries. Some cultures would bury their dead in the floor of the house or in a tomb if they are of higher status. Other areas of location can be between houses, in trash areas (middens), caves, or other culturally preferred areas of disposal.
Body preparation The preparation of the body is looking at how the living prepared the deceased for burial. Body preparation can be embalming, being painted, or dressed in particular clothing. The researchers can analyze this as well as how the individual is buried, like in an urn or wood coffin.
Articulation The articulation of a remains helps researchers determine how the individual was buried. A primary burial is the first and only interment of the body. This is the only time that remains should be found correctly articulated. A secondary burial is when an individual decomposes somewhere else and then is interred in their final resting spot. This can take the form of a bundle burial, where the bones first decompose and are collected before being in the ground. A reduced primary burial is a primary burial which was later intentionally altered by removing part of the remains.
Position The position of the burial looks at the body, the head, and the arms separately. The position could help researchers say something about the populations ideas of death as well as common burial practices. There are two positions the body can be placed in. First is the extended position, where the individual is laid flat. The second is flexed, where the individual is in a fetal position. The position of the arms is suggested to be analyzed separately from the body because of intentional placement. The arms can be along the side of the body, crossed over the pelvis, folded across the chest, or have the hands over the face. The position of the head is looking at the rotation of the head around the central axis. In some cultures, it is important for the head to be facing a particular direction. These practices vary between cultures as well as time period trends.
Deposition The deposition of the body is the “manner in which it has been deposited into the earth.” Through articulation, the researcher can determine if the individual was placed on the back, the face, the side, or a seated position. The extended position has two different depositions. First is supine, where the individual is on their back. Second is the prone position, where the individual is placed on their stomach face down. The depth of a burial can also give us clues as to the social status or gender of an individual and exhibits the degree of formality of the burial. Moreover, the shape and dimensions of the grave may give hints into other contexts of an individual's life.
Orientation Researchers analyze the orientation of the body, grave, and disposal container. The orientation of the grave and container correlate with each other. The researcher observes the long axis of the grave and container. However, container will not be present if buried in perishable materials but could leave a stain to indicate that there was a container. The orientation of the body refers to the “direction in which the head lies in relation to a line between the skull and the center of the pelvis.” The orientation of the body, grave, and container can be described using degrees, cardinal directions, various subdivisions, or in relation to a natural ground feature, like a river.
Grave goods The grave goods that are found in context with the burial help the researcher understand a culture's burial practices. These are materials or artifacts that are sometimes found along with remains. Archaeologists commonly divide these materials into two broad categories: objects directly associated with the body such as clothing or jewelry and objects accompanying the body which may include art or weapons. The grave goods can be placed around, in, on the body, and in the fill around the body. Some researchers believe that the gender and status of an individual can be studied based on the grave goods placed with the individual. Additionally, aspects such as economy, ethnic identity, as well as many other aspects of human identity can be determined from the artifacts that are found alongside human remains.
Creating a biological profile
The remains are then analyzed in the lab to create a biological profile. The researchers look at:
Sex Ancestry Age Stature Trauma Pathology Taphonomy