Heads, shoulders, knees and toes: Exploring bodies, body parts and personhood in late Neolithic Malta through funerary taphonomy
type: CreativeWork
description: This research addresses the body and personhood in late Neolithic Malta (c. 3600–2300 cal BC) by reconstructing funerary practices at two collective burial sites: the Xemxija Tombs (Malta) and Xagħra Circle (Gozo). The range and sequence of funerary practices are identified through implementing taphonomic analysis to classify the condition and modification of bone and explore dominant trends in depositional practice. Although the extensive disarticulation and fragmentation of remains has received considerable attention, the timing of post-mortem interactions has been largely overlooked. Yet, the temporality of mortuary practices is crucial for understanding the social dimension of the process of death and dying, revealing how the identity of the dead is transformed. This work further explores how mortuary rites responded to understandings of the body held during life. To do so, the treatment of the dead body is placed in its social context, integrating burial treatment, bioarchaeological evidence and material culture—particularly the corpus of anthropomorphic figurines—to provide a new interpretation of personhood in late Neolithic Malta. Analysing the full assemblage of human remains from six rock-cut tombs at Xemxija, and between 9.3–100% of the assemblage from 16 contexts at the Xagħra Circle, this research finds a predominant practice of primary interment and subsequent disarticulation in most burial spaces. Disarticulation typically focussed on the selective removal of crania and long bones, and long bones are demonstrated to have been removed from the Xemxija Tombs. Careful analysis shows this was an extended process, in which the memory of the dead was maintained over several generations and social death was prolonged. Significantly, this practice was inclusive of individuals from foetal to old adult in age and was not biased according to sex. Aligning the life-course with the death-course, a pervasive interest in modifying the body is evident. The fragmentat…
abstract: This research addresses the body and personhood in late Neolithic Malta (c. 3600–2300 cal BC) by reconstructing funerary practices at two collective burial sites: the Xemxija Tombs (Malta) and Xagħra Circle (Gozo). The range and sequence of funerary practices are identified through implementing taphonomic analysis to classify the condition and modification of bone and explore dominant trends in depositional practice. Although the extensive disarticulation and fragmentation of remains has received considerable attention, the timing of post-mortem interactions has been largely overlooked. Yet, the temporality of mortuary practices is crucial for understanding the social dimension of the process of death and dying, revealing how the identity of the dead is transformed. This work further explores how mortuary rites responded to understandings of the body held during life. To do so, the treatment of the dead body is placed in its social context, integrating burial treatment, bioarchaeological evidence and material culture—particularly the corpus of anthropomorphic figurines—to provide a new interpretation of personhood in late Neolithic Malta. Analysing the full assemblage of human remains from six rock-cut tombs at Xemxija, and between 9.3–100% of the assemblage from 16 contexts at the Xagħra Circle, this research finds a predominant practice of primary interment and subsequent disarticulation in most burial spaces. Disarticulation typically focussed on the selective removal of crania and long bones, and long bones are demonstrated to have been removed from the Xemxija Tombs. Careful analysis shows this was an extended process, in which the memory of the dead was maintained over several generations and social death was prolonged. Significantly, this practice was inclusive of individuals from foetal to old adult in age and was not biased according to sex. Aligning the life-course with the death-course, a pervasive interest in modifying the body is evident. The fragmentat…
author: Thompson, Jess Emma
language: en
keywords: Taphonomy, Funerary taphonomy, Personhood, Figurines, Deathways, Neolithic Malta, Collective burial
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/e889c7c0-ee30-4979-9aef-bbf785fd2869/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2020-04-25
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:30Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.50091