The materiality of the Roman death: space, body, and objects for a posthuman approach to the study of non-elite funerary practices in the 1st c. AD Corduba

This thesis presents, justifies for, and testes an approach that examines the mutually constitutive relationships between individuals and the world during the funerary rituals of the non-elite in the ancient Roman world, as evidenced by the following sites: the ‘sepulcretum’ at Llanos del Pretorio and the tomb of Cornelia Nymphe, both in Córdoba, and the misnamed “puticulus” in Mérida, all dating from the 1st century AD.
First, a historiographical justification is presented for the design of the proposed approach. Since the 15th century, an artificial conception of the Roman funeral has been constructed, relying solely on literary sources and used as a framework for interpreting the archaeological record. This has obscured the diversity of possible funerary practices. Assuming that burials provide evidence of the relationships formed during the burial allows us to rule out the arbitrary existence of a funeral norm and to focus on analysing what kind of ritualised relationships were forged around the burials of the non-elite Roman population.
The epistemological foundations of the proposed social-constructivist approach, called ‘critique os the material conditions of resonance’, are: 1) the concept of materiality as a relational, flat, practical and immanent ontology, applied to the analysis of funerals by understanding them as ‘ritualised assemblages’. 2) The posthuman idea of a subject ontologically inseparable from objects and the world. 3) The mutually arrogated religious agency, based on the ‘Lived Ancient Religion’ approach, as opposed to the objectified agency of ‘assemblages’. 4) H. Rosa’s theory of resonance as part of the sociology of Weltbeziehungen. And 5) the argument that precariousness and risk determined the lives of the non-elite in antiquity. The inductive analysis focuses on space, the body and objects.
The cippi defined the spatial regime of the sepulcretum of Llanos del Pretorio, constrained ritual activity and forced part of it to take place on the street. The accumulation of burials at the boundaries of most of the funerary enclosures and in adjacent or overlapping areas, together with the raising of the ground level, are interpreted as different forms of resistance to spatial oppression.
The decomposition of the corpse fostered an attitude of control identifiable in Latin literature. The aim was the rapid transformation of the body to prevent it from becoming a hazard to the community. Several burials in the ‘puticulus’ of Mérida required a substantial investment of time, effort and resources. At Llanos del Pretorio, the boundaries between human and animal remains are blurred, as several sets of remains were intentionally mixed. A distinction is made between animal remains that may have been part of a meal and those that served as a blood offering.
Objects have the capacity to endure over time, enabling them to transcend spaces and the lives of individuals. The main forms of relationship with objects identified are the accumulation of pottery in the graves to signify the subjects’ accompaniment during burial and communal dining. Bodily and personal objects defined the individual or family identity of the deceased.
It is concluded that the poor Romans established meaningful relationships that shaped their world by means of burials. During these ritualised practices, the world takes the form of a deified ancestor, recreated through the transformation of the corpse, other individuals, objects and spaces. The spatial arrangement fostered relationships of closeness and intimacy; the body of the deceased fostered relationships of care for the dying and an awareness of fragility, vulnerability and the need for support networks. The objects fostered an awareness of past and future dependence on intra-group affective relationships, their everyday nature, and the need for remembrance, memory, and individual and collective identity. It is argued that in the future, we must speak of a multitude of models of Roman funerals rather than just one.