The Routledge Handbook of Archaeothanatology

The Routledge Handbook of Archaeothanatology spans the gap between archaeology and biological anthropology, the field and laboratory, and between francophone and anglophone funerary archaeological approaches to the remains of the dead and the understanding of societies, past and present.

Interest in archaeothanatology has grown considerably in recent years in English-language scholarship. This timely publication moves away from anecdotal case studies to offer syntheses of archaeothanatological approaches with an eye to higher-level inferences about funerary behaviour and its meaning in the past. Written by francophone scholars who have contributed to the development of the field and anglophone scholars inspired by the approach, this volume offers detailed insight into the background and development of archaeothanatology, its theory, methods, applications, and its most recent advances, with a lexicon of related vocabulary.

This volume is a key source for archaeo-anthropologists and bioarchaeologists. It will benefit researchers, lecturers, practitioners and students in biological anthropology, archaeology, taphonomy and forensic science. Given the interdisciplinary nature of these disciplines, and the emphasis placed on analysis in situ, this book will also be of interest to specialists in entomology, (micro)biology and soil science.

Author Biography

Christopher J. Knüsel is Professor of Biological Anthropology, University of Bordeaux, France. His research centres on the use of biological anthropological data within its archaeological context to address social relations in the past, including specifically violence and warfare and morphological changes linked to specialisation. With Martin J. Smith, he co-edited and contributed to The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict (2014).

Eline M.J. Schotsmans is a research fellow at the University of Bordeaux, France, and the University of Wollongong, Australia. Her research lies at the interface between archaeoanthropology and forensic sciences with a focus on mortuary sequences, preservation practices, taphonomy and method development through experimentation. Her positions in France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Australia helped to broaden her perspective of francophone and anglophone funerary archaeological approaches.