Jessica I. Cerezo-Román
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781683401032
- eISBN:
- 9781683401216
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9781683401032.003.0002
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
Inhumation and cremation usually are studied in isolation regardless of the fact that they may be practiced in the same culture and time period. Among the Tucson Basin Hohokam in the Prehispanic ...
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Inhumation and cremation usually are studied in isolation regardless of the fact that they may be practiced in the same culture and time period. Among the Tucson Basin Hohokam in the Prehispanic American Southwest cremation was the main funeral custom and inhumation was practiced at a very low frequency throughout the Preclassic (AD 700–1150) and Classic (AD 1150–1450/1500) periods. This chapter explores changes through time in non-normative burial customs of inhumation from ten Tucson Basin (Arizona) Hohokam archaeological sites by exploring both biological reconstruction of bodies and posthumous treatments within and between sites. Inhumations are contrasted with cremations to explore how they are related but distinct practices of remembrance, and it is argued that critical and contextualized approaches to the study of non-normative burials are necessary in order to reconstruct the complexity of funeral customs and their associated cultural significance through time. The results provide a glimpse of social variation and multiple social groups within the Tucson Basin Hohokam sites.Less
Inhumation and cremation usually are studied in isolation regardless of the fact that they may be practiced in the same culture and time period. Among the Tucson Basin Hohokam in the Prehispanic American Southwest cremation was the main funeral custom and inhumation was practiced at a very low frequency throughout the Preclassic (AD 700–1150) and Classic (AD 1150–1450/1500) periods. This chapter explores changes through time in non-normative burial customs of inhumation from ten Tucson Basin (Arizona) Hohokam archaeological sites by exploring both biological reconstruction of bodies and posthumous treatments within and between sites. Inhumations are contrasted with cremations to explore how they are related but distinct practices of remembrance, and it is argued that critical and contextualized approaches to the study of non-normative burials are necessary in order to reconstruct the complexity of funeral customs and their associated cultural significance through time. The results provide a glimpse of social variation and multiple social groups within the Tucson Basin Hohokam sites.
Abby Burnett
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9781628461114
- eISBN:
- 9781626740624
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628461114.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
The complicated process of preparing the dead for burial is now the province of funeral industry professionals, but this is a recent development. Until the end of World War II, especially in rural ...
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The complicated process of preparing the dead for burial is now the province of funeral industry professionals, but this is a recent development. Until the end of World War II, especially in rural parts of the South and documented here across the Arkansas Ozarks, members of the deceased’s community performed all of the jobs required for a burial. This was done to relieve the family but, in many places, taboos forbid their participation. This book documents death, burial and mourning customs in the Arkansas Ozarks for 1850 to 1950. It examines the traditions that governed sitting up with the sick and dying, laying out the body prior to viewing and burial, building the coffin and digging the grave. It also documents parallels between funerals and the Southern custom of Decoration Day. Preceding these subjects is an examination of the therapies, folk cures and superstitions believed to save or prolong life. Other subjects include maternal and infant mortality, obituaries, as well as the burial customs of African Americans, which generally paralleled those of whites. One chapter is devoted to disenfranchised death, deaths that could not be mourned according to tradition, such as ones occurring during epidemics and wartime. The book concludes with an examination of the ways in which, by the 1950s, the funeral industry had assumed all of the many labor-intensive jobs once performed within the community. The transition was a gradual one, but ultimately succeeded with offering of offering embalming, factory-made caskets, burial insurance and other goods and services.Less
The complicated process of preparing the dead for burial is now the province of funeral industry professionals, but this is a recent development. Until the end of World War II, especially in rural parts of the South and documented here across the Arkansas Ozarks, members of the deceased’s community performed all of the jobs required for a burial. This was done to relieve the family but, in many places, taboos forbid their participation. This book documents death, burial and mourning customs in the Arkansas Ozarks for 1850 to 1950. It examines the traditions that governed sitting up with the sick and dying, laying out the body prior to viewing and burial, building the coffin and digging the grave. It also documents parallels between funerals and the Southern custom of Decoration Day. Preceding these subjects is an examination of the therapies, folk cures and superstitions believed to save or prolong life. Other subjects include maternal and infant mortality, obituaries, as well as the burial customs of African Americans, which generally paralleled those of whites. One chapter is devoted to disenfranchised death, deaths that could not be mourned according to tradition, such as ones occurring during epidemics and wartime. The book concludes with an examination of the ways in which, by the 1950s, the funeral industry had assumed all of the many labor-intensive jobs once performed within the community. The transition was a gradual one, but ultimately succeeded with offering of offering embalming, factory-made caskets, burial insurance and other goods and services.
