The forms by which a deceased person may be brought to rest are as many
as there are causes of death. In most societies the disposal of the
corpse is accompanied by some form of celebration or ritual which may
range from a simple act of deportment in solitude to the engagement of
large masses of people in laborious and creative festivities. In a
funerary context the term ritual may be taken to represent a process
that incorporates all the actions performed and thoughts expressed in
connection with a dying and dead person, from the preparatory pre-death
stages to the final deposition of the corpse and the post-mortem stages
of grief and commemoration. The contributions presented here are focused
not on the examination of different funerary practices, their function
and meaning, but on the changes of such rituals - how and when they
occurred and how they may be explained. Based on case studies from a
range of geographical regions and from different prehistoric and
historical periods, a range of key themes are examined concerning belief
and ritual, body and deposition, place, performance and commemoration,
exploring a complex web of practices.