Fire and Death: Cremation as a Ritualized Funerary Practice in the Southern Brazilian Highlands

Archaeological evidence from southern Jê mound and enclosure complexes in the southern Brazilian highlands points to the development of a complex funerary ritual focused on the practice of cremation from 1000 BP onward. Drawing upon bioarchaeological, ethnographic and ethnohistorical analysis, this paper discusses the role of cremation as a ritualized practice aimed at transforming the dead, their body and their relations with society. Patterns of similarities and differences in such practice are observable in the archaeological record at eleven mound and enclosure complex sites with repeated evidence for cremation and the secondary deposition of cremated remains. These patterns are interpreted as negotiable and nonnegotiable strategic responses to death.