Social Relationships in Predynastic Burials
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Of all Ancient Egyptian eras, it has been the Predynastic (primarily the fourth millennium BC) that has received the greatest attention from anthropologically derived models of mortuary behaviour. Following an overview of developments in mortuary archaeology, this article aims to contribute to the discussion of alternative social models of Predynastic mortuary remains. In particular, it aims to challenge the overriding assumption that burial form and content is a reflection or correlate of individual status or identity, or that it simply forms an index for social ranking. Rather, it is argued that these contexts may additionally reveal aspects of the relationships between people, objects, and places. In doing so, it is possible to consider some of the ideological aspects of Predynastic burials in addition to the social-economic aspects that are more often discussed.
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Predynastic assemblages vary: some have large quantities of pottery but little else, others have modest amounts of ceramics yet are well equipped with exotic artifacts.
“some with large quantities of pottery but little else, others with modest amounts of ceramics yet well equipped with exotic artifacts (Stevenson 2009c).”
From The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation (2016) · cites this paper as Stevenson 2009c
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The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation
Stevenson, A. (2016) · Journal of Archaeological Research · doi:10.1007/s10814-016-9094-7 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
“…2006) reworked Petrie’s innovative system into the ‘‘Naqada chronology,’’ and it has continued to be scrutinized and refined, primarily in the development of localized site chronologies (Buchez 2011a; Hartmann 2011a, b; Hendrickx 2011a; Jucha and Mączyńska 2011; Stevenson 2009a, pp. 25–40).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citation
- Authors
- Stevenson, A.
- Corresponding author
- Stevenson, Alice
- ORCID
- Stevenson, Alice
- Venue
- The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2009-01
- Volume
- 95
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 175-192
- ISSN
- 0307-5133 (ISSN-L)
- 2514-0582
- OpenAlex
- W203881304
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 2.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- discovery.ucl.ac.uk
- Locations
- The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Egypt and Archaeology
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
- Keywords
- Predynastic Egypt, interpersonal relationships, funerary practices, social status, social ranking, 4th millennium BC, grave goods, funerary archaeology
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