Keswani/Mortuary Ritual, 1. Introduction

This chapter introduces the objectives and arguments of the book. Beyond merely ‘giving the dead their due’, mortuary rituals are often focal contexts for the negotiation of social hierarchies, the affirmation of social alliances, and the articulation of sanctified propositions about relationships between individuals, groups, their ancestors, and the cosmos. Thus, the general objectives of this work are to examine the details and long-term trends of mortuary practices in Bronze Age Cyprus.