Search Results

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.

This paper is a review of a broad range of evidence for burial practice in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain. The author asks the difficult question – who were these people – in relation to the nameless dead found during excavations. A broad range of evidence is reviewed, including inhumations, cremations and conjoined bodies, and the fixed lines between these categories are questioned. The use of modern concepts such as ‘burial’ are also queried. Set within a chronological framework, this paper offers a challenging and fresh approach to archaeological understandings and interpretations of burial practice.

This paper offers an overview and review of the evidence for mortuary practice in Ireland in the Late Neolithic period. Assumptions about the chronological relationship between cremation and inhumation are made, and these two categories are also challenged. The use of cremation as a practice in relation to passage graves and other megalithic tombs is explored for instance. The evidence is arranged chronologically, and this is followed by some discussion about what modern cremation activities can tell us about cremation in the Neolithic. Broader geographical conclusions are drawn in this significant and detailed review of burial practice in the Irish Neolithic.