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Making the Dead Visible: Problems and Solutions for “Big” Picture Approaches to the Past, and Dealing with Large “Mortuary” Datasets

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Abstract

There can be few “bigger” questions than the nature and development of human experience and self-awareness and few better ways to study it than through the changing treatment of the dead over time. Funded by the John Templeton Foundation, the ‘Invisible Dead’ project (Durham University) is exploring diachronic changes in mortuary practices across two regions: Britain and the Levant. In doing so, it uses archaeology as a way to approach fundamental questions about the human condition. This paper explores the principal difficulties faced during the construction of a database for this project and their wider relevance for the development of robust and successful methods for the study of large “mortuary” datasets in the future. It discusses the issues and biases identified within the mortuary record and how the project has sought to mitigate some of these. By adopting a flexible and ultimately expandable approach to data entry and analysis, value can be added to legacy datasets and “grey” literature, allowing us to make comparisons between regions which are both geographically and chronologically distinct.

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Notes

  1. The Neolithic begins much later in Britain than the Levant (i.e. c. 4000 BC rather than c.10,000 BC in the latter). Data analysis for both areas started at c. 4500/4000 BC. Thus, the periods covered by the project start in the Neolithic (c. 4000 BC) for Britain and the Late Chalcolithic (c. 4500 BC) for the Levant.

  2. The area (Levant) covered by the project includes Israel, Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria westwards from the Euphrates Valley.

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Acknowledgments

The ‘Invisible Dead’ project (Durham University) is funded by the John Templeton Foundation. The database template and data entry system is adapted from an original design by the Fragile Crescent Project members (https://www.dur.ac.uk/fragile_crescent_project/), and in particular we would like to acknowledge the skills and expertise of Robert Dunford and Daniel Lawrence. We extend special thanks to our international advisory board for their continuing involvement in the project (see https://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/?mode=project&id=624 for details). We are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham, Co. Durham, UK

    Jennie Bradbury, Mandy Jay, Graham Philip, Charlotte Roberts & Chris Scarre

  2. Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University, Durham, Co. Durham, UK

    Douglas Davies

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  1. Jennie Bradbury
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  2. Douglas Davies
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  3. Mandy Jay
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  5. Charlotte Roberts
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Correspondence to Jennie Bradbury.

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Bradbury, J., Davies, D., Jay, M. et al. Making the Dead Visible: Problems and Solutions for “Big” Picture Approaches to the Past, and Dealing with Large “Mortuary” Datasets. J Archaeol Method Theory 23, 561–591 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-015-9251-1

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