Death Studies

"Representations", N. 129, Winter 2015.

The essay analyzes the project of maintaining the body of V. I. Lenin in the Mausoleum in Moscow for the past ninety years, focusing on the unique biological science that developed around this project, and the unexpected political role this body has performed.

This special issue addresses the possible connections and mutual benefits of examining together two analytic concepts – memory and periphery. These concepts receive much attention in various scholarly discussions, yet they have done so rather independently from each other. The potential applications and utilities of combining memory and periphery and the epistemic insights they provide for various disciplins are presented in the different contributions to this issue.

This book is intended as a commented summary of some of the major trends and most important features that can be encountered when analysing ancient Egyptian society of the Old Kingdom. We have to bear in mind that around 3000 BCE one of the first centralised states in our recorded history rose, and the Old Kingdom represents certainly one of its apogees. Moreover, there is hardly any comparable society that left behind such a wealth of archaeological and literary evidence, a welcome companion for our journey back in time. The goal for writing this book was to outline general trends in the history of the non-royal tomb development of the period. The reason is rather simple and straightforward: ancient Egyptians considered the tomb to be their afterlife residence for eternity. In the afterlife they replicated the life they experienced during the lifetime. Thus the tomb architecture, decoration, inscriptions and equipment paradoxically represent a major tool for our understanding of the everyday life of the ancient Egyptians and enable a better comprehension of the development and dynamics of the Old Kingdom. The book is divided into nine chapters covering, step by step, the development of the Egyptian tomb and society from the Predynastic Period to the end of the first six Egyptian dynasties, a lengthy period of time which covers the Early Dynastic and the Old Kingdom periods. These six chapters are accompanied by three additional chapters on religious aspects of the Old Kingdom society, its economy and environment.

The identification of deviant burials as those of ‘vampires’ is a feature of excavated skeletons from sites across Eastern, Central and Southern Europe as well as the Balkans. Based on a close reading of historic and folkloric sources researchers have sought to match features of excavated sites with narrative descriptions drawn from vampire legend and myth. This study critically reviews the recent claims based on sites in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Poland and Slovakia. Whilst it is found that there was a widespread belief in vampires across Europe, it is argued that it is difficult to make absolute claims for ‘vampire’ burials on archaeological grounds as in most cases there are alternate and equally compelling interpretations of the data.

KEYWORDS
ARCHAEOLOGY, HISTORY, SIXTEENTH CENTURY, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, VAMPIRE, DEVIANT BURIAL, PLAGUE, BLACK DEATH, FOLKLORE, PAGAN, BURIAL, WITCH, BALKANS, EASTERN EUROPE, CENTRAL EUROPE, SOUTHERN EUROPE, BULGARIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, POLAND, GREECE, ITALY, SLOVAKIA, LESBOS, VENICE, APOTROPAIC, VAMPIRIDZHIJA, PERPERIKON, SOZOPOL, PROSTEJOV, CELAKOVICE, DRAWSKO, GLIWICI, SOUTHWELL, KILTEASHEEN, LAZZARETTO NUOVO, NACHTZEHRER, KAMIEN POMORSKI

What happens to the inner light of consciousness with the death of the individual body and brain? Reductive materialism assumes it simply fades to black. Others think of consciousness as indicating a continuation of self, a transformation, an awakening or even alternatives based on the quality of life experience. In this issue, speculations drawn from philosophical research are presented.

Birds have an ambiguous symbolic significance across cultures throughout human history, ubiquitously relating to both life and death. Birds are routinely seen as portents of impending calamity and death, while they are also often thought to bear or steal spirits of the dead, sometimes even embodying those very spirits themselves. On the other hand, birds are also commonly associated with life, fertility, and longevity. This paper brings together cross-cultural evidence for the practically universal associations between birds and both life and death. This paper offers an explanation for this association as an expression of the deep-seated human ambivalence to mortality. As a form of Jungian archetype, birds reflect a fundamental aspect of human nature-the denial of death as finality through a desire for renewal, transformation, and rebirth.

Loss is a common life experience including death of a loved one, breakup of a relationship, loss of health, loss of employment, loss of one's home and financial wealth, infertility, and many more.

The types of loss are reviewed as well as the goals of grief counseling and helpful things to say for healing painful feelings around loss and grief, the unfinished business of loss, and the behaviour decisions of grief. Therapeutic interventions and statements for helping the healing of grief, are described and discussed in detail.

