Performing Death: Social Analyses of Funerary Traditions in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean (The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago)

336 Pages·2007·5.23 MB·English

by  edited by Nicola Laneri

Performing Death

Performing Death
social analyses of funerary
traDitions in the ancient near east
anD meDiterranean
edited by
nicola laneri
with contributions by
nicola laneri, ellen F. Morris, Glenn M. Schwartz, robert chapman,
Massimo cultraro, Meredith S. chesson, alessandro naso, adam T. Smith,
Dina Katz, Seth richardson, Susan Pollock, ian rutherford,
John Pollini, John robb, and
James a. Brown
The orienTal inSTiTuTe oF The univerSiTy oF chicaGo
orienTal inSTiTuTe SeMinarS • nuMBer 3
chicaGo • illinoiS
library of congress control number: 2007927320
iSBn-10: 1-885923-50-3
iSBn-13: 978-1-885923-50-9
iSSn: 1559-2944
© 2007 by The university of chicago. all rights reserved.
Published 2007. Printed in the united States of america.
The Oriental Institute, Chicago
Second Printing with Minor Corrections, 2008
Oriental institute seminars • nO. 3
Series Editors
leslie Schramer
and
Thomas G. urban
with the assistance of
Katie l. Johnson
Front Cover and Title Page Illustration
e36177. egyptian, relief from Funeral Stele, new Kingdom, Dynasty 19/20 (1306–1085 b.c.),
sandstone, 111.8 ≈ 84.5 ≈ 12.1 cm, Museum Purchase Fund, 1920.264.
reproduction, The art institute of chicago
Photography © The art institute of chicago
Printed by McNaughton & Gunn, Saline, Michigan
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum re-
quirements of american national Standard for information
Services — Permanence of Paper for Printed library Materi-
als, anSi Z39.48-1984.
To my wife Karen

TaBle oF conTenTS
liST oF aBBreviaTionS ........................................................................................................... ix
liST oF FiGureS .......................................................................................................................... xi
liST oF TaBleS ............................................................................................................................ xv
PreFace ......................................................................................................................................... xvii
inTroDucTion
1. an archaeology of Funerary rituals..................................................................................... 1
Nicola Laneri, University of Chicago
SeSSion one: a PowerFul DeaTh: exerciSinG auThoriTy ThrouGh The
enacTMenT oF Funerary riTualS
2. Sacrifice for the State: First Dynasty royal Funerals and the rites at
Macramallah’s rectangle ...................................................................................................... 15
Ellen F. Morris, Columbia University
3. Status, ideology, and Memory in Third-millennium Syria: “royal” Tombs at
umm el-Marra ....................................................................................................................... 39
Glenn M. Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University
4. Mortuary rituals, Social relations, and identity in Southeast Spain in the late Third
to early Second Millennia B.c. ............................................................................................. 69
Robert Chapman, University of Reading
5. combined efforts till Death: Funerary ritual and Social Statements in the aegean
early Bronze age .................................................................................................................. 81
Massimo Cultraro, CNR-IBAM, Italy
6. remembering and Forgetting in early Bronze age Mortuary Practices on the
Southeastern Dead Sea Plain, Jordan ..................................................................................... 109
Meredith S. Chesson, University of Notre Dame
7. etruscan Style of Dying: Funerary architecture, Tomb Groups, and Social range at
caere and its hinterland during the Seventh–Sixth centuries b.c. ..................................... 141
Alessandro Naso, University of Molise, Italy
8. The Politics of loss: comments on a Powerful Death ......................................................... 163
Adam T. Smith, University of Chicago
SeSSion Two: MeMorialiZinG The anceSTorS: DeaTh aS a ForM oF culTural
anD Social TranSMiSSion
9. Sumerian Funerary rituals in context ................................................................................. 167
Dina Katz, Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, Leiden
10. Death and Dismemberment in Mesopotamia: Discorporation between the Body
and Body Politic .................................................................................................................... 189
Seth Richardson, University of Chicago
11. Death of a household ............................................................................................................ 209
Susan Pollock, Binghamton University
12. achilles and the Sallis wastais ritual: Performing Death in Greece and anatolia .............. 223
Ian Rutherford, University of Reading
vii
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS
13. ritualizing Death in republican rome: Memory, religion, class Struggle, and the
wax ancestral Mask Tradition’s origin and influence on veristic Portraiture ................... 237
John Pollini, University of Southern California
SeSSion Three: archaeoloGy oF Funerary riTualS: a TheoreTical
aPProach
14. Burial Treatment as Transformations of Bodily ideology ..................................................... 287
John Robb, Cambridge University
15. Mortuary Practices for the Third Millennium: 1966–2006 ................................................... 299
James A. Brown, Northwestern University
16. concluding Discussion .......................................................................................................... 309
ix
liST oF aBBreviaTionS
other abbreviations occur at the end of some individual contributions and are taken from the chicago
assyrian Dictionary, the chicago hittite Dictionary, and the Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary.
ca. circa
cf. confer, compare
cm centimeter(s)
col(s). column(s)
diss. dissertation
e.g. exempli gratia, for example
esp. especially
et al. et alii, and others
etc. et cetera, and so forth
fig(s). figure(s)
ha hectare(s)
ibid. ibidem, in the same place
i.e. id est, that is
km kilometer(s)
lit. literally
m meter(s)
n(n). note(s)
n.d. no date
no(s). number(s)
obv. obverse
p(p). page(s)
pers. comm. personal communication
pl(s). plate(s)
rev. reverse
vs. versus
ix