Death in the Ancient Near East
Instructor: Anne Porter
ACB 230A
This course looks at archaeological evidence for mortuary practices including cannibalism and sacrifice from 5000-2000 BCE. How do we tell whether someone was sacrificed or died naturally? Why would people eat other people? What does the way people treat the dead tell us about they way they think about life?
THERE ARE NO REQUIRED TEXTS
Week One (Aug 23):
Introduction to mortuary practices
Dina Katz. The messenger, Lulil and the cult of the dead. Revue d’Assyriologie 93 (1999): 107-18.
Nicola Laneri. The Discovery of a Funerary Ritual. Inanna/Ishtar and her descent to the Netherworld in Titris Hoyuk, Turkey. East and West: 9-51.
Irene Winter. Reading ritual in the archaeological record. Pp. 229-56 in Fluchtpunkt Uruk: Archiologische Einheit aus Methodischer Vielfalt. Schriftenfiur Hans Jorg Nissen, eds. H. Kuhne, R. Bernbeck, and K. Bartl (1999).
Week Two (Aug 30):
The Concept of Sacrifice
Steve Bourget. Sex, Death and Sacrifice in Moche Religion and Visual Culture. Austin: University of Texas Press (2006).
Walter Burkert.The Problem of Ritual Killing. Pp. 149-90 in Violent Origins: Ritual Killing and Cultural Formation, ed. R. Hamerton-Kelley. Stanford: Stanford University Press (1987).
René Girard. Violence and the Sacred. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press (1977).
Week Three (Sept 6):
Sacrifice at Çatal Höyük
P. Andrews and S. Bello. Pattern in human burial practice. Pp. 14-29 in Social archaeology and funerary remains, eds. R Gowland and C Knüsel, Oxford (Oxbow) (2006).
Blenda During, "Burials in context, The 1960s inhumations of Çatalhöyük East.” Anatolian Studies 53 (2003): 1-15.
Sharon Moses. “Socio‐political implications of Neolithic foundation deposits and the possibility of child sacrifice: a case study at Çatalhöyük, Turkey.” Pp. 67- 93 in Sacrifice and Archaeology: Perspectives from the Ancient Near East and Beyond, eds. A. Porter and G.Schwartz, (nd).
Week Four (Sept 13):
Sacrifice and Skull cults –Nevali Çori, Djaade and Jerf al Ahmar
C. Pijoan and J. Mansilla Lory. “Evidence for Human Sacrifice, Bone Modification and Cannibalism in Ancient Mexico.” Pp. 217-40 in Troubled Times: Violence and Warfare in the Past, eds. D. Martin and D. Frayer. Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach (1997).
Week Five (Sept 20):
The Concept of Cannibalism
Beth Conklin. Consuming Grief: Compassionate Cannibalism in an Amazonian Society. University of Texas Press (2001).
Keith Otterbein. Killing of Captured Enemies: A Cross-Cultural Study. Current Anthropology 41/3 (2000): 439-43.
Week Six (Sept 27):
Cannibalism at Dormuz Tepe
S. Kansa and Stuart Campbell. Feasting with the Dead? – A ritual bone deposit at Domuztepe, south eastern Turkey (c. 5550BC1).
www.alexandriaarchive.org/publications/FeastingWithDead_2004.pdf
Stuart Campbell. The Dead and the Living in Late Neolithic Mesopotamia. Pp. 125-140 in Sepolti tra i vivi. Evidenza edinterpretazione di contesti funerari in abitato. Atti del Convegno Internazionale, eds. G. Bartoloni and M.G. Benedettini, Scienze dell'Antichità 15, Rome (2007/8).
Week Seven (Oct 4):
Cannibalism at Tell Majnouna/Tell Brak
Augusta McMahon and Joan Oates. Excavations at Tell Brak 2006-7. Iraq 69 (2007): 145-171.
Week Eight (Oct 11):
Human Sacrifice at Arslantepe
Frangipane, M.; di Nocera, G. M.; Hauptmann, A.; Morbidelli, P.; Palmieri, A.; Sadori, L.; Schultz, M.; and Schmidt-Schultz, T.
New Symbols of a New Power in a “Royal” Tomb from 3000 BC Arslantepe, Malatya (Turkey). Paléorient 27/2 (2001): 105-139.
