The Matter of Death, the Image of Eternity: An Anthropological and Art-Historical Reading of Funerary Rituals and the Meaning of Bone

This article examines the cultural, anthropological, and artistic meanings of funerary rituals and the treatment of human bones across different societies and historical periods. It explores how burial practices, grave goods, bodily remains, and commemorative objects have served as material expressions of beliefs about death, memory, identity, and the possibility of continuity beyond death. Drawing on archaeological examples from prehistoric burial sites, ancient civilizations, and more recent cultural traditions, the article considers the ways in which human remains have acquired meanings that extend beyond their biological nature. Particular attention is given to the relationship between material evidence and symbolic interpretation, as well as to the role of funerary practices in shaping collective memory and cultural representations of mortality. By bringing anthropological and art-historical perspectives into dialogue, this study approaches bone not merely as a biological remnant, but as a material object through which societies negotiate absence, remembrance, transformation, and the meaning of human existence. The article also acknowledges the interpretive limitations of archaeological evidence and the need to distinguish documented findings from broader cultural and philosophical readings.