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Αιγεύς Εταιρεία Αιγαιακής Προϊστορίας

ΒΙΒΛΙΑ | 2021

15 Μαΐου 2021

Towards a Social Bioarchaeology of the Mycenaean Period: A biocultural analysis of human remains from the Voudeni cemetery, Achaea, Greece

Ioanna Moutafi

Towards a Social Bioarchaeology of the Mycenaean Period: A biocultural analysis of human remains from the Voudeni cemetery, Achaea, Greece

Πόλη: Oxford

Έτος: 2021

Εκδότης: Oxbow Books

Περιγραφή: Μαλακό εξώφυλλο, 304 σ., πολυάριθμες ασπρόμαυρες και έγχρωμες φωτογραφίες, 21,6 x 28 εκ.

Περίληψη (στην αγγλική γλώσσα)

This book investigates the complex relationship between funerary treatment and wider social dynamics through a contextual analysis of human skeletal remains and associated mortuary data from Voudeni, an important Mycenaean (1450-1050 BC) chamber tomb cemetery in Achaea, Greece. Voudeni is one of the most significant sites of Achaea, thoroughly investigated under the direction of the Honorary General Director of Antiquities, Dr Lazaros Kolonas. Over 60 chamber tombs, spanning the entire Late Helladic III period, have been excavated, yielding an unprecedented wealth of biocultural information. This study explores the post-mortem treatment of the body in the Voudeni cemetery, through a novel interpretive approach that transcends unproductive cross-disciplinary divisions. This biosocial approach integrates traditional archaeology, current reflections in mortuary archaeological theory and cutting-edge bioarchaeological methods, primarily focused on funerary taphonomy and archaeothanatology of commingled skeletal assemblages. The author proposes that the most effective route to explore the social dimensions of mortuary data is through an emic understanding of historically situated actions and experiences, both of the living actors, the mourners, and of the dead themselves. Human skeletal remains are used as the primary strand of evidence, both as the object of the acts of the living and the subject of their own lived experiences. Most importantly, this study aspires to show how reconciliation between abstract theoretical advances and empirical biocultural data may be possible, providing the most insightful path to a better understanding of the archaeological mortuary record.

The book provides a thorough background on Mycenaean mortuary research and explores the topic in successive stages: a) theoretical and methodological framework, b) detailed taphonomic analysis and osteological results of 20 tombs, c) multivariate analysis of bio-cultural data across socio-temporal parameters (with special emphasis on the distinction between the palatial LHIIIA-B and the transitional post-palatial LHIIIC period), and d) final synthesis, addressing questions pertaining to changing social conditions in Achaea and key issues of current Mycenaean mortuary research. These include: tomb re-use; form, diversity, sequence and frequency of mortuary activities; mortality profiles; differential inclusion, visibility and funerary treatment of different groups/identities; changes in treatment of the dead body, reflecting shifts in notions of the self and social relationships. The results shed new light to social developments in Mycenaean Achaea, showing that the complex interaction between changing social conditions and mortuary practice is often reflected in subtle, yet meaningful, shifts of emphasis in the post-mortem treatment of bodies and bones, rather than in blatant radical changes.

Contents

LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER 1: SETTING THE STAGE

1.1       Introduction
1.2       Chronology and terminology
1.3       The Mycenaean period: a brief review
1.4       Mycenaean Achaea
1.5       The Voudeni cemetery: general background

CHAPTER 2: STUDYING MORTUARY PRACTICES 

2.1       A review of past approaches to mortuary data
2.2       Recent and current interpretive approaches
2.3       Human remains in mortuary studies: past and current directions in bioarchaeology

CHAPTER 3: THE STATE OF PLAY IN MYCENAEAN MORTUARY RESEARCH 

3.1       Introduction
3.2       A brief history of Mycenaean mortuary research
3.3       Key issues in Mycenaean mortuary research
3.4       Who is buried in the tombs? Aspects of status, identity, and personhood in Mycenaean chamber tombs
3.5       Current bioarchaeological research of the Mycenaean period

CHAPTER 4: A HOLISTIC BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MORTUARY PRACTICES

4.1       Basic theoretical premises
4.2       Towards a holistic bioarchaeological approach
4.3       Scope and aims of this study
4.4       Specific questions

CHAPTER 5: MATERIAL AND METHODS

5.1       The material: Choice of the current sample and related problems
5.2       The collection of osteological data: Recording standards and procedure
5.3       Sex determination & age estimation
5.4       Methodological framework for reconstructing funerary acts in collective tombs
5.5        A brief background to palaeodemographic analysis
5.6       Statistical methods

CHAPTER 6: TOMBS, BONES AND STORIES

6.1       TOMB 4
6.2       TOMB 5
6.3       TOMB 9
6.4       TOMB 10
6.5       TOMB 13
6.6       TOMB 14
6.7       TOMB 15
6.8       TOMB 16
6.9       TOMB 17
6.10     TOMB 20
6.11     TOMB 22
6.12     TOMB 24
6.13     TOMB 26
6.14     TOMB 27
6.15     TOMB 28
6.16     TOMB 31
6.17     TOMB 39
6.18     TOMB 40
6.19     TOMB 42
6.20     TOMB 44

CHAPTER 7: EXPLORING THE DATA

7.1       The tombs
7.2       The demographic data
7.3       Types of funerary disposal and preservation patterns
7.4       The funerary practices

CHAPTER 8: UNDERSTANDING FUNERARY PRACTICE

8.1       Bioarchaeological reconstruction of funerary practices in LHIII Voudeni
8.2       Demographic aspects of funerary diversity
8.3       Seeking meaning in funerary practice
8.4       Mortuary practice in its historical context

CHAPTER 9: TOWARDS A SOCIAL BIOARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MYCENAEAN PERIOD

APPENDIX: SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

BIBLIOGRAPHY


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