A educação deve ser pensada de forma ampla. O aprendizado dá-se não somente no âmbito dos muros da escola, mas também com a tecnologia, com a família, com os amigos e com o convívio em sociedade e, ainda, com, para e através dos meios de comunicação. Vive-se em meio às Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação e faz-se necessário entendê-las e inseri-las no cotidiano, seja na educação formal ou informal, tanto como fonte de conhecimento ou como ferramenta para a geração de novos conteúdos.
O uso das mídias e das tecnologias tem exigido cada vez mais espaço nas práticas cotidianas, transformando não somente as relações interpessoais, mas também o processo de ensino-aprendizagem. As possibilidades trazidas pelas novas tecnologias têm propiciado, além disso, um novo olhar para a educação, fazendo com que pesquisadores desenvolvam trabalhos especialmente focados na acessibilidade dos conteúdos. A inclusão, neste contexto, vem ganhando alternativas e ferramentas cada vez mais modernas, ampliando e facilitando a formação dos sujeitos. Percebe-se, a partir das pesquisas aqui apresentadas, que as novas tecnologias e as ferramentas midiáticas estão se tornando muito mais do que somente um espaço de socialização, mas, principalmente, o ponto chave para o desenvolvimento de estratégias de aprendizagem e transformação social.
O uso do computador, da internet, da televisão, da ficção seriada, das histórias em quadrinhos, do cinema, dos ambientes virtuais e hipermídia, das redes sociais temáticas e de tantos outros meios e formatos apresentam-se além de simples produtos ou tecnologias. Todas estas alternativas, e também os usos destas mídias, chegam para mudar a concepção da aprendizagem formal e da necessidade exclusiva de um espaço institucionalizado para o ensino. As tecnologias e todas as ramificações derivadas estão a todo o tempo ressignificando os papéis dos atores envolvidos no processo de ensino-aprendizagem. O aprimoramento e a criação de novos formatos têm se mostrado urgente e emergente frente aos desafios que estão surgindo em detrimento do acelerado desenvolvimento tecnológico e, especialmente, das novas práticas de consumo das mídias pelos sujeitos.
Diante deste contexto, os primeiros quatro capítulos deste livro apresentam pesquisas com foco nas relações e no processo de aprendizagem pelos sujeitos, sejam eles crianças, jovens ou adultos, e também nas práticas e nos usos das mídias. Do quinto ao último capítulos questões relativas à acessibilidade, às ferramentas de ensino-aprendizagem e ao desenvolvimento de ambientes hipermídia são abordadas a partir de diferentes e inovadoras vertentes.

The megalithic phenomenon is one of the most exciting subjects of study in prehistory. The practice of monumentalising places of special significance by erecting large stones started during the Neolithic period, approximately 10.000 years ago. On time, it acquired such a social and ideological depth that it became one of the most geographically and temporally widespread cultural phenomena ever known in Europe. In Andalusia,  megalithic sites and landscapes express themselves with great richness and diversity, representing an exceptional source of scientific information for our understanding of our forebears’ ways of life, as well as a unique and beautiful historical legacy. This book combines the contributions of various university professors, who bring us up to date with their research, with excellent photographic illustrations and, for the first time, reflects the spread of this cultural phenomenon throughout Andalusia. It is suitable for both those who wish to deepen their knowledge of this professional specialisation and those who seek the pleasure of a satisfied interest.

Resumen:
El presente artículo se propone dar cuenta del elusivo fenómeno de la conciencia desde la original perspectiva de la neurofenomenología de Francisco Varela, quien a partir de nociones tales como neuroplasticidad, enacción y emergencia, explica, cómo ocurren los procesos cerebrales que fundan la conciencia y la “unidad” de la vivencia. Describiendo como la conciencia aparece en el vivir encarnado: en la regulación con el cuerpo entero; en sus relaciones sensorio-motoras con el mundo y en una red ínter-subjetiva de acciones y de lenguaje.
Palabras clave: Neurociencias, biología cultural, ciencias cognitivas, cuerpo, mundo, ética, enacción, saber-cómo.
Dr. Adolfo Vásquez Rocca

