Italiano What happens after the death of a human being is not limited to the scope of physical fact, but consists of a mixture of biological and cultural practices. The treatment and care of human remains between group members is one of the first practices that exemplifies the evolutionary transition between hominoids and the Homo Sapiens of the Middle Paleolithic period (the first intentional burials started 115.000 – 90.000 years ago). This practice most likely began for hygienic purposes, as coating the bodies of the dead to mask the scent of decay prevented the group from becoming an easy target for predatory animals. The burial act is subsequently and inevitably charged with symbolic value, as a projection of one’s own and inevitable end (an act of, “do unto others as they would do unto you”), as well as in a religious sense. Religion manifests itself in every ancient culture with a vast and often complex range of ritual acts or beliefs related to the afterlife, for which the deceased is prepared. This preparation results in one of two main outcomes: the preservation or the destruction of the body of the dead man. The study of preserved bodies is called mummyology, and the act of mummification allows for the preservation of the body’s soft tissues. Mummification results in of two main types of remains: the natural mummies, accidentally surviving under anaerobic conditions that have prevented natural decomposition (usually in glaciers or bogs) (1-Ötzi, the Similaun’s Iceman); and artificial embalming, which is used for the conservation of bodies for long periods of time and requires either a hot, arid climate (such as the famous mummies of ancient Egypt) or very cold climate (as the less known natural mummies produced by lots of pre-Columbian cultures) (2- The Doncella of Llullaillaco). In particular, Egyptian mummies, which were present throughout the history of this mysterious people (from 3000 BC to the Hellenistic period), were made through a complex series of ritual and conservative acts that included evisceration (organs that were stored in canopic jars, divided into anatomical sectors and each protected by a god) and drying by enclosing the body within bandages soaked in aromatic oils.
English Only this conservation treatment of the body would have allowed the spirit of the deceased to survive even in the afterlife (3- Queen Tiye). The funeral practices most used in the ancient world, however, were burial and cremation. Both were also used simultaneously from the prehistoric time to the Christian period, when the ideology of the resurrection of the body would render burial practices mandatory. Again, there are many diverse rituals as to the materials of the ‘containers’ (sarcophagi, urns, glass ossuaries, docks, etc.) (4- Canopus from Chiusi) and the architectural embodiment (chamber tombs, a simple pit, mausoleums, mounds, ships, fences, etc.) designed to physically contain and preserve the memory of the deceased throughout time. These types of monuments vary greatly depending on the culture and the historical period of reference. Some cultures practiced cremation alone, others only burial (5Goth Warrior); still others either simultaneously or alternately using both, according to historical periods. They also had single burials, burials of a group (usually reserved for members of the same gens / family) or double burials (for the exclusive use of the marital couples or individuals linked by narrow parental affinity, as parent / child or brothers / sisters) in same necropolis or even in the same tomb or funerary urn. The treatment of the body of the deceased was always connected with the funeral ideology and religious beliefs of the culture of reference; whether it be of ‘conservation’ of the whole body or ‘destruction’ of the same. Some cultures envisaged an otherworldly eternal banquet to which the deceased took part with his ancestors, and for which they had to be adequately supplied with the garnishes upon burial (in particular in the ‘classic’ world, that of the Greeks, the Romans and Italic peoples and the Ancient Near East people). The garnishes had to elicit the social class, gender, and age of the departed, and accompany him to be used in the afterlife. These often consisted of objects, tools, weapons, toys, clothes, jewelry and other items of common use that were actually used by the deceased in his real life; or very glitzy treasures, if the deceased was an aristocrat (ships, chariots, domestic animals sacrificed,