Going Underground

Going Underground The Meanings of Death and Burial for Minority Groups in Israel Talia Shay Archaeopress Archaeology Archaeopress Publishing Ltd Summertown Pavilion 18-24 Middle Way Summertown Oxford OX2 7LG www.archaeopress.com ISBN 978-1-78969-619-6 ISBN 978-1-78969-620-2 (e-Pdf) © Archaeopress and Talia Shay 2021 Cover image by [email protected] All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners. This book is available direct from Archaeopress or from our website www.archaeopress.com Contents Figures and Tables �� ii Preface and acknowledgments �� iii Reflections on death and burial ��1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 Funerals and gender .......................................................................................................3 Field trips .........................................................................................................................5 Courses on death and burial .........................................................................................7 Indigenous archaeology .................................................................................................8 The change of ideas ......................................................................................................10 References ......................................................................................................................12 Methodology: The northern cemetery ��19 Introduction ..................................................................................................................19 Classification/corpus of the northern cemetery .....................................................22 The public sphere .........................................................................................................34 References ......................................................................................................................36 The interviews: The northern cemetery ��40 Introduction ..................................................................................................................40 The cemetery and its population ...............................................................................40 The interviews ...............................................................................................................42 Epilogue ..........................................................................................................................46 References ......................................................................................................................47 The urban cemetery, kibbutz cemetery and public cemeteries ��51 Introduction ..................................................................................................................51 An urban cemetery (an archaeological corpus) .......................................................51 A kibbutz cemetery .......................................................................................................55 Public cemeteries ..........................................................................................................56 References ......................................................................................................................57 A nominalist approach: Archaeology of remembrance and contemporary archaeology ��60 Introduction ..................................................................................................................60 The Palestinian-Christian cemetery ..........................................................................62 An anthropological ‘Other’: the haredim ..................................................................67 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................77 References ......................................................................................................................78 Conclusion: The assemblage theory, or is there an anthropology of death and burial? ��85 The endless cycle of ideas: archaeology, history, anthropology............................89 Archaeological ethics ...................................................................................................94 References ......................................................................................................................96 Figures and Tables Figures Figure 1.1 British Cemetery, Haifa .................................................................................................... 17 Figure 1.2 Ceremony for Indian soldiers, British Cemetery, Haifa .............................................. 18 Figure 2.1 Neglect of the northern cemetery ................................................................................. 37 Figure 2.2 Grave of a homeless person, northern cemetery ........................................................ 38 Figure 2.3 Cemetery workers, northern cemetery ........................................................................ 38 Figure 2.4 ‘Soviet’ fence, northern cemetery ................................................................................. 39 Figure 3.1 Land seizure in the northern cemetery ........................................................................ 48 Figure 3.2 Grave of A’s father, northern cemetery ......................................................................... 49 Figure 3.3 Subsidence in the northern cemetery .......................................................................... 49 Figure 3.4 Late gravestone with rose relief, northern cemetery ................................................ 50 Figure 3.5 Late gravestone with bilingual inscription, northern cemetery .............................. 50 Figure 4.1 Multilevel burials and field burials, urban cemetery �� 58 Figure 4.2 Gates of the urban cemetery .......................................................................................... 58 Figure 4.3 Crowded graves in the urban cemetery �� 59 Figure 5.1 The Palestinian-Christian cemetery .............................................................................. 84 Figure 5.2 Graves of ultra-religious Jews, Beth Shemesh, near Jerusalem �� 84 Tables Table 2.1: Age at death by period, northern cemetery ................................................................. 24 Table 2.2: Size of base of adult graves by row, northern cemetery �� 25 Table 2.3: Social and cultural factors mentioned in epitaphs, northern cemetery ................. 28 Preface and acknowledgments This book is about attitudes towards death and burial in contemporary society. It is intended for professional archaeologists and for ordinary people, as it includes information, personal experiences, ethical considerations and thoughts regarding death and archaeology in general. Contemporary archaeology is different from the old science of archaeology, as it centers not only on physical things but also on more intangible ones, such as people’s stories and thoughts. Contemporary archaeology, like traditional archaeology, adheres to strict scientific standards; however, it is also sensitive to living people, minorities, heritage and even the future of society. As such, it gives voice to the voiceless ‘alterities,’ on the one hand; and guards against the increasing devastation of both humans and things through ‘super-modernity,’ on the other. In its commitment to the concerns of contemporary archaeology, this book provides information on the attitudes towards death and burial of several minority groups living in Israel today, including four communities of Russian Jews, an ultra-religious Jewish community and a Palestinian-Christian community. It also describes how the visual and verbal information on the attitudes towards death and burial of these communities was gathered. An important part of this description is the relationship between the interviewees and the author. The book ends with a discussion of the relevance and meaning of archaeology in general. This book is relevant to professional archaeologists and anthropologists, but it is also aimed at all those interested in humanity’s multiple attitudes towards death and burial. The work was supported by a grant from the Minerva Foundation for the Interdisciplinary Study of the End of Life, Tel Aviv University, Israel. Without their help, it would have been impossible to have had this book edited. I am also grateful to my sons Ilya and Yoel Ziblat-Shay and my many friends, dead

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