The paper explores the nexus between lifetime identities and burial pathways in Copper Age Italy based on a re-examination of 4th and 3rd millennium BC cemeteries from northern and central Italy. It has long been noted that, in the 4th millennium BC, formalised burial customs emerge throughout Italy, in which a broader section of the community is given access the grave than in the Neolithic period. It has also been noted that the funerary identities laid out in the grave focus on neatly defined lifetime gender and age identities, and in some cases, to new emerging socially distinct figures. However, little has been said regarding the nexus between social biographies, death circumstances, and the burial pathways available to the deceased. Three elements of this complex nexus will be brought to the fore in the paper: (1) the relationship between the living community and the community of the dead; (2) warrior identities and the ‘biographies of violence’ that may have defined their lives and deaths; and (3) the relationship between gender and age identities, burial treatment (e.g., articulation, disarticulation, and grave furnishings), and warrior burials, including occasional inversions of the accepted social norms. By exploring these life and death pathways, the paper aims to generate new insights into Copper Age Italian communities at the nexus between individual biographies and broader social identities.
Lifetime identities and burial pathways in Copper Age Italy / Daniele, Annamaria; Recchia, Giulia; Dolfini, Andrea. - (2024), pp. 1361-1361. (Intervento presentato al convegno 30th EAA Annual Meeting (Rome, 2024) tenutosi a Roma).
Lifetime identities and burial pathways in Copper Age Italy
Annamaria Daniele
Primo
;Recchia Giulia
Secondo
;Dolfini Andrea
Ultimo
2024
Abstract
The paper explores the nexus between lifetime identities and burial pathways in Copper Age Italy based on a re-examination of 4th and 3rd millennium BC cemeteries from northern and central Italy. It has long been noted that, in the 4th millennium BC, formalised burial customs emerge throughout Italy, in which a broader section of the community is given access the grave than in the Neolithic period. It has also been noted that the funerary identities laid out in the grave focus on neatly defined lifetime gender and age identities, and in some cases, to new emerging socially distinct figures. However, little has been said regarding the nexus between social biographies, death circumstances, and the burial pathways available to the deceased. Three elements of this complex nexus will be brought to the fore in the paper: (1) the relationship between the living community and the community of the dead; (2) warrior identities and the ‘biographies of violence’ that may have defined their lives and deaths; and (3) the relationship between gender and age identities, burial treatment (e.g., articulation, disarticulation, and grave furnishings), and warrior burials, including occasional inversions of the accepted social norms. By exploring these life and death pathways, the paper aims to generate new insights into Copper Age Italian communities at the nexus between individual biographies and broader social identities.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.