Publicação
The social landscape of death : a theoretical perspective on funerary practices in Post-Medieval Portugal
| Resumo: | Funerary practices and burial sites offer valuable insights into how societies con-ceptualise death and an enhanced perspec-tive on communities' social, economic, and cultural contexts. The integration of archaeo-logical data, historical records, iconographic and documentary sources, and socio-cultural anthropology strengthens the understanding of death-related discourses, symbolic repre-sentations, and changing attitudes over time. Key funerary indicators, such as graves and spatial distribution in the necropolis, inhu-mation type, body positioning and orienta-tion, and grave goods, reveal the deceased's integration in their communities and socio-economic status. This paper explores these indicators to promote a broader understand-ing of communities' cultural, social, and eco-nomic contexts, focusing on the Portuguese Post-Medieval period (1450–1835) while summarising key concepts. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of a multidis-ciplinary approach for a comprehensive in-terpretation of funerary practices. A detailed contextual analysis of skeletal remains, burial features, and associated material culture is essential to ensure reliable interpretations of funerary practices and social dynamics. Nevertheless, this approach requires the ex-pertise of professionals with extensive field-work experience and specialised knowledge in archaeology, biological anthropology, and bioarchaeology. |
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| Autores principais: | Antunes-Ferreira, Nathalie |
| Assunto: | Funerary practices bioarchaeology social inequalities post-medieval Portugal |
| Ano: | 2025 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | contribuição para revista |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Egas Moniz - Cooperativa de Ensino Superior, CRL |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Egas Moniz - Cooperativa de Ensino Superior, CRL |
| Resumo: | Funerary practices and burial sites offer valuable insights into how societies con-ceptualise death and an enhanced perspec-tive on communities' social, economic, and cultural contexts. The integration of archaeo-logical data, historical records, iconographic and documentary sources, and socio-cultural anthropology strengthens the understanding of death-related discourses, symbolic repre-sentations, and changing attitudes over time. Key funerary indicators, such as graves and spatial distribution in the necropolis, inhu-mation type, body positioning and orienta-tion, and grave goods, reveal the deceased's integration in their communities and socio-economic status. This paper explores these indicators to promote a broader understand-ing of communities' cultural, social, and eco-nomic contexts, focusing on the Portuguese Post-Medieval period (1450–1835) while summarising key concepts. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of a multidis-ciplinary approach for a comprehensive in-terpretation of funerary practices. A detailed contextual analysis of skeletal remains, burial features, and associated material culture is essential to ensure reliable interpretations of funerary practices and social dynamics. Nevertheless, this approach requires the ex-pertise of professionals with extensive field-work experience and specialised knowledge in archaeology, biological anthropology, and bioarchaeology. |
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