Mortuary Ritual and Society in Bronze Age Cyprus

Priscilla Keswani's comprehensive work, "Mortuary Ritual and Society in Bronze Age Cyprus" [1], is an insightful and thorough examination of the dynamic relationship between funerary practices and social structure in ancient Cyprus from the Early Bronze Age through the Late Bronze Age.

Drawing on archeological data from hundreds of excavated tombs, Keswani reconstructs the details and symbolism of Cypriot burial practices. Through comparisons with other cultures and anthropological theories, she explores the potential social and ideological meaning of these practices. She also examines how these practices changed during a crucial period of Cypriot history marked by economic growth, political centralization, and increasing social complexity.

Summary & Structure

The book is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 introduces Keswani's research objectives, arguments, and the chronological framework of the study. Chapters 2 and 3 lay the theoretical and methodological groundwork for the study.

Chapter 2 provides a critical review of anthropological approaches to mortuary analysis, covering key debates between processualist and post-processualist perspectives and emphasizing the need to situate mortuary practices within their historical and cultural contexts.

Chapter 3 examines the processes of archaeological formation and recovery that have shaped the Cypriot mortuary record and the sampling issues that constrain its interpretation, and it outlines Keswani's analytical methodology for reconstructing mortuary programs and social structure from the often problematic remains of collective tomb deposits. This chapter is a great resource for anyone interested in the methodological challenges of mortuary archaeology and Cypriot archeology overall.

The heart of the book is comprised of Chapters 4 and 5, which present regional analyses of tomb architecture, burial treatments, and grave assemblages dating to the Early–Middle and Late Cypriot Bronze Age respectively.

Chapter 6 provides a discussion of long-term changes in social structure and mortuary ritual over the course of the Bronze Age, and constructs a model of how mortuary practices and ancestral ideologies were affected by and acted upon at the local level.