The late Antique mosaic of Orpheus decorated a small room, approximately 18 m2 in area, connected with two even smaller ones, in 4 m2 and the other 2 m2 in area, belonging most likely to a small funerary chapel (or tomb) discovered in the ancient necropolis by the Damascene Gate in Jerusalem; it was discovered in 1901 by H. Vincent.
The author proposes a new interpretation of the iconographic program of the Orpheus myth used by wealthy Christians in a sepulchral context (see Olszewski M.T. «Orphée endeuillé de la mosaïque funéraire de Jérusalem», in Rey Mimoso-Ruiz, B. ed., Actes du colloque «Orphée entre Soleil et ombre», à l’Institut Catholique de Toulouse du 16 au 17 novembre 2007, Inter Lignes, numéros spécial – mars 2008, pp. 205-214, 226). He also proposes a new interpretation of the role Orpheus played in Roman funerary art, concentrating on the importance of the play on words and the visual and textual punning that was popular in ancient art and especially in funerary art. He rejects the popular interpretation of Orpheus as Christ in the Roman catacombs and proposes to interpret the image as that of Orpheus, bard of the departed souls, without any ahistorical connection with Christ. The program of the mosaic from Jerusalem is thus explained as a play on the words Orpheus-orphanos and Chiron (Chi-Rho) and Pan [Παν(τοκράτωρ)].The frequently used Christian funerary formula of resting in peace, Christ or the Lord corresponds
perfectly with the mood created around the mythical bard.
Orpheus’ universal role as singer and musician moving even the most stony of hearts, extolling the beloved departed, is absolutely justified in the context of a 6th-century Christian tomb. Orpheus is a popular and neutral figure, meaning that in effect it does not constitute a threat to Christian theology and can be tolerated by the educated Christians of Jerusalem.

ABSTRACT
Published 2019 (First Edition) with Atropos Press, and Second-Edition (2021)
https://www.atropospress.com/cosmophenomenology
The upload is a sample, and the full dissertation can be purchased from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or other vendors online. There are still first-editions floating around on Ebay. Golden Lab Bookstore in Queens, New York and Walmart carry this book as well.

My thesis is primarily about metaphysics: the ontology of consciousness. I theorize that consciousness, otherwise known as the soul, is an uncategorized form of quantum energy and life force that is polymorphous, expressible as biophotons as well as waves. The wave is the form consciousness takes up as dark energy or Brahman, while biophotons are atman, the form consciousness takes on in neurons.
My position is fully physicalist, but is post-reductivist. As such, it is not limited to materialism which is based on a classical, Newtonian physics.
Dark energy is surmised by physicists to be Einstein’s cosmological constant because it shapes the relativity of spacetime, dictating the behavior of atoms and light photons and also existing in a void.  The mistake of materialists is to equate the 4% of the universe that dark energy literally moves about, to the force itself which constitutes over 70% of the universe.  Dark energy and ordinary matter are highly different in constitution, but curiously interact psycho-kinetically. Dark energy is responsible for the very expansion of space between galaxies and smaller objects like brain neurons.  In place of classical physics which cannot be used to study quantum energy, I use the approach of cosmophenomenology (cosmological physics and phenomenology) to study the ontology of consciousness.

What is amazing is that the unfolding of our felt sense of ongoing continuity of Being and the felt sense of the continuity of our sense of self is a convergent experience. Our very sense of self and our very sense of Being are intimately and ultimately the same experience.

This thesis uses Continuing Bonds Theory to reinterpret kispum, an ancient Mesopotamian family funerary practice, in a new way. Traditional scholarship has portrayed the purpose of the ritual as apotropaic, and that the family dead are feared as hostile ghosts. This study suggests that profound beliefs about life and death in Mesopotamia, and interactions between the family and deceased loved ones can be found in the material and textual evidence. A new perspective focusing on evidence from the second millennium BC in ancient Mesopotamia is used to investigate the kispum ritual using ideas from the archaeology of emotion and Death and Dying studies. Current understandings based on textual based studies and the varied traditions of archaeological investigation are introduced in Chapter 2. Then, using notions of continued bonds, new insights are explored to better understand the ongoing relationship between the living and the dead. In Chapters 3 through 6 textual sources and archaeological evidence are assessed against this background, and against each other, with attempts to correlate textual with archaeological details. In the context of ancient Mesopotamia, this thesis employs new approaches to mortuary archaeology to provide new insights suggesting ways that conventional methods may be enhanced. Finally, this study also brings us back to an archaeology of death which is interested in attitudes toward the dead. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While analyzing what has gone into this project, I realized that it came to fruition through the influences of several key mentors. For teaching me how to ask insightful questions and think more critically about theory and evidence, I am overwhelmingly grateful to my supervisor, Dr. David Edwards. Without his guidance and urging to look again at ideas and how they are expressed, I would have been unable complete this project. Special thanks go to him for his kindness, vast patience and many hours of mentoring across the miles. I have learned a lot from him. The original idea for this thesis came from my colleague Dr. Dennis Klass, who with his unbounded enthusiasm and confidence, encouraged me to take a deeper look at the evidence for Continued Bonds in ancient Mesopotamian families. I would like to thank Giorgio Buccellati for many years of Akkadian, and he and Marilyn Kelly--Buccellati for seasons of fieldwork at Terqa, and many fond memories.

