From 2015 to 2017 The French School at Rome held three interdisciplinary conferences focusing on funeral customs, rituals and legal provisions relating to burial in antiquity. Their output is a collection of fifteen case studies covering selected sites in the Mediterranean from the Early Bronze Age to late antiquity. As the title of the publication suggests, the focus of the authors is on tombs and the possibility for the individual to be properly buried. The thematic arrangement of the volume reflects the various aspects with which tombs can be examined: who was buried and how they were buried, tombs as a reference point for the living or tombs as places that are not tombs in the typical sense of the word. Individual studies are largely based on morphological analyses of bioarchaeological (skeletal) material as well as literary or epigraphic sources. The interdisciplinary and diachronic approach to research, which has resonated in funeral archaeology or ʻarcheothanatology' for several years, is emphasised in the introduction by the volume's editor, Bérard. M.G. Belcastro and V. Mariotti start with a discussion of current issues concerning the definition of atypical and exceptional funerals, which have gained the attention of professionals and the general public. Along with the exhaustive literature, their contribution is a good introduction to an issue sometimes referred to as ʻdeviant burials’.
The first thematic area, focused on the placement of the deceased in the area of the tomb, evaluates archaeological finds from the perspective of sociocultural and biological anthropology. V. Nizzo explains the ʻfuneral integration' of members of society using the example of the necropolis in Pithecusae. In the reconstruction of the ʻdeathscape’ it points to an open, though not inclusive, community of the Orientalising period. The level of integration of individuals into society remains at a hypothetical level, but it corresponds to current research trends, emphasising the dynamics of cultural identity. The contribution of P. Catalano, S. Di Giannantonio and W. Pantano, concerning the necropolis in Casal Bertone in Rome, testifies to social differentiation. Anthropological analysis has confirmed the higher standard of living and better health of those buried in the monumental tomb than those in other burial grounds. Another mausoleum from Hierapolis, tomb No. 163d, is unique due to its intact underground tomb chamber and preserved epigraphic documents. However, anthropological analysis encounters certain limits that result from the state and number of finds. Despite this, C. Laforest and D. Castex present a detailed palaeodemographic study of a Roman provincial town.
Funeral law, the subject of the second thematic area, interfered with public, private and religious law. The tomb in ancient Greece defined the identity of the citizen. In addition to private monuments, there were also public spaces designed to bury a large group of those who could not afford to own a tomb and land, whether due to limited civil rights or finances. Most archaeological, literary and epigraphic evidence is traditionally linked to classical Athens, which M. Faraguna compares with later documents from the Dodecanese. However, the time distance that divides individual epigraphic and archaeological documents is understandable due to their uniqueness and fragmentation. Despite the dynamic transformation of the polis in the Hellenistic period, a reflection of funeral customs from previous periods can be seen. The protection of private property, respect for religion and the memory of the deceased supported the cohesion of the Roman community. The legal protection of the tomb as a sacred space (locus religiosus) from the point of view of damaging public interest is analysed by A. Paturet, while S. Lazzarini deals with the abuse of laws that excluded the tomb from business relations (especially as a guarantee for creditors). Some researchers believe that Hellenistic as well as Roman society in the Imperial period were on the path to growing individualism at the expense of social and family cohesion. Well-known inscriptions from Isola Sacra in Rome, re-analysed by M.-L. Caldelli, point to both the ancestral and the family character of house tombs. The paper brings a summary of known facts rather than new perspectives, the benefit being an expansion of the discussion on multigenerational and nuclear family tombs (B.E. Borg, Roman Tombs and the Art of Commemoration [2019]). The structure of elite tombs corresponded to the family hierarchy, within which the remains of the most important members of the family were stored in a reserved place. The patron or his heirs also granted the right to be buried in the hereditary tombs to their freedmen and their descendants. C. Ricci analyses literary and epigraphic sources concerning the final resting place of slaves and freedmen of a close Augustus collaborator and friend, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. However, more than the right to be buried, she devotes herself to identifying these characters on the basis of onomastics and prosopography.
The third and final thematic area is devoted to unusual burials, unburied bodies and remains in non-sepulchral contexts, characterised by considerable diversity. Taphonomy plays an important role in their interpretation, and in some cases methods of forensic archaeology are applied. The findings of the historical period resonate with the importance of close cooperation, not only between archaeologists and anthropologists, but also between historians and epigraphers. This interdisciplinarity, which runs like a red thread through the publication, is perhaps its strongest point. A. Crispino and M. Cultraro, in their contribution analysing the ʻdeviant burials' of Central and Eastern Sicily, link funeral and landscape archaeology. Signs of secondary burials indicate a connection between Early Bronze Age burial structures and a cult of the dead. The secondary deposition is evidenced by some skeletal remains from the Novi Sad locality in Modena, which bear signs of body manipulation. V. Mariotti, D. Labate, L. Malnati and Belcastro offer several hypotheses explaining the throwing of bodies into Roman public landfills, which were used for centuries. Labate, G. Gruppioni, V. Milani and C. Simonini also deal with the unpreserved and dismembered remains of ancient Mutina. An interesting explanation is the references to the tradition of capital punishment from early Roman history, which, however, as in other localities, remain at the level of hypotheses. J.-D. Rodríguez Martín addresses Roman law practices which, under certain conditions, allowed the body of the offender to be manipulated and denied burial (noxae deditio), which was an extremely harsh punishment. Quite the opposite is the example of cenotaphs that served as reverential or celebratory monuments to the dead. E. Christof analyses epigraphic findings that prove their presence in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor. The cenotaphs of members of the imperial family, Gaius Caesar's in Limyra and Trajan's in Selinus (Şekerhane Köşkü), are reminiscent in their form of temple tombs, which have a tradition dating back to the late classical period. Trajan's cenotaph served as a heroon in the city centre. Intramural burials, which appear in the ancient world as well as in dynastic cultures in Anatolia, deserve perhaps more attention, if not in this paper, then in a separate study.
The individual parts of the publication include complex topics to which separate publications could be devoted. However, this is not a summary work on the issue, which is not the goal of the authors. It would be an exaggeration to say that the volume redefines the approach, methodology or tasks of the archaeology of death and burials. Thanks to the selection of individual topics, however, it is a useful contribution to the existing literature dealing with funeral archaeology. It brings up-to-date results of archaeological research, emphasising the importance of interdisciplinarity and reliable methodology adapted to each context. Therefore, it is an important source of information for anyone who would like to learn more about burial in antiquity.
