The funeral kit : mortuary practices in the archaeological record

231 Pages·2011·1.81 MB·English

by  Baker, Jill L

The Funeral Kit
This work is dedicated to my
parents and to my husband, John.
The Funeral Kit
Mortuary Practices in the
Archaeological Record
Jill l. BAkeR
Walnut Creek, California
LEFT COAST PRESS, INC.
1630 North Main Street, #400
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
http://www.LCoastPress.com
Copyright © 2012 by Left Coast Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Baker, Jill L., 1964-
The funeral kit: mortuary practices in the archaeological record / Jill
L Baker.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-59874-671-6 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-59874-673-0 (ebook)
1. Funeral rites and ceremonies—Cross-cultural studies. 2. Death—
Social aspects—Cross-cultural studies. 3. Human remains (Archaeo-
logy)—Cross-cultural studies. 4. Ethnoarchaeology. I. Title.
GT3150.B32 2011
393—dc23
2011038550
Printed in the United States of America
∞ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992.
Contents
List of Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 1: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Chapter 2: The Archaeology of Death and Burial: Established
Interpretations, Terminologies, and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Chapter 3: The Funeral Kit Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Chapter 4: The Funeral Kit in Wider Canaan
(MB IIB/C–LB II) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Chapter 5: The Genesis and Extinction of the Funeral
Kit in Canaan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Chapter 6: Beyond Canaan: The Funeral Kit in a
Wider Geographical and Chronological Context . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Chapter 7: Evidence and Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chapter 8: The Ties That Bind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Appendix A. Clustered and Nonclustered Burials
in Tomb Chambers 5, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16 at Ashkelon . . . . . . . . . 177
Appendix B. The Funeral Kit in Wider Canaan: Middle
Bronze Age IIB (may also represent MB IIA/B transition) . . . . . 181
Appendix C. Burial Clusters in Wider Bronze Age Canaan. . . . . . 189
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
illustrations
Figures
Figure 3.1 Ashkelon Chamber Tomb Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Figure 3.2 Ashkelon, Chamber 14. Doorway, Slab, and Steps . . 63
Figure 3.3A Distribution of Ceramic Grave Goods around
the Corpse by Percentage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Figure 3.3B Percentage of Ceramic Forms among the
Grave Assemblages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Figure 3.4. Burial Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Figure 3.5A Ashkelon Burial 121 in situ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Figure 3.5B Ashkelon Burial 157 in situ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Figure 3.6 Phase 1 of the Funeral Kit at Ashkelon . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Figure 3.7 A Chronological Representation of Bowls and
Jugs Present in the Ashkelon Tomb Complex during
the MB IIB–MB IIC and LB I–LB I/II Periods . . . . . . 72
Figure 3.8 A Chronological Representation of Jugs, Juglets,
and Bottles Present in the Ashkelon Tomb
Complex during the MB IIB–MB IIC and
LB I–LB I/II Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Figure 3.9 Phase 2 of the Funeral Kit at Ashkelon . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Figure 3.10 A Chronological and Typological Representation
of Ceramics Present in the Ashkelon Tomb
Complex during the MB IIB–MB IIC and
LB I–LB I/II Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Figure 3.11 A Chronological Representation of Storage Jars and
Miscellaneous Egyptian forms Present in the Ashkelon
Tomb Complex during the MB IIB–MB IIC
and LB I–LB I/II Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Figure 3.12 Phase 3 of the Funeral Kit at Ashkelon . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Figure 3.13 Phase 4 of the Funeral Kit at Ashkelon . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Figure 3.14 Selected Scarabs from the Ashkelon Chamber
Tombs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Figure 4.1 Middle Bronze IIA and IIA–B Transition Burials in
Wider Canaan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Figure 4.2 MB II B–C Funeral Kit in Wider Canaan . . . . . . . . . 96
Figure 4.3 LB I–II Funeral Kit in Wider Canaan . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Figure 4.4 Burial Clusters in Wider Canaan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Figure 5.1 EB I–II Funeral Kit in Wider Canaan . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Figure 5.2 EB IV Funeral Kit in Wider Canaan . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Figure 5.3 Iron Age I and II Tomb Architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Figure 5.4A Tomb Architecture of the Second Temple
Period from Maresha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Figure 5.4B Loculi for Interments from Less Ornate
Tombs at Maresha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Figure 5.5 Second Temple Period Tomb Architecture . . . . . . . 121
Figure 5.6 Tombs of Beth She‘arim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Figure 5.7 Roman and Byzantine Period Tomb Architecture . . 125
Figure 6.1 Rendering of a Pre-Dynastic Burial . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Figure 6.2 Pre-Dynastic Egyptian Burials from el-Mahansa . . 131
Figure 6.3 Early Dynastic Egyptian Tomb Architecture . . . . . . 133
Figure 6.4 Egyptian Dynasty I–II Burials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Figure 6.5 Early and Archaic Etruscan Tomb Architecture . . . 138
Figure 6.6 Middle Chalcolithic Cypriot Grave architecture . . . 143
Figure 6.7 Late Chalcolithic Cypriot Tomb Architecture . . . . . 144
Figure 6.8 Early Cypriot Tomb Architecture. Vonous
Tombs 81 (ECI) and 124 (ECII–III) . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Figure 6.9 Early Cypriot Burials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Figure 6.10 Late Cypriot Tomb Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Figure 6.11 Late Cypriot Burials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Figure 7.1 Coffee Culture People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Figure 8.1 Rendering of Skeletons with Personal, Status,
and Essential Grave Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Tables
Table 3.1 Distribution of the Ceramic Vessels of the
Funeral Kit at Ashkelon According to Type
around the Corpse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Table 3.2 Chronological Phasing of the Funeral Kit
Model at Ashkelon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Acknowledgements
This book has long been a work in progress; one which I am happy
to have finally completed and in which many people have lent a
hand. I am and will always remain deeply grateful to Lawrence E.
Stager and the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon for allowing me to
develop my idea for the Canaanite funeral kit based on data recovered
from the Middle and Late Bronze Age tomb complex found there. It is
because of the generous access to the data that L. E. Stager provided
that I have been able to clearly and thoughtfully formulate the basis for
this theory. I am equally grateful for Martha Sharp Joukowsky’s sup-
port and encouragement as I developed and researched this theory, and
to Seymour Gitin for his support, constructive critique, and for review-
ing multiple drafts. These three, L. E. Stager, M. S. Joukowsky, and
S. Gitin have been compelling mentors for whom I have the greatest
respect, and I am enormously grateful for their involvement in my aca-
demic development. While compiling the Ashkelon data, Patricia Smith
of the Biological Anthropology and Ancient DNA Department at The
Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine, kindly shared
preliminary data compiled at her lab with the help of her students, to
whom I am also grateful. Although preliminary and part of ongoing
research, this data was invaluable to my analysis, and I am thankful
for her guidance and generosity. I am also grateful to and appreciative
of S. Wolff and C. Chapman for reviewing and commenting on the
manuscript.
During the course of this never-ending project, numerous conver-
sations with friends and colleagues helped shape the direction of my
notions and this work, and I am particularly thankful to and appreciative
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