Theme:
1. Networks, networking, communication: archaeology of interactions
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
CANCELLED Interactive Networks of Space and Body: New Approaches to Mortuary Space
Content:
Funerary events have been analysed from a variety of perspectives and approaches. Survey data and typologies have often guided such analyses. While providing substantial data, the funerary space has often emerged with such approaches as lacking an understanding of human interaction, the very thing that initially made the funerary space ‘funerary’ in nature.
In response, phenomenological, embodiment and other more socially centred approaches have emerged. To focus on the social constructs of the funerary space, these techniques have met with resistance, particularly by more processual scholars, as lacking the scientific framework necessary to adequately understand the archaeological record.
New techniques that integrate precepts from other sciences have emerged as viable options to shed light on the interactive and/or spatial nature of the funerary event. Archaeoacoustics, landscape archaeology, neuroarchaeology, digital analyses, and other such approaches, are now enriching our understanding of funerary spaces across cultural contexts. These data jointly create new ontologies that deserve reflection, particularly regarding their capacity to enrich traditional approaches involving funerary sites.
This session will explore funerary settings via new methodologies including, but not limited to, landscape analyses, neuroarchaeology, archaeoacoustics, virtual reality and spatial approaches, such as spatial syntax. Questions to be explored include how was space used as part of the funerary process? Which spaces were conducive to the interaction or networking process of mourning, and which were not? An analysis of the funerary space across scale is emphasized; from a regional scale to the necropolis setting. An exploration of different contexts across cultures and periods are encouraged. The session will provide a cross-cultural exploration of new funerary techniques applied to specific case studies intended to better understand the interactive and/or spatial nature of burial sites.
Keywords:
Mortuary, Space, Performance, Neuroarchaeology, Archaeoacoustics, Landscape
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Jacqueline Ortoleva () 1
Co-organisers:
Anne-Lise Bayle (France) 2
Affiliations:
1. University of Birmingham, UK
2. Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
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