This collection explores the behavioral and social facets of funerary, mortuary, and burial rites in both past and present societies. By utilizing data from around the world and combining recent and ongoing concerns in anthropology, it takes the study of mortuary archaeology to a new and significant level of interdisciplinary research. Drawing inspiration from ethnohistory, ethnography, bioarchaeology, and sociocultural anthropology, the authors focus on themes of gender, ancestorhood, ritual violence, individual agency, space and placement, and extended and secondary mortuary ceremonialism. They also expand the interdisciplinary focus of mortuary practices and reassess previous anthropological theories. No previously published work on the archaeology of mortuary remains presents such a range of examples of ritual practices through time and around the globe. Because of its wide scope and interdisciplinary approach, Interacting with the Dead will be indispensable not only to archaeologists and anthropologists but also across the social sciences and humanities and to all who study cross-cultural rituals.

How to Do Things with Dead People studies human contrivances for representing and relating to the dead. Alice Dailey takes as her principal objects of inquiry Shakespeare's English history plays, describing them as reproductive mechanisms by which living replicas of dead historical figures are regenerated in the present and re-killed. Considering the plays in these terms exposes their affinity with a transhistorical array of technologies for producing, reproducing, and interacting with dead things—technologies such as literary doppelgängers, photography, ventriloquist puppetry, X-ray imaging, glitch art, capital punishment machines, and cloning. By situating Shakespeare's historical drama in this intermedial conversation, Dailey challenges conventional assumptions about what constitutes the context of a work of art and contests foundational models of linear temporality that inform long-standing conceptions of historical periodization and teleological order. Working from an eclectic body of theories, pictures, and machines that transcend time and media, Dailey composes a searching exploration of how the living use the dead to think back and look forward, to rule, to love, to wish and create.

Modern technology has given us powerful new tools for an age-old dream: seeing and speaking with the dead. Using things you probably already own - such as a camcorder, computer, or tape recorder - you can contact departed loved ones or other spirits, record their images and voices, and establish two-way communications between the worlds. Speak with the Dead also details the more traditional methods of seance, trance, and scrying. You don't have to be a "techie" or an occultist to use any of these techniques. This book will guide you to one of the most awe-inspiring experiences you'll ever have - making contact with deceased loved ones and other souls. Speak with the Dead is the first book in the modern marketplace to focus on practical, usable techniques for communicating with spirits. This book shows you seven methods for spirit contact: -catching Electronic Voice Phenomena on tape -using radio noise to provide spirits with a voice -capturing ghostly images on videotape -letting spirits use your computer or telephone -scrying, establishing telepathic contact with the dead, and holding a seance Speak with them. They're waiting.

In case after amazing case, you'll listen to the actual voices of the dead--contrary, lyrical entrancing. You'll explore the meaning of out-of-body experiences and learn how spirits of the dead can be seen as well as heard. You'll also discover how YOU can communicate with the dead--and capture their voices on an ordinary tape recorder!

The Andean idea of death differs markedly from the Western view. In the Central Andes, particularly the highlands, death is not conceptually separated from life, nor is it viewed as a permanent state. People, animals, and plants simply transition from a soft, juicy, dynamic life to drier, more lasting states, like dry corn husks or mummified ancestors. Death is seen as an extension of vitality. Living with the Dead in the Andes considers recent research by archaeologists, bioarchaeologists, ethnographers, and ethnohistorians whose work reveals the diversity and complexity of the dead-living interaction. The book’s contributors reap the salient results of this new research to illuminate various conceptions and treatments of the dead: “bad” and “good” dead, mummified and preserved, the body represented by art or effigies, and personhood in material and symbolic terms. Death does not end or erase the emotional bonds established in life, and a comprehensive understanding of death requires consideration of the corpse, the soul, and the mourners. Lingering sentiment and memory of the departed seems as universal as death itself, yet often it is economic, social, and political agendas that influence the interactions between the dead and the living. Nine chapters written by scholars from diverse countries and fields offer data-rich case studies and innovative methodologies and approaches. Chapters include discussions on the archaeology of memory, archaeothanatology (analysis of the transformation of the entire corpse and associated remains), a historical analysis of postmortem ritual activities, and ethnosemantic-iconographic analysis of the living-dead relationship. This insightful book focuses on the broader concerns of life and death.