This thesis uses Continuing Bonds Theory to reinterpret kispum, an ancient Mesopotamian family funerary practice, in a new way. Traditional scholarship has portrayed the purpose of the ritual as apotropaic, and that the family dead are feared as hostile ghosts. This study suggests that profound beliefs about life and death in Mesopotamia, and interactions between the family and deceased loved ones can be found in the material and textual evidence. A new perspective focusing on evidence from the second millennium BC in ancient Mesopotamia is used to investigate the kispum ritual using ideas from the archaeology of emotion and Death and Dying studies. Current understandings based on textual based studies and the varied traditions of archaeological investigation are introduced in Chapter 2. Then, using notions of continued bonds, new insights are explored to better understand the ongoing relationship between the living and the dead. In Chapters 3 through 6 textual sources and archaeological evidence are assessed against this background, and against each other, with attempts to correlate textual with archaeological details. In the context of ancient Mesopotamia, this thesis employs new approaches to mortuary archaeology to provide new insights suggesting ways that conventional methods may be enhanced. Finally, this study also brings us back to an archaeology of death which is interested in attitudes toward the dead.
http://hdl.handle.net/2381/29251

NOTE: This is a modestly revised 2nd edition of my 2008 paper with the same title.

How can we begin to understand and explain the changing significance of cremation in past societies? From many parts of the world and for many periods of human history from as
early as the Upper Palaeolithic (Bowler et al., 1980) to recent centuries, archaeologists have
uncovered and investigated material evidence for the use of fire as a means of transforming and disposing of the dead. This chapter argues that in contrast to the rich and widespread
evidence for cremation in the archaeological record, theoretical approaches in the archaeology of cremation have been relatively thin on the ground until very recently. This relative failure to adequately engage with the complexity and the variability of cremation practices across cultures seems connected to the fact that most of the theoretical debates and developments
in mortuary archaeology have, until quite recently, been primarily geared to the investigation of unburned human remains. Therefore, alongside increasingly refined methodologies for investigating burnt bones, it is argued that archaeologists need to redress this imbalance by
developing explicit theoretical approaches to the phenomenon of cremation. Such theories need to engage with broad cross-cultural themes and also remain sensitive to the considerable
variety of mortuary procedures involving fire used at different times and in different places.

New Norse Studies, edited by Jeffrey Turco, gathers twelve original essays engaging aspects of Old Norse–Icelandic literature that continue to kindle the scholarly imagination in the twenty-first century. The assembled authors examine the arrière-scène of saga literature; the nexus of skaldic poetry and saga narrative; medieval and post-medieval gender roles; and other manifestations of language, time, and place as preserved in Old Norse–Icelandic texts. This volume will be welcomed not only by the specialist and by scholars in adjacent fields but also by the avid general reader, drawn in ever-increasing number to the Icelandic sagas and their world.

Table of Contents  Preface; Jeffrey Turco, volume editor: Introduction; Andy Orchard: Hereward and Grettir: Brothers from Another Mother?; Richard L. Harris: “Jafnan segir inn ríkri ráð”: Proverbial Allusion and the Implied Proverb in Fóstbrœðra saga; Torfi H. Tulinius: Seeking Death in Njáls saga; Guðrún Nordal: Skaldic Poetics and the Making of the Sagas of Icelanders; Russell Poole: Identity Poetics among the Icelandic Skalds; Jeffrey Turco: Loki, Sneglu-Halla þáttr, and the Case for a Skaldic Prosaics; Thomas D. Hill: Beer, Vomit, Blood and Poetry: Egils saga, Chapters 44-45; Shaun F. D. Hughes: The Old Norse Exempla as Arbiters of Gender Roles in Medieval Iceland; Paul Acker: Performing Gender in the Icelandic Ballads; Joseph Harris: The Rök Inscription, Line 20; Sarah Harlan-Haughey: A Landscape of Conflict: Three Stories of the Faroe Conversions; Kirsten Wolf: Non-Basic Color Terms in Old Norse-Icelandic

O primeiro agradecimento sem dúvida deve ser feito às quatro figuras que posso chamar de pais: Isaura Maria Lopes Pereira Cardoso, minha mãe, José Antônio Ribeiro, meu pai, Janaína Nascimento de Oliveira, minha madrasta, e Armando Affonso Cardoso Filho, meu padrasto. O apoio e paciência de vocês foram imensuráveis.

