This module explores the diversity and complexity of mortuary practices and funerary ritual and representation through archaeological evidence. It focuses on current approaches to the analysis of mortuary evidence and interpretative themes such as social reconstruction, identity and personhood, ritual, status, power and cosmology, monumentality, landscapes of death, and the life histories and deaths of individuals. These themes are examined using the wide range of anthropological, sociological and historical perspectives that underpin the inter-disciplinary character of the archaeology of death.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
Analyse and interpret mortuary and funerary evidence with reference to current theoretical. methodological and interpretative frameworks.
Critically evaluate interpretations of mortuary evidence.
Apply skills of synthesis through further study or independent research.
Demonstrate their specialised knowledge concisely in a 4000 word essay or 3hr final examination.