Very few travel writers have the skill to uncover profound beliefs and practices around the world for communicating with the dead, but Judith Fein is anything but your average travel writer. In her fascinating, informative, and exciting new book, HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE DEAD, she invites the reader to come along and get a glimpse through the thin veil that seems to separate life and death. We follow her from Japan to Brazil, Vanuatu, South Africa, Tunisia, Micronesia, Norway, Israel, Mexico, Tahiti, Nigeria, Ukraine, Italy, New Mexico, and more. And if you are so inclined, Fein gives you step-by-step instructions so you can undertake the communication yourself with those you have lost. It can ease grief, provide answers, help anyone going through a difficult time, or just satisfy your curiosity to look beneath the surface and beyond what is visible.

Linda Georgian nationally known psychic and author of Your Guardian Angels, shows you how to reach beyond the limits of your five senses to contact loved ones who have passed beyond life as we know it. In clear and easy-to-understand language, she explains not only the historical and religious precedents for communicating with those who have passed beyond, but how to initiate, respond to, and interpret communications yourself.

Widens traditional concepts of forensic science to include humanitarian, social, and cultural aspects Using the preservation of the dignity of the deceased as its foundation, Forensic Science and Humanitarian Action: Interacting with the Dead and the Living is a unique examination of the applications of humanitarian forensic science. Spanning two comprehensive volumes, the text is sufficiently detailed for forensic practitioners, yet accessible enough for non-specialists, and discusses both the latest technologies and real-world interactions. Arranged into five sections, this book addresses the ‘management of the dead’ across five major areas in humanitarian forensic science. Volume One presents the first three of these areas: History, Theory, Practice, and Legal Foundation; Basic Forensic Information to Trace Missing Persons; and Stable Isotopes Forensics. Topics covered include: Protection of The Missing and the Dead Under International Law Social, Cultural and Religious Factors in Humanitarian Forensic Science Posthumous Dignity and the Importance in Returning Remains of the Deceased The New Disappeared – Migration and Forensic Science Stable Isotope Analysis in Forensic Anthropology Volume Two covers two further areas of interest: DNA Analysis and the Forensic Identification Process. It concludes with a comprehensive set of case studies focused on identifying the deceased, and finding missing persons from around the globe, including: Forensic Human Identification from an Australian Perspective Skeletal Remains and Identification Processing at the FBI Migrant Deaths along the Texas/Mexico Border Humanitarian Work in Cyprus by The Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) Volcán De Fuego Eruption – Natural Disaster Response from Guatemala Drawing upon a wide range of contributions from respected academics working in the field, Forensic Science and Humanitarian Action is a unique reference for forensic practitioners, communities of humanitarian workers, human rights defenders, and government and non-governmental officials.

Is there life after death? What happens on the other side? Is it possible to contact those who have already passed away? These are usually the questions people have in mind about life after death. Sometimes, you think grief gets in the way of your judgement. You don't know if you're just hallucinating or letting your imagination run wild. You have this inner conflict where you end up keeping these experiences to yourself. Otherwise, your friends or family might just stare at you with wide eyes. Back in the days, civilizations have long believed in an afterlife. People in almost every culture think that it is indeed possible to communicate with the dead. Throughout the ages, many have reported that they have been able to speak with their dearly departed. Even in classic literature, communication with ghosts and spirits frequently shows up. In a 2014 news poll, it is said that three out of four people believe there's something after death. Many have sensed and received signs from their loved ones after passing. The idea that the living can make contact with the spirits of those who have passed over is popular today primarily because of the modern "channeling" trend, which is considered part of the "New Age" movement stemming from Hinduism, Buddhism and other traditions. However, it is also important to understand everything about after-death communication to deal with the departed souls in the right manner.