Interacting With the Dead Perspectives on Mortuary Archaeology for the New Millennium

"The impressive geographical, temporal, and topical coverage makes this volume by far the best of its kind to appear in recent years."-George R. Milner, Pennsylvania State University This collection explores the behavioral and social facets of funerary, mortuary, and burial rites in both past and present societies. By utilizing data from around the world and combining recent and ongoing concerns in anthropology, it takes the study of mortuary archaeology to a new and significant level of interdisciplinary research. Drawing inspiration from ethnohistory, ethnography, bioarchaeology, and sociocultural anthropology, the authors focus on themes of gender, ancestorhood, ritual violence, individual agency, space and placement, and extended and secondary mortuary ceremonialism. They also expand the interdisciplinary focus of mortuary practices and reassess previous anthropological theories. No previously published work on the archaeology of mortuary remains presents such a range of examples of ritual practices through time and around the globe. Because of its wide scope and interdisciplinary approach,Interacting with the Deadwill be indispensable not only to archaeologists and anthropologists but also across the social sciences and humanities and to all who study cross-cultural rituals.Rakita, Gordon F. M. is the author of 'Interacting With the Dead Perspectives on Mortuary Archaeology for the New Millennium', published 2005 under ISBN 9780813028569 and ISBN 0813028566.