This thesis asks the question 'How can the mortuary practices of two separate Colonial era sites be compared, using the 16th century cemeteries of El Chorro de Maita in Cuba, and Magdalena de Cao...Show moreThis thesis asks the question 'How can the mortuary practices of two separate Colonial era sites be compared, using the 16th century cemeteries of El Chorro de Maita in Cuba, and Magdalena de Cao Viejo in Peru as examples', and follows this main research question with the subquestions 'how were the individuals interred?', 'how were the individuals oriented?', 'where within, or outside of, the cemeteries were the individual buried?', and 'were there grave goods present, and if so, what kinds?'. All of the research carried out rot this thesis is based entirely on literature. First, there is a brief explanation of the historical background of the two regions that the sites find themselves in, followed by a more narrowed down look at the cemeteries themselves, and the roles that they played in the encomienda and reducción systems as imposed by the Colonial Spanish. In the chapter about the burials, it becomes clear that for both sites the age and sex of a person did not seem to have mattered when it came to the location of the burial within the cemetery. Both sites also have evidence for the deposition of individuals in a Christian burial position, this is much more prevalent in the Peruvian site at Magdalena de Cao Viejo. When it comes to the presence of grave goods, they are very much lacking at Magdalena de Cao Viejo, while there is a large and varied amount of material found at El Chorro de Maita in Cuba, possibly due to a less direct amount of contact, and therefore influence, from a Spanish ruled settlement.Show less
In this thesis titled Burying Beliefs the mortuary practices of Ceramic Age groups from Colombia, Western-Venezuela, and the off-shore islands are studied in order to identify the various social...Show moreIn this thesis titled Burying Beliefs the mortuary practices of Ceramic Age groups from Colombia, Western-Venezuela, and the off-shore islands are studied in order to identify the various social aspects of these practices. This research is primarily based on a literature study including both archaeological- and ethnographic literature, combined with an in-depth analysis of the data gathered from this literature. It was important to be cautious in this research as in a literature study a research bias in inevitable. The main objective of this research was to determine to what extend ethnographic data can be used to complement the archaeological evidence in order to identify the various social aspects of mortuary practices. The ethnographic dataset consists of accounts of various indigenous communities inhabiting the South American mainland, each adopting their own sets of beliefs and practices. Additionally, in order to study the social aspects of mortuary practices in depth a solid theoretical framework was necessary. The theoretical framework applied in this study consisted of various theories on the sociality of a society such as, ritual, rites of passage, personhood, worldview, and materiality. Through the combination of these concepts it was possible to execute a solid in-depth analysis of the various social aspects of a mortuary practice as nearly every aspect of a society could be highlighted and studied through this theoretical framework. It became clear throughout this research that ethnographic data can be very valuable as a means of complementing the archaeological evidence if care is taken in doing so. Furthermore, this study shows that the study of mortuary practices goes beyond the study of the human remains and the burial assemblage as there are many factors involved which are determinant for the construction and performance of these practices, which are not necessarily retrievable archaeologically.Show less
