The Archaeology of Ancestors: Death, Memory, and Veneration
The Archaeology of Ancestors: Death, Memory, and Veneration
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Abstract
Ancestor veneration is a common practice cross-culturally, and since the 1990s archaeologists have started to explore ancestor veneration in the past. The usual explanation for ancient ancestors is that people in past societies used them and their material correlates (architecture, iconography, tombs, and cemeteries) to validate their rights to land and resources. Yet ethnographic and ethnohistoric accounts of ancestor veneration around the world indicate that ancestors are about much more than just land and resources: they referee domestic problems; advertise wealth; validate authority; materialize identity; and negotiate power and status relationships. The Archaeology of Ancestors explores these dimensions of ancestor worship, as well as the more traditional association of ancestors with resource rights. In addition to providing an alternative to the usual approach to ancestors in the past, this volume includes a comprehensive, authoritative overview of the anthropology of ancestors, exploring its historical roots, discussing key ethnographic sources, and summarizing the ways that ancestors have been identified archaeologically. The Archaeology of Ancestors provides world-wide archaeological coverage of the topic, treating the traditional “core” areas of East Asia and Africa as well as Central and South America, Greece, and central Europe. Contributors approach the issue of ancestors in the past using several lines of archaeological evidence, including human remains, art and iconography, structured (e.g., ritual) deposits, architecture, and historical documents.
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Front Matter
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Part 1 Revisiting Ancestors
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1
Leveraging the Dead: The Ethnography of Ancestors
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2
The Archaeology of Ancestors
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3
Memory, Power, and Death in Chinese History and Prehistory
Roderick Campbell
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4
Achieving Ancestorhood in Ancient Greece
Carla Antonaccio
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5
The Ethnoarchaeology of West African Ancestors: Kusasi Shrines and Domestic Space
Charles Mather
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1
Leveraging the Dead: The Ethnography of Ancestors
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Part II Discovering Ancestors
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6
Landscapes of Ancestors: The Structuring of Space around Iron Age Funerary Monuments in Central Europe
Matthew L. Murray
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7
Royal Ancestor Construction and Veneration in the House of Habsburg
Estella Weiss-Krejci
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8
Images of Ancestors: Identifying the Revered Dead in Moche Iconography
Erica Hill
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9
Where the Ancestors Live: Shrines and Their Meaning among the Classic Maya
Jon B. Hageman
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6
Landscapes of Ancestors: The Structuring of Space around Iron Age Funerary Monuments in Central Europe
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End Matter
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