Date
Fall 2018
Document Type
Thesis
Location
Mobile, AL
Department
Anthropology
First Advisor
Lesley Gregoricka
Abstract
Understanding the ways in which the living processed their dead is a vital component to the field of bioarchaeology, so the purpose of this research is to provide insight into funerary practices for a Bronze Age community in southeastern Arabia and demonstrate a possible difference in mortuary treatment between one generation and the next. By using the Munsell color chart to assign color codes to five areas of testable distal humeri from two Bronze Age Umm an-Nar tombs (Unar 1 and Unar 2) located in the Shimal necropolis in the United Arab Emirates, a statistically significant difference between the articular surfaces of bones from both tombs as well as between the non-articular surfaces was detected, indicating that there was indeed a change in mortuary practices over the speculated 200-year span between the usage of both tombs. All in all, this change could point to a fluctuation in the materials used to perform these funerary rites or, as suspected, it could indicate a shift on a much larger scale of the ideology that drove Umm an-Nar mortuary practices.
Recommended Citation
Carter, Antonia, "Cremation and Secondary Burial Practices among Umm an-Nar Communities in Bronze Age Arabia" (2018). Anthropology Undergraduate Senior Theses. 1.
https://jagworks.southalabama.edu/anthro_ugrad_theses/1