ANTH 37600 - Archaeology Of Death

Examination of mortuary behavior using archaeological, ethnographic, ethnohistorical, and biological data. Review of methods of studying variation in mortuary practices.

Cr. 3.
Student Learning Outcomes
1. Understand anthropological topics such as status, class, gender, ethnicity, personhood, and other socially constructed and ascribed forms of identity as they are archaeologically inferred from the treatment and ultimate disposition of the dead.
2. Examine variability in rites, rituals, and treatment of the dead, both within and between living and ancient societies (and including both prior to, during, and after interment), as well as graves and grave furniture as reflection of concerns of the living (i.e., transfer of wealth and use rites from the dead to the living, creation of “ancestors” and other kinds of dead persons).
3. Critique both information and theory regarding prehistoric societies and individuals by studying mortuary contexts (i.e., status, class, gender(s), ethnicity, and other forms of social identities).
4. Give examples of how both the physical remains and memory of the dead are used and manipulated by the living to further their own ends (i.e., legitimize assertions of rites to political power, privileges, ancestral identity(ies), property, etc.).
5. Analyze how kinds of bioarchaeological data (i.e., skeletal and soft tissue remains of the dead) are used to reconstruct social inequities, migratory patterns and dispersals, violence, and social identities.