Archeologia e antropologia: queste le due sfere culturali e di sapere entro le quali si sviluppano le ricerche condotte in questo volume. La ricerca sull’ideologia funeraria parte dall’analisi dei sepolcreti relativi ad un definito comprensorio territoriale, l’Italia Tirrenica, e da una precisa forchetta cronologica, dall’Età del Bronzo Finale fino a quella Orientalizzante. Il percorso di studio è introdotto dall’analisi della semiologia della morte, cioè dalla ricostruzione delle pratiche e dei gesti legati alla sfera funeraria, la cui lettura non deve basarsi sui soli dati provenienti dagli scavi archeologici ma anche dalle ricostruzioni del complesso mondo ideologico e simbolico che collega il defunto alla famiglia di appartenenza, alla collettività in cui ha vissuto oltre che all’ambiente entro cui ha espletato la sua esistenza. Si passa quindi dall’evento della morte all’idea della morte fino a raggiungere la sfera del sacro e della religione. La difficoltà di questi passaggi sta nel riconoscimento delle tracce delle ideologie e dei comportamenti, difficili da rinvenire sia dal punto di vista archeologico sia per le successive interpretazioni che possono subire. La proposta è quindi quella di leggere i segni materiali e immateriali che accompagnano la morte all’interno di un dialogo interdisciplinare tra storia, psicologia, simbologia e sociologia. Le varie tradizioni di studio archeologico, come quello paleontologico, etruscologico e classicistico hanno focalizzato a partire dal XVII e XVIII secolo l’analisi e lo scavo delle sepolture come strumento per poter ricostruire realtà sociali del passato. Nel capitolo 2, infatti, si affronta la questione dell’etnogenesi collegata ai corredi funerari e quella della crono-tipologia. Nel successivo si analizza la sociologia e l’antropologia della morte fino ad approdare ad una prospettiva etnoarcheologica relativa ai costumi funerari. Il quarto è dedicato alle nuove frontiere della conoscenza in questo campo basate sulle scienze naturali e umane, con approfondimenti sul rapporto tra organismi biologici e sistemi sociali, per una interpretazione dei resti ossei non solamente basata sul riconoscimento del sesso e dell’età, ma anche sulle condizioni e le modalità di vita, sugli stress legati all’alimentazione e su quelli funzionali legati alle attività quotidiane. Un particolare sguardo di approfondimento, che consente di tracciare un quadro della storia dei metodi di approccio ai contesti funerari italiani a partire dal secondo dopoguerra, viene dedicato nel quinto capito; in quello successivo sono esaminati gli sviluppi che queste scuole di pensiero hanno subito alle soglie del nuovo millennio, durante la fase definita “postprocessuale”, focalizzando il passaggio dall’antropologia funeraria alla tanatologia, ai rituali, ai simbolismi. Gli ultimi due capitoli – prima della raccolta di tavole con illustrazioni di sintesi che commentano il testo – sono dedicati al dibattito sulla ideologia funeraria in ambito italiano, in era postprocessuale, con una serie di schede sui contesti presi in considerazione, e alle ultime frontiere dell’archeologia funeraria, dai processi di ricostruzione dei “paesaggi rituali” o dell’archeologia dei funerali, al rapporto tra “materialità” e “individualità”, all’archeologia dei cadaveri basata sull’antropologia fisica, alla bioarcheologia, all’antropologia del terreno e all’archeotanatologia, comprese le anomalie delle prassi rituali, le atipicità legate alle pene e alle emarginazioni sociali.

per informazioni e l'acquisto del volume contattare direttamente l'editore
info@edipuglia.it 
ordini@edipuglia.it
http://edipuglia.it/articoli/archeologia-e-antropologia-della-morte-storia-di-unidea/

One of the most noteworthy, and most discussed, groups of material finds from Beth-Shean comes from the site’s Northern Cemetery, where the remains of at least 50 clay anthropoid coffins were uncovered in eleven tombs dating mainly to the 13th and 12th centuries BC. Five of these in particular, from Tombs 66 and 90, are unlike anything known from the corpus of anthropoid coffins in Canaan or the greater Egyptian world.

While the view of these coffins as representations of Sea Peoples has fallen out of favour in recent years, this paper argues that this specific coffin group—and site—should be separated from the larger phenomenon of anthropoid coffin burials in Canaan as well as in Egypt and Nubia, and that this iconographic and chronological connection adds to the evidence for a presence of individuals connected to the Sea Peoples’ tradition in the Egyptian garrison at Beth-Shean in the 12th century BC.

