Home“Accompanying deaths”: the role of some animals in the funerary practices
“Accompanying deaths”: the role of some animals in the funerary practices
ICAZ 2014, Thematic session of 12th International Conference of Archaeozoology
Published on Thursday, February 20, 2014
Abstract
This session proposes to discuss the presence of animals in funerary practices through the concept of “accompanying deaths” or “animal companions” with the help of concrete cases or even theoretical reflexions.
Announcement
Argument
The tight link between animals and believes in large acceptation is very well known by all researchers in human sciences. These living beings have been attached to natural and supra natural phenomenon by almost all cultures through time and space. Associations of animals and rituals have therefore been experienced by many societies.
The presence of animal in funerary practices is one of them. The question of its function and role in this specific case has already been discussed in many occasions. Depending on their form and place in the burial, the faunal remains have received various interpretations: simple piece of meat, sacrifice, amulet, apotropaic or psychopomp animal, etc. In some cases, they are called “companion of the deceased”, suggesting that it was a pet with “its master” or at least, that there has been a closer relationship between the animal and the buried. This kind of interpretation concerns mostly entire animals placed in the graves next to the deceased.
The French anthropologist Alain Testart wrote ten years ago an essay about what he called “accompanying deaths” (Les morts d’accompagnement, 2004). According to him this peculiar rite symbolises a relationship, which has to be a bond of loyalty, fidelity, or submission to the deceased. In other words – and very simply resumed – the death has to bring with him its belongings, which characterises its power. The symbolic background can afterwards change from a culture to another.
Alain Testart also included the animals in the “accompanying deaths”. In this ritual one of the features is the conservation of the animal’s integrity, that conserves the relationship between the characters.
This session proposes to discuss the presence of animals in funerary practices through this concept of “accompanying deaths” or “animal companions” with the help of concrete cases or even theoretical reflexions. I believe that this subject can interest also archaeozoologists, archaeologists but also historians and other anthropologists or ethologists, and that examples can come from all over the world and from the very past until the present days.
Session organizer
- Ilona Bede
PhD Student (Paris, France)
Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne,
UMR 8167 Orient et Méditerranée
Submission guidelines
The process for submitting and accepting an oral presentation/poster is as follows:
- All the participants wishing to submit an abstract to a Thematic Sessions must submit it by March 1, 2014 and / or for general communications by March 30, 2014.
- All the abstracts will be received by the Organizing Committee and will be placed in their respective sessions, following in the first instance the suggestions of who has sent it.
- A preliminary agenda for each session will be available at www.icaz2014argentina.com by April 2014. For abstracts to be accepted and included in the final program, at least one of the authors must have paid the registration fee prior to March 30, 2014. After that date papers that do not have proof of payment will not be in the updated versions of the program.
- The conference final program and author names and presentations abstracts will be available on BoneCommons and www.icaz2014argentina.com by August 1st, 2014, and will be published in the conference proceedings.
NOTE: The Conference Organizing Committee reserves the right to reject proposals for papers / posters that are deemed not relevant to the conference and may reassign presentations to alternative sessions (including the general session) if appropriate given the theme of presentation.
For submitting abstracts before March 1, 2014: http://www.icaz2014argentina.com
For any question please contact me:
Scientific committee
- Dr. Laszlo Bartosiewicz, ICAZ President, Loránd Eötvös University Múzeum, Budapest, Hungary
- Dr. Luis Borrero, IMHICIHU-CONICET and Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Dra. Isabel Cartajena, Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Chile, Chile
- Dr. Guillermo Mengoni Goñalons, CONICET and Instituto de Arqueología, Facultad de Filosofia y Letras,Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Dra. Elizabeth Ramos Roca, Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia
- Dr. Eduardo Tonni, CICPBA and Departamento Científico de Paleontología de Vertebrados, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina
- Dr. Donald K. Grayson, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
- Dr. Richard H. Meadow, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
- Dr. Yuan Jing, Center of Archaeological Science, Institute of Archaeology, CASS, Beijing
- Dr. Akira Matsui, Archaeological Center of Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute, and Kyoto University, Japan
- Dr. Hitomi Hongo, Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan
- Dra. Melinda Zeder, Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Natural History, Washington DC, USA
- Dra. Mónica Salemme, CADIC-CONICET, Ushuaia, Argentina
- Dra. Laura L. Miotti, CONICET and Departamento Científico de Arqueología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina
- Dr. Joris Peters, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
- Dr. Lisa Nagaoka, Department of Geography, University of North Texas, USA
- Dra. María A. Gutiérrez, INCUAPA-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Dr. Hugo Yacobaccio, CONICET and Instituto de Arqueología, Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Dr. Umberto Albarella, Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
- Dr. Peter Stahl, Anthropology Department, Binghamton University, USA
- Dra. Christine Lefèvre, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France
- Dr. Daniel E. Olivera, CONICET; Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano; and Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Dr. Joaquín Arroyo Cabrales, Laboratorio de Arqueozoología, Subdirección de Laboratorios y Apoyo Académico, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México
- Dr. Albérico Nogueira de Queiroz, Universidade Federal de Sergipe (Campus de Laranjeiras, Núcleo de Arqueologia), Brazil
- Dr. Christopher Gotz, Facultad de Ciencias Antropológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mexico
- Dr. Andrew Ugan, Far Western Anthropological Research Group; and University of Utah, USA
Subjects
- Ethnology, anthropology (Main category)
- Society > Ethnology, anthropology > Social anthropology
- Mind and language > Religion > Sociology of religion
- Society > Ethnology, anthropology > Cultural anthropology
- Society > Ethnology, anthropology > Religious anthropology
- Mind and language > Epistemology and methodology > Archaeology
Places
- San Rafael, Argentina
Date(s)
- Saturday, March 01, 2014
Attached files
Keywords
- archaeozoology, funeral practices, anthropology, archaeology, history
Contact(s)
- Ilona Bede
courriel : ilonabede [at] yahoo [dot] fr
Information source
- Ilona Bede
courriel : ilonabede [at] yahoo [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« “Accompanying deaths”: the role of some animals in the funerary practices », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Thursday, February 20, 2014, https://doi.org/10.58079/phd
