ANTH 180 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Counterargument, Grave Goods, Tzompantli

• School: University of Illinois
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTH 180
• Professor: H Silverman

Document Summary

Death has a social frame of reference. Death provides occasions for a symbolic discourse on life. The human response to death is culturally scripted and involves ceremonial behavior-not universal. We bring our own biases into the study of mortuary patterns. Archaeologists pay specific attention to status when looking at death records. We assume that the expenditure of wealth and effort on a person"s burial indicates their status, but this is not necessarily true. Attitudes of death may be congruent with social life. The kin of a deceased person are contaminated by a death in the family. We want to avoid death but stay in our own bodies. We know we must die, but envision a second life beyond. My body will die but my soul will live on. I will die and be gone but my legacy will live on. Uncertainty of what death is and what follows. To get information about a person and their society.