Resurrecting Berytus
A Contextual Analysis of Burials from Roman Beirut
By (author) Vana Kalenderian
Hardback (Published)
(October 2026)
ISBN: 9781805833222
8.07 x 11.46 inches
Price: $105.00
In stock
This book examines burial practices in Roman Berytus (modern Beirut) from the 1st century BC to the 4th century AD. Using archaeological, osteological and isotopic evidence, it explores identity, migration, social status and cultural change, revealing how Roman colonialism shaped life, death and tradition in the eastern Mediterranean.
In the late 1st century BC, the first Roman colony in the Near East was founded in Berytus – modern-day Beirut, Lebanon. The city’s transformation following Roman annexation and colonization marked a pivotal period of administrative, economic, and demographic change. Yet the social and cultural impact of this transition remains largely understudied. This book examines how burial practices in Roman Berytus evolved during this formative phase of colonial rule. Mortuary customs off er a unique window into the cultural norms, identities, and social structures of past communities. In imperial and colonial settings, funerary spaces also served as arenas for expressing power, asserting status, and negotiating social standing within rapidly changing societies. Focusing primarily on the period from the late 1st century BC to the 1st century AD, but also extending through to the 4th century AD, this study investigates different aspects of ancient burial practice and their patterns of change and continuity over time. Drawing on material culture, human osteology, and isotopic data, it applies an interdisciplinary approach to reconstruct life, death, and identity within a shifting provincial landscape. This contextual analysis offers new insights into burial practices linked to age, gender, mobility, kinship, and social differentiation. Addressing a significant gap in the scholarship on Roman colonialism in the eastern Mediterranean, this research explores how broader processes of imperialism, migration, and cultural interaction impacted the lived – and buried – sociocultural realities of Roman Berytus, and whether deeply-rooted traditions were renegotiated in death, as they may have been in life.
List of Figures and Plates
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations
PART I INTRODUCING THE STUDY
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Historical Background
PART II MATERIAL AND METHODS
Chapter 3: The Dataset
Chapter 4: Methodology
PART III INTRA-SITE ANALYSIS
Introduction to Part III
Chapter 5: SFI 655
Chapter 6: RML 2385
Chapter 7: SFI 645
Chapter 8: MDWR 02
Chapter 9: ASH 163
Chapter 10: MDWR 466/468
Chapter 11: ASH 002
PART IV INTER-SITE ANALYSIS
Introduction to Part IV
Chapter 12: The Buried Cohort: Makeup of the Berytian Assemblage
Chapter 13: The Physical Body within the Grave
Chapter 14: The Burial Grounds
Chapter 15: Burial Architecture
Chapter 16: Spatial Organization of the Burial Grounds
Chapter 17: Grave Goods
Chapter 18: Migration and Mobility: Isotope Analysis
PART V CONCLUSIONS
Chapter 19: Contextualizing the Findings
Chapter 20: Conclusion
Plates
Appendices
References
Vana Kalenderian trained in Human Osteoarchaeology at the University of Edinburgh and Mortuary Archaeology at the University of Groningen. She specialises in the interdisciplinary analysis of ancient mortuary practices with a focus on the Roman period. Her research integrates the archaeological sciences – including osteology, isotope analysis, and radiocarbon dating – with the contextual study of funerary material culture. Experienced in all stages of burial archaeology – from fieldwork to laboratory analysis – Vana remains actively engaged in Lebanese archaeology, and her work has been published in both local and international journals. She currently serves as the human bone specialist on a rescue excavation in northern Lebanon with the National Council for Scientific Research and the Directorate General of Antiquities. She is also a lecturer in archaeology at the American University of Beirut.
- By (author) Vana Kalenderian
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