Contextualising grave inventories in the ancient Near East

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The third supplementary volume of the series “Qa? na Studien” features contributions from the workshop “Symbols of the Dead” at the 7th ICAANE in London and the symposium “Grave Inventories and their (Inter)regional Context” in Tübingen. Organized by the post-graduate school “Symbols of the Dead,” this volume includes theoretical discussions, archaeological case studies, and archaeometric analyses aimed at identifying the composition and provenance of objects from grave contexts. Contributions span a geographical range including Syria, Mesopotamia, the Syro-Anatolian regions, Jordan, Egypt, and the Aegean, covering a chronological period from the 4th to the 1st millennia B.C. The papers either compare different regions within a single period or focus on one region across multiple periods, providing insights into mortuary practices, the symbolism of grave goods, and the interaction between the living and the dead. The volume is organized into three sections: “The Dead, The Ancestors and the Living,” “Mortuary Rituals,” and “Grave Goods, Food and Offerings,” each addressing key aspects of the symbolism of the dead in the Ancient Near East and reflecting major research fields in recent mortuary studies.