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Collective Memory and Collective Burials: Iron Age Chamber Tombs in Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah as Mnemonic Devices

  • Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University
  • 2024, 81(1), pp.215-243
  • DOI : 10.17326/jhsnu.81.1.202402.215
  • Publisher : Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University
  • Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
  • Received : January 16, 2024
  • Accepted : February 6, 2024
  • Published : February 28, 2024

Sebastian Müller 1

1Institute for Mediterranean Studies

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The present article is based on the relationship between collective memory and identity construction within communities. Memory is identified as a fundamental element determining how individuals and groups perceive themselves in relation to the world and others. Inquiring on collective memory of a community as a starting point or main concept of research is thus of significance for understanding both modern societies and ancient cultures. The aim of the present study is to explore the connection between collective memory and chamber tombs in the Southern Levant during the developed Iron Age (ca. 840-586 B.C.E.). The so-called bench tombs were the preferred type of burial in the kingdom of Judah which emerged around the city of Jerusalem. The present article aims to explore how the Judahite bench tombs and their content, the tomb installations, artefacts and human remains, possibly enforced the commemoration and the forgetting of the deceased. The analysis draws on the distinction between communicative and cultural memory as two differing parts of the collective memory. It is argued that the tombs and their content functioned as mnemonic devices on several levels by commemorating the dead and reinforcing the cohesion and identity of the burying community.

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This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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