The understanding of death, dying and bereavement in relation to society is indebted to a number of disciplines – anthropology, history, psychology, and sociology are surveyed. Theories and methods used by sociologists researching death, dying and bereavement are briefly outlined, followed by a number of key debates and challenges: denial, taboo and sequestration; death and the media; how to integrate scholarship in collective memory and Holocaust studies; theorising contemporary rites of passage; the lack of comparative research; and the need to focus on the meaning and organisation of death for those who encounter it most directly, namely the poor, displaced and elderly. A brief discussion of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching is followed by the conclusion that any promise of a general sociology conducted in the light of mortality has been eclipsed by yet another specialism, the sociology of death.

Untuk mengkaji kematian beberapa persoalan yang sentiasa menghantui manusia perlu di kenal pasti. Manusia berada dimana-mana sahaja dan sentiasa menidakkan beberapa ketentuan yang tidak boleh diterima yang akan berlaku keatas mereka. Itu adalah tingkah laku semulajadi manusia. Manusia adalah makhluk biasa ciptaan tuhan di alam fana ini dan mereka semua pasti akan mati. Bagi sesetengah orang beberapa persoalan timbul berhubung kewujudan mereka didunia ini. Diantaranya ialah:  Kenapa saya dilahirkan?  Apakah makna disebalik kehidupan saya didunia ini?  Apakah kesan kematian itu kepada nilai dan kehidupan saya?  Apakah hubungkait diantara hidup dan mati?  Adakah ianya mempunyai persamaan?

"This special issue of "Patrimonio Histórico" (Historical Heritage), the bulletin of the Andalusian Historical Heritage Institute, brings together a series of contributions aimed at disseminating the concept of megalithic heritage among cultural and historical heritage specialists. It provides a general overview of the basic themes involved in today's research of the megalithic phenomenon (section "ideas, theories, problems"), the main methodological innovations the field has experienced in recent years ("sciences, methods"), the public perceptions involved ("perceptions") as well as a series of major megalithic sites of southern Iberia ("sites, interventions, management")."

hat we see in the construction of elite graves and royal tombs is the production of ideology in itself. Ideology […] has no life outside the things that give it substance and that insert it into the world of action. In this sense then, archaeology is […] a direct investigation of the real work of ideological production. (Adam Smith 2007: 165) 1 On the use of Levantine archaeology in service of biblical texts see recently and incisively Pioske (2015), with earlier bibliography. For a detailed history of ancient Israel based entirely on contemporary material evidence, including inscriptions, see the first half of Liverani (2003) (and note the problematic second half, which attempts to compensate for the field's textual bias with an allegorical reading that tends to reinscribe the very problem pointed out in the first half).

"The starting point in most studies on the medieval Danse Macabre is the mural that was created in the cemetery of Les Saints Innocents in Paris in 1424-25. Yet scholars have previously paid little attention to the historical circumstances surrounding the creation of this scheme during the Anglo-Burgundian occupation of the French capital.
    Especially the dual presentation of the king as both a victim of Death amidst the ranks of the living and as a worm-eaten corpse at the end of the scheme is intriguing in view of the deaths in quick succession of Henry V of England and Charles VI of France in 1422. Contemporaries in Paris and London (where John Lydgate's Middle English adaptation of the French poem was incorporated into another painted scheme at Old St Paul's Cathedral around 1430) could not help but be reminded of the fact that both their countries were without a crowned king at this time.
    It is these topical references that help explain the quick rise to fame of what at first sight might seem just another medieval didactic lesson about mortality and sin. A case is presented for the deployment of 'cryptoportraits' in the imagery and a novel suggestion made as to the previously unidentified patron behind the Paris mural. "

The principal factors influencing the location of the Old Kingdom pyramids in Egypt are reconsidered. The decisive factors influencing their distribution over an area of c. eighty kilometres were essentially of economic, geomorphologic, socio-political and unavoidably also of religious nature. Primary importance is to be attributed to the existence of the Old Kingdom capital of Egypt, Memphis, which was a central place with regard to the Old Kingdom pyramid fields. Its economic potential and primacy in the largely redistributiondriven state economy sustained construction of the vast majority of the pyramid complexes in its vicinity. The location of the remaining number of the Old Kingdom pyramids, including many of the largest ever built, is explained using primarily archaeological evidence. It is claimed that the major factors influencing their location lie in the sphere of general trends governing ancient Egyptian society of the period.

This article is a reflection on a conception of death, that of karma and rebirth, and its value in interpreting one's life. I have thought about this conception in two ways. The first is that I can see the circumstances of my life as the result of causes of which I was the agent, and the second is that I can see my life and the relationships in my life as part of a much larger narrative that began before this life. Through an examination of Vaishnava and Advaita theology, Ny¯ aya philosophy, and some Puranic and Epic texts, I argue for an interpretation of karma and rebirth as a rational system that allows one to see relationships as involving many layers of complexity.

