The Sacred Body

Materializing the Divine through Human Remains in Antiquity

Nicola Laneri

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Hardback

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English

Oxbow Books
01 May 2021

Archaeological theory; Prehistoric archaeology; Ancient religions & mythologies; Ancient Egyptian religion & mythology; Human biology

Series: Material Religion in Antiquity

The human body represents the perfect element for relating communities of the living with the divine. This is clearly evident in the mythological stories that recount the creation of humans by deities among ancient and contemporaneous societies across a very broad geographical environment. Thus, parts of selected human body parts or skeletal elements can then become an ideal proxy for connecting with the supernatural as demonstrated by the cult of the human skulls among Neolithic communities in the Near East as well as the cult of the relics of Christian saints. The aim of this volume is to undertake a cross-cultural investigation of the role played in antiquity by humans and human remains in creating forms of relationality with the divine. Such an approach will highlight how the human body can be envisioned as part of a broader materialization of religious beliefs that is based on connecting different realms of materiality in perceiving the supernatural by the community of the livings. Case studies on ritual aspects of funerary practices is presented, emphasising the varied roles of body parts in mortuary rituals and as relics. Other papers take a wider look at regional practices in various time periods and cultural contexts to explore the central role of the corpse in the negotiation of death in human culture.

AUTHOR: Nicola Laneri is the Director of the School of Religious Studies at CAMNES/Lorenzo de' Medici (Florence). He taught Archaeology of the Ancient Near East at the University of Catania, the University of Chicago, the Middle Eastern Technical University of Ankara and the Oriental Institute of Naples and was director of the Hirbemerdon Tepe Archaeological Project (SE Turkey). He published more than 80 scientific articles and books.

Edited by: Nicola Laneri
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Volume: 1
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 170mm,
ISBN: 9781789255188
ISBN 10: 178925518X
Series: Material Religion in Antiquity
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 01 May 2021
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Unspecified

Contributors 1. The Sacred Body: introduction Nicola Laneri 2. Materializing what matters. Ritualized bodies from a time before text Liv Nilsson Stutz 3. Inscribing bodies in Bronze Age Cyprus Louise Steel 4. Manufacturing relics: the social construction of the ‘sacred things’ Arianna Rotondo 5. You’re in or you’re out: the inclusion or exclusion of sacred royal bodies in the tomb of the 21st Dynasty High Priests of Amen Kathlyn Cooney 6. Materializing the ancestors: sacred body parts and fragments in the ancient Near East Melissa S. Cradic 7. Modified bodies: an interpretation of social identity embedded into bones Yilmaz Selim Erdal and Valentina D’Amico 8. Feeding the divine. Body concepts and human sacrifice among the Classic period Maya Vera Tiesler and Erik Velásquez García About the Material Religion in Antiquity (MaReA) series

Nicola Laneri is Director of the School of Religious Studies at CAMNES/Lorenzo de’ Medici (Florence). He taught Archaeology of the Ancient Near East at the University of Catania, the University of Chicago, the Middle Eastern Technical University of Ankara and the Oriental Institute of Naples. From 2003 until 2016, he has been the director of the Hirbemerdon Tepe Archaeological Project (southeastern Turkey). He has published more than 80 scientific articles in journals and books.