3 Review(s)

Burial and Memorial explores funerary and commemorative archaeology, A.D. 284-650, across the late antique world, from Catalonia to Cappadocia. The first volume includes an overview of research, and papers exploring bioarchaeology, mortuary rituals, mausolea, and funerary landscapes. It considers the sacralisation of tombs, the movements of relics, and the political significance of cemeteries. The nature and fate of statue monuments is explored, as memorials for individuals. Authors also compare the destruction or preservation of tombs in relation to other buildings. Finally, the city itself is considered as a place of collective memory, where meanings were long maintained, via a study of spoilation.The second volume includes papers exploring all aspects of funerary archaeology, from scientific samples in graves, to grave goods and tomb robbing and a bibliographic essay. It brings into focus neglected regions not usually considered by funerary archaeologists in NW Europe, such as the Levant, where burial archaeology is rich in grave good, to Sicily and Sardinia, where post-mortem offerings and burial manipulations are well-attested. We also hear from excavations in Britain, from Canterbury and London, and see astonishing fruits from the application of science to graves recently excavated in Trier.