This thesis investigates artistic post-mortem photography in the context of shifting social relationship with death in the 1980s and 1990s. Analyzing Nan Goldin’s 'Cookie in Her Casket' and Andres Serrano’s 'The Morgue', I argue that artists engaging in postmortem photography demonstrate care for the deceased. Further, that demonstrable care in photographing the dead responds to a crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s in America. At the time, death returned to social and political discourse with the visibility of AIDS and cancer and the euthanasia debates, spurring on photographic engagement with the corpse.

In explicating our reconstruction of Spinoza’s views on 'death', we will proceed in the following order. In the first part of this paper we will discuss Spinoza’s definitions of destruction and of the death of the body. In the second part, we will address Spinoza’s views on the relation between rationality and the employment of the concept of death. We will begin this section by clarifying Spinoza’s interpretation of the Biblical story of the Fall. In the third part we will attempt to explain the patterns of behavior and thought of Spinoza’s Free Man (or Woman). Specifically, we will explain how the free human being attempts to continue her existence and avoid death while not fearing it. In the fourth and final part of the paper we will explain Spinoza’s views on the “death” of the mind and the nature of the imaginary existence Spinoza calls “our present life.”

From Homer’s Iliad to the Athenian funeral oration and beyond the “‘beautiful death” was the name that the Greeks used to describe a combatant’s death. From the world of Achilles to democratic Athens, in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, the warrior’s death was a model that concentrated the representations and the values that served as [masculine] norms.  This should not be a surprise: the Iliad depicts a society at war and in the Achaean camp, at least, a society of men, without children and legitimate wives. Certainly the Athenian polis (“city-state”) reversed the traditional combatant–citizen relationship by claiming that one must be, first, a citizen before being a soldier.  Nevertheless this polis distinguished itself from others by the splendour that it gave the public funeral of its citizens that had died in war and especially by the repatriating of their mortal remains (Thuc. 2.34). In a society that believed in autochthony this repatriation was, undoubtedly, significant. Since the beautiful death crystallised the aretē (“courage”) of Achilles and Athenians alike, it was, from the outset, linked to speech. Indeed heroic death and the civic beautiful death were the subject-matter of elaborate speech. Such a celebratory discourse gave the warrior’s death an eternal existence in memory. This discourse gave his death its reality, but, conversely, also took for itself all that was valued in his accomplished exploit and claimed to be its truthful expression. In short the beautiful death was a paradigm.

It seems certain to me that I will die and stay dead. By “I”, I mean me, Greg Nixon, this person, this self-identity. I am so intertwined with the chiasmus of lives, bodies, ecosystems, symbolic intersubjectivity, and life on this particular planet that I cannot imagine this identity continuing alone without them. However, one may survive one’s life by believing in universal awareness, perfection, and the peace that passes all understanding. Perhaps, we bring this back with us to the Source from which we began, changing it, enriching it. Once we have lived – if we don’t choose the eternal silence of oblivion by life denial, vanity, indifference, or simple weariness – the Source learns and we awaken within it.

Awareness, consciousness, is universal – it comes with the territory – so it may be that you will be one of the few prepared to become unexpectedly enlightened after the loss of body and self. You may discover your own apotheosis ­– something you always were, but, after a lifetime of primate experience, now much more. Since you are of the Source and since you have changed from life experience and yet retained the dream of ultimate awakening, you will have brought those chaotic emotions and memories back to the Source with you (though no longer yours). Your life & memories will have mattered. Those who awaken beyond the death of self will have changed Reality.
Unfortunately, or perhaps not, mainly because of the weariness, stress, and frustration of life, I would wager the vast majority of individuals who die succumb gratefully to loss of self, that is, peaceful oblivion, and perhaps the dreams that come after shuffling off the mortal coil are made of swirling clouds of memories, as Hamlet surmised. However, they may not even be your memories alone.

The Big Sleep beckons, and one must rest. Cosmic consciousness continues, but for the sleepers, it won’t matter.

Keywords: Consciousness, Source, life, death, circle of life, awakening, experience, memory.

