Continuity and change in mortuary customs: the Jordan Valley in the second and first millennia BC (original) (raw)

Lecture delivered at ACOR (American Center of Oriental Research) April 18, 2018), Amman, Jordan. Available to view on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWMcqAoCr4M Abstract: Throughout human history there have been elaborate and simple ways to assist the dead in their transition to their next phase of existence, as well as varying ways in which the living have honored and commemorated their dead through rituals, feasts, and setting up of monuments. This lecture focuses on the rich and varied burial customs of the second and first millennia BC within the Jordan Valley, from dolmens and cave tombs to inhumation cemeteries. This lecture has a special focus on the findings from the well-preserved pit burial cemetery at Tell es-Sa‘idiyeh in the central east Jordan Valley with phases dating to the end of the Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, and the late Iron Age/Persian periods. Here, and at nearby sites, evidence for highly elaborate and diverse burial rituals provides important insights into a range of mortuary practices for other parts of Jordan which are dominated by burial caves that usually have poorly preserved contexts. The study of change and continuity of mortuary customs over deep time provide fascinating insights into attitudes to life, death, the body, and perhaps even beliefs in the afterlife.

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