Keywords

Burial -- Egypt -- Kellis (Extinct city), Dakhla Oasis (Egypt), Geographic information systems -- Egypt -- Kellis (Extinct city), Kellis (Extinct city), Spatial analysis (Statistics) in archaeology -- Egypt -- Kellis (Extinct city)

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the use of geographic information systems (GIS) to examine mortuary practices in the Romano-Byzantine period Kellis 2 cemetery located in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. The first research objective examines the relationship between age, sex and grave substructures of 701 burials in Kellis 2 cemetery. The aim of this research objective was to determine if the presence and style of grave substructures were influenced by sex or age. Although not statistically significant, GIS analysis revealed that most of the graves in the Kellis 2 cemetery have no associated substructures, but of those that did have associated substructures, adult male burials were more likely to have a substructure than adult females or juveniles. Moreover, males and females aged from 22 to 50 years were more likely to have an associated substructure than younger and older individuals. In the juvenile age categories, newborns and children aged 1 to 5 years were more likely to have an associated substructure than the other juvenile age categories. This may be related to the second research objective which focused on the spatial relationship between infant and adult burials in the Kellis 2 cemetery. The second objective was to determine if infants were more likely to be buried between two adults, perhaps representing family units. GIS and statistical analysis revealed that the infants in the Kellis 2 cemetery were more likely to be buried closer to each other or to adult females than to adult males. Of those 25 infants buried between two adults most of them were either buried between two adult females, or between an adult male and female. Only three infants were found buried between two males. Interestingly, many of the adult females buried in close proximity with an iv infant were of child-bearing age. GIS was a very useful tool for examining questions of mortuary practices, particularly in examining spatial relationships between variables recorded for the Kellis 2 cemetery.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2011

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Dupras, Tosha

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Anthropology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0004082

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004082

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences, Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

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