Jan van Baal. Offering, Sacrifice, Gift. Numen 23(1976): 161-78.
Week Nine (Oct 18):
Human Sacrifice at Shioukh Tahtani
No readings
Week Ten (Oct 25):
The Body at Death
Erica Hill. The Embodied Sacrifice. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 10/2 (2000): 317-326.
Rosemary Joyce. Archaeology of the Body. Annual review of Anthropology 34 (2005): 139-158.
Week Eleven (Nov 1)
Grave goods
Lance Fogelin. The Archaeology of Religious Ritual. Annual Review of Anthroplogy 36 (2007): 55-71.
James A. Brown.The Cahokia Mound 72-sub 1 Burials as Collective Representations. Wisconsin Archaeology 84 (2003): 83-99.
Week Twelve (Nov 8)
Animal Sacrifice at Tell Banat
No readings
Week Thirteen (Nov 15)
Animal sacrifice at Umm al Marra
Jill Weber. Restoring Order: Death Display and Sacrifice. In Sacrifice and Archaeology: Perspectives from the Ancient Near East and Beyond, edited by A. Porter and G. Schwartz. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns (nd).
Gillian Goslinga. On sakti-filled Bodies and Divinities: An Ethnographic Perspective on Animal Sacrifice and Ritual in Contemporary South India. In Sacrifice and Archaeology: Perspectives from the Ancient Near East and Beyond, edited by A. Porter and G. Schwartz. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns (nd).
Week Fourteen (Nov 22)
Human Sacrifice at Umm al Marra
Glenn Schwartz, Hans Curvers, Sally Dunham, and Barbara Stuart.
A Third-Millennium BC Elite Tomb and Other New Evidence from Tell Umm el-Marra, Syria. American Journal of Archaeology 107 (2003): 325-61.
Glenn Schwartz, Hans Curvers, Sally Dunham, Barbara Stuart and Jill Weber. A Third-Millennium B.C. Elite Mortuary Complex at Umm el-Marra, Syria: 2002 and 2004 Excavations. American Journal of Archaeology 110 (2006): 603-41.
Week Fifteen (Nov 29)
Human Sacrifice at Ur
D. Bruce Dickson. Public Transcripts Expressed in Theatres of Cruelty: The Royal Graves at Ur in Mesopotamia. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 16/2 (2006): 123-44.
Andrew Cohen. Death Rituals, Ideology, and the Development of Early Mesopotamian Kingship. Leiden: Brill (2005).
Gianni Marchesi. Who was Buried in the Royal Tombs of Ur? The Epigraphic and Textual Data. Orientalia 73/22 (2004): 153-97.
P. R. S. Moorey.What Do We Know About the People Buried in the Royal Cemetery? Expedition 20/1 (1977): 24-40.
Susan Pollock. Of Priestesses, Princes, and Poor Relations: The Dead in the Royal Cemetery of Ur. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 1(1991): 171-89.
Assessment:
Class participation 10%
Three papers of 4-5 pages @ 15% ea
Midterm (held in class) 20%
Two Group assignments for class presentation 20%
Class participation:
Those students unwilling or unable to participate in class discussion on a regular basis will be expected to hand in one page written opinions each week that discussion takes place.
Papers:
Papers will be properly referenced at all times. Failure to do so will constitute plagiarism (see below).
Readings:
Students will be expected to approach both primary and secondary reading materials with analytical and critical rigor. They will be required to track down many of the readings for themselves using USC on-line databases (a class in the use of these material is included in the schedule).
Statement on Plagiarism:
Please be sure to familiarize yourself with USC's policies concerning plagiarism, which we strictly enforce. Many students are insufficiently informed about what precisely constitutes plagiarism; before writing your paper, be sure that you have read the student affairs website entitled, "Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism." As this Guide notes, the University Student Conduct Code (published in the current SCampus) defines plagiarism as follows:"The submission of material authored by another person butrepresented as the student's own work, whether that material is paraphrased or copied in verbatim or near verbatim form;""The submission of material subjected to editorial revision by another person that results in substantive changes in content or major alteration of writing style;"and "Improper acknowledgment of sources in essays or papers."Consult this Guide for concrete examples of what this definition means, and if you have any doubts about this policy please consult with me.
Academic Accommodations:
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.