The Abusir and Saqqara meetings have been organised already four times by the Czech Institute of Egyptology at the Charles University in Prague – in 2000,2005, 2010 and 2015 (Bárta and Krejčí, eds. 2000; Coppens, ed. 2002; Bárta, Coppens and Krejčí, eds. 2005 and Bárta, Coppens and Krejčí, eds. 2011). Over the years this  event has become an established tradition to look forward to. Indeed, taking place every five years, it has developed into an effective and informative platform bringing scholars up to date with the most recent developments in the field, at Abusir and Saqqara in particular, but also taking into consideration the neighbouring pyramid fields as well as all other evidence and research relevant for gaining a better understanding of the primary subject of the conference. Scholars of Egyptian archaeology, philology, art history, anthropology, natural sciences and other disciplines active on the pyramid fields, but also colleagues whose works elsewhere has an impact on the history of the pyramid fields, meet for a week to discuss the latest development and discoveries in their respective fields and establish further cooperation. It was not different during the last meeting that took place in Prague during June22–26, 2015. In the present volume we offer 43 contributions by 53 scholars covering different fields and periods. The overwhelming number of the 31 contributions is dedicated to various aspects of Old Kingdom archaeology and most present specific aspects linked with archaeological excavations, both past and present. The successive period of the Middle Kingdom is represented by three studies; the New Kingdom period features four and the Late Period three articles, respectively. Finally, the volume is closed with two more studies which cannot be strictly dated to a specific period. The very nature of the individual contributions reflects well the current situation in Egyptology characterized by a focus on archaeology, the theory of artefacts, iconographic and art historian studies, and the research of largely unpublished archival materials. What is – rather unfortunately given the present state of affairs –in great demand are multidisciplinary projects making use of the current hi-tech standards in world archaeology. Such projects in most cases fail due to the current restrictions in sampling strategies and subsequent analyses, unlike, for instance, in Sudanese archaeology. As long as this situation persists, hardly any significant progress in the current quality of Egyptian archaeology and Egyptology in general can be envisaged. The final but perhaps most important and heartfelt words are going to our dear colleague and friend Nicole Alexanian. This fine German scholar and close friend of many of us was made to leave this world too early. She devoted her professional career to the study of the Old Kingdom period, site, tombs and the Dahshur pyramid field in particular. She was the author of many stimulating articles and studies and a monograph on the tomb of Netjeraperef. In accord with her family, we take the liberty to dedicate the present volume to her. We are convinced that her name and memory will remain everlasting and will thus fulfil one of the most important wishes of the Ancient Egyptians – achieving endless and blessed presence through your deed sand thoughts. It is the very hope of the editors that she would enjoy the current volume and discussions on many themes emerging through the rich collection of the texts presented below.
It is probably not out of place here to thank all the contributors for their cooperation during the editorial process. Our sincere thanks go to Jolana Malátková and Martin Odler for their invaluable help during the preparation of the volumes and to the Serifa publishing house. We also wish to thank all members of our institute for their help and encouragement.

Bárta, M. and Krejčí, J., eds. 2000
Abusir and Saqqara in the year 2000. Archiv Orientální. Supplemena 9. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Oriental Institute, Prague.

Coppens, F., ed. 2002
Abusir and Saqqara in the Year 2001. Proceedings of the Symposium (Prague, September 25th– 27th2001), Archiv Orientální Supplementa 70.3 (Prague 2002), 261–425.

Bárta, M., Coppens, F. and Krejčí, J., eds. 2006
Abusir and Saqqara in the year 2005. Proceedings of the conference held in Prague, June 27-July 5, 2005. Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, Prague.

Bárta, M., Coppens, F. and Krejčí, J., eds. 2011 Abusir And Saqqara In The year 2005. Proceedings of the conference held in Prague, May 30 – June 4, 2010 (2 volumes). Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague.

Greek death-cult in an attempt to clarify certain contemporary political phenomena in the Mediterranean area. The cult of the dead is a common cultural pattern in the area. Why is this cult so persistent? What is death-cult and how does it manifest itself? The article delves into its lasting importance in the Greek part of the cultural area, where the author has conducted several fieldworks. To illustrate the persistence of this cultural pattern, the characteristic aspects connected with death-cult in Greek tradition are discussed: The comparison is based on festivals, which are dedicated to deceased persons and domestic death-rituals combined with ancient sources. Based on them an analytical survey of the relationship between the death-cult dedicated to deceased mediators in ancient and modern society, as it is manifested through laments, burials and the following memorial rituals is made. The modern domestic rituals people perform for their own dead influence the official ideological rituals, and vice versa, the domestic rituals reflect public performances. A study of modern cult practices reveals many parallels with the official cult of the ancients, and suggests ways in which modern rituals can throw new light upon the ancient rituals and vice versa. The article seeks to demonstrate how new ideologies must adjust to older rituals and beliefs and how public and domestic rituals are connected. The article finally suggests how these similarities might represent a common way of expression within a larger context in which the Mediterranean cultural meaning of emotion is central.