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An Early Epipalaeolithic sitting burial from the Azraq Oasis, Jordan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

T. Richter ,
Jay T. Stock ,
L. Maher  and
C. Hebron
T. Richter*
Affiliation:
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, The Henry Wellcome Building, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK
Jay T. Stock
Affiliation:
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, The Henry Wellcome Building, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK
L. Maher
Affiliation:
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, The Henry Wellcome Building, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK
C. Hebron
Affiliation:
5b Friar's Stile Road, Richmond Hill, London TW10 6NM, UK
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Abstract

Detailed analysis of the anatomy and taphonomic process of a burial in Jordan shows that the body was originally bound in a sitting position and placed in marshland, where it collapsed into the splayed tableau eventually recovered by excavation. The authors succeed in reconstructing a burial rite from one of the most elusive of mortuary phases: the Early Epipalaeolithic in south-west Asia.

Keywords

LevantJordanEpipalaeolithicburialbindingexposureexcarnation
Type
Research articles
Information
Antiquity , Volume 84 , Issue 324 , June 2010 , pp. 321 - 334
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2010

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