Performing Death Performing Death social analyses of funerary traDitions in the ancient near east anD meDiterranean edited by nicola laneri with contributions by nicola laneri, ellen F. Morris, Glenn M. Schwartz, robert chapman, Massimo cultraro, Meredith S. chesson, alessandro naso, adam T. Smith, Dina Katz, Seth richardson, Susan Pollock, ian rutherford, John Pollini, John robb, and James a. Brown The orienTal inSTiTuTe oF The univerSiTy oF chicaGo orienTal inSTiTuTe SeMinarS • nuMBer 3 chicaGo • illinoiS library of congress control number: 2007927320 iSBn-10: 1-885923-50-3 iSBn-13: 978-1-885923-50-9 iSSn: 1559-2944 © 2007 by The university of chicago. all rights reserved. Published 2007. Printed in the united States of america. The Oriental Institute, Chicago Second Printing with Minor Corrections, 2008 Oriental institute seminars • nO. 3 Series Editors leslie Schramer and Thomas G. urban with the assistance of Katie l. Johnson Front Cover and Title Page Illustration e36177. egyptian, relief from Funeral Stele, new Kingdom, Dynasty 19/20 (1306–1085 b.c.), sandstone, 111.8 ≈ 84.5 ≈ 12.1 cm, Museum Purchase Fund, 1920.264. reproduction, The art institute of chicago Photography © The art institute of chicago Printed by McNaughton & Gunn, Saline, Michigan The paper used in this publication meets the minimum re- quirements of american national Standard for information Services — Permanence of Paper for Printed library Materi- als, anSi Z39.48-1984. To my wife Karen TaBle oF conTenTS liST oF aBBreviaTionS ........................................................................................................... ix liST oF FiGureS .......................................................................................................................... xi liST oF TaBleS ............................................................................................................................ xv PreFace ......................................................................................................................................... xvii inTroDucTion 1. an archaeology of Funerary rituals..................................................................................... 1 Nicola Laneri, University of Chicago SeSSion one: a PowerFul DeaTh: exerciSinG auThoriTy ThrouGh The enacTMenT oF Funerary riTualS 2. Sacrifice for the State: First Dynasty royal Funerals and the rites at Macramallah’s rectangle ...................................................................................................... 15 Ellen F. Morris, Columbia University 3. Status, ideology, and Memory in Third-millennium Syria: “royal” Tombs at umm el-Marra ....................................................................................................................... 39 Glenn M. Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University 4. Mortuary rituals, Social relations, and identity in Southeast Spain in the late Third to early Second Millennia B.c. ............................................................................................. 69 Robert Chapman, University of Reading 5. combined efforts till Death: Funerary ritual and Social Statements in the aegean early Bronze age .................................................................................................................. 81 Massimo Cultraro, CNR-IBAM, Italy 6. remembering and Forgetting in early Bronze age Mortuary Practices on the Southeastern Dead Sea Plain, Jordan ..................................................................................... 109 Meredith S. Chesson, University of Notre Dame 7. etruscan Style of Dying: Funerary architecture, Tomb Groups, and Social range at caere and its hinterland during the Seventh–Sixth centuries b.c. ..................................... 141 Alessandro Naso, University of Molise, Italy 8. The Politics of loss: comments on a Powerful Death ......................................................... 163 Adam T. Smith, University of Chicago SeSSion Two: MeMorialiZinG The anceSTorS: DeaTh aS a ForM oF culTural anD Social TranSMiSSion 9. Sumerian Funerary rituals in context ................................................................................. 167 Dina Katz, Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, Leiden 10. Death and Dismemberment in Mesopotamia: Discorporation between the Body and Body Politic .................................................................................................................... 189 Seth Richardson, University of Chicago 11. Death of a household ............................................................................................................ 209 Susan Pollock, Binghamton University 12. achilles and the Sallis wastais ritual: Performing Death in Greece and anatolia .............. 223 Ian Rutherford, University of Reading vii viii TABLE OF CONTENTS 13. ritualizing Death in republican rome: Memory, religion, class Struggle, and the wax ancestral Mask Tradition’s origin and influence on veristic Portraiture ................... 237 John Pollini, University of Southern California SeSSion Three: archaeoloGy oF Funerary riTualS: a TheoreTical aPProach 14. Burial Treatment as Transformations of Bodily ideology ..................................................... 287 John Robb, Cambridge University 15. Mortuary Practices for the Third Millennium: 1966–2006 ................................................... 299 James A. Brown, Northwestern University 16. concluding Discussion .......................................................................................................... 309 ix liST oF aBBreviaTionS other abbreviations occur at the end of some individual contributions and are taken from the chicago assyrian Dictionary, the chicago hittite Dictionary, and the Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary. ca. circa cf. confer, compare cm centimeter(s) col(s). column(s) diss. dissertation e.g. exempli gratia, for example esp. especially et al. et alii, and others etc. et cetera, and so forth fig(s). figure(s) ha hectare(s) ibid. ibidem, in the same place i.e. id est, that is km kilometer(s) lit. literally m meter(s) n(n). note(s) n.d. no date no(s). number(s) obv. obverse p(p). page(s) pers. comm. personal communication pl(s). plate(s) rev. reverse vs. versus ix