1. Bone or Flesh: Defleshing and Post-Depositional Treatments at Körtik Tepe (Southeastern Anatolia, PPNA Period).
- Author
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Erdal, Yilmaz Selim
- Subjects
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ARCHAEOLOGICAL human remains , *SKELETON , *ANALYSIS of bones , *PREHISTORIC funeral rites & ceremonies , *INTERMENT , *HUMAN decomposition , *NEOLITHIC Period , *ARCHAEOLOGICAL excavations , *HISTORY - Abstract
Cutmarks on the bones of ten individuals from Körtik Tepe, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Southeastern Anatolia, were analysed using a bioarchaeological approach. Half of the ten individuals possess cutmarks on their crania only while the other five have cutmarks on both their cranial and postcranial bones. Diagnoses of these cutmarks suggest they were made on fresh cadavers, while skeletal data and burial customs reveal that the individuals with cutmarks were subject to human intervention in the decomposition process, understood as post-burial practices rather than secondary burials. This conclusion is supported by the application of plaster and paint as part of the burial customs. The process of defleshing is interpreted as an attempt to purify the corpse and to separate death from life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
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