Performing Death: Social Analyses of Funerary Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean [Symposium]

"More than three decades after the publication of the book Approaches to the Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices (Brown 1971) , archaeologists are still strongly concerned with issues related to the analysis and interpretation of ancient funerary data and related burial practices (Chapman 2003). In fact, the funerary data appears to be among the fundamental elements necessary for the reconstruction of the social, cultural, and economic dynamics of ancient communities...the two-day conference on the ancient funerary rituals in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern regions will be an incredible and helpful step towards the recognition of the importance of burial practices as a mean for understanding the social structure of ancient communities. Moreover, the aim of the proposed conference is to present case studies from archaeological contexts within the Mediterranean regions, where the funerary data is linked to a broader discourse about defining, interpreting and reconstructing ancient performances of funerary rituals and how they effect the construction and development of ancient social and cultural behaviors within a broad chronological period in a given geographical scenario . The different papers will bring to the discussion numerous elements concerning art historical, textual and archaeological interpretations of data related to ancient funerary practices."