Burial and Belonging: Rethinking Death and Society through Mycenaean Tombs with Sophie Cushman

Tell me about your work as a PhD Candidate in the Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology Graduate Group. What do you do?

Sophie: I’m an active field archaeologist—I excavate new material in Greece. I’m also a ceramicist, a specialist in ancient pottery. I focus on prehistoric Greece, particularly the Late Bronze Age or Mycenaean period, which is roughly the 16th to 12th centuries BCE. 

In addition to excavation, I work with ancient pottery and small finds—miscellaneous objects we uncover. I was a Classics and Art History double major as an undergrad, and archaeology felt like the natural combination of those interests: language, culture, and art. I went on an archaeological field school, which trains you in excavation techniques, and I was just hooked. It was on Crete, and I completely fell in love—with Greece and with archaeology. 

I was fortunate to come to Berkeley for grad school, where we have several amazing archaeology research centers. I’m most affiliated with the Nemea Center for Classical Archaeology(link is external), directed by my dissertation advisor Dr. Kim Shelton. Dr. Shelton runs three major excavation projects in Greece: the Sanctuary of Zeus at Nemea, Aidonia, and Petsas House at Mycenae. 

I’ve had the chance to work on material from all three sites, including the excavation at the site of Aidonia, a Late Bronze Age Mycenaean chamber tomb cemetery. These tombs are large, subterranean structures dug into the sides of hills, almost like caves, and were typically used for multiple burials over generations. They often contain rich finds like bronze weapons, gold jewelry, and other objects that reflect the status of those buried. My dissertation research focuses on Aidonia and other mortuary sites throughout the Argolid, a region in southern Greece.

Your research focuses on the mortuary practices of average citizens who were not wealthy. How did you come to study this in particular through your field work in Greece?

Sophie: When I was excavating at Aidonia, we were working in a region known for its very rich tombs. Unfortunately, many of the sites have been the target of illegal excavations since the 1970s, so part of our work was to document the evidence of looting and help preserve the tombs from further damage. While working on this project, I was collaborating with some Greek colleagues, and together we discovered a previously unknown tomb. 

When we discovered this new tomb, we were excite, hoping it might contain artifacts that would provide new information—but what we actually found was something different: an enormous number of human remains. Probably around 20 individuals had been buried there. 

That discovery led me to start asking new questions: What was the relationship between all the people buried in this tomb? How were they connected to others buried in the same cemetery? And what was their relationship to those buried in other tombs across the region, especially in tombs that contained more elaborate or high-status finds? 

Historically, there has been a lot of work that focuses on the super elite—people buried with rich, elaborate grave goods meant to display their status. But I started to think more about the average, less wealthy, less elaborate burials, and especially about the social relationships between the individuals buried in those tombs.

This excavation gave me the opportunity to ask those kinds of questions, and that’s really the focus of my dissertation. I’m approaching mortuary practices from a more bottom-up perspective and asking questions about family, community organization, and how those dynamics are reflected in who gets buried, and how.

Is this relatively under-researched scholarship in the broader field of archaeology? 

Sophie: Mortuary and burial research is definitely not an underrepresented area of study—at least for this period, the Late Bronze Age. In fact, the vast majority of our archaeological evidence comes from mortuary or burial contexts. We don’t have much high-quality settlement evidence simply because very few settlements have been excavated. So yes, there’s been a lot of work done on burial practices and chamber tombs from this time.

But that work has historically focused on evaluating the wealth of burials—trying to identify elites and reconstruct hierarchy based on the most lavish sites. My work tries to zoom out and offer a more bottom-up perspective, to emphasize the broader importance of these burial traditions beyond just wealth and status.

I think this shift is part of a broader trend among younger scholars. My advisor, Kim Shelton, and one of my external committee members, Dimitri Nakassis, have both contributed to rethinking the sociopolitical structure of this period. Several of us at Berkeley, recent graduates and current students, are working on similar questions from different angles. Berkeley students are leading research in this area. 

One grad student is exploring religion from a bottom-up perspective; another is looking at resource extraction—how communities managed natural resources—through the same lens. So it's exciting that we’re all engaging with similar themes, but each of us is focused on a different facet of society.

What are you looking for when you are on a dig?

Sophie:  Burial in a communal tomb signifies belonging within a particular group, and only certain people were allowed to be buried in a given tomb, and even more broadly, within the cemetery itself. So I look at things like how many burials are in each tomb, how many tombs are in each cemetery, in order to reconstruct the size of communities and to explore who had access to burial. Were there more men than women? More adults than children?

Because these tombs were used for multiple burials over time, we think that each time the tomb was reopened, people performed rituals to honor the earlier dead before making a new burial. We see evidence of offerings, and possibly drinking or dining ceremonies associated with funerals. There’s also evidence of people engaging directly with the earlier remains—moving them into pits within the tomb or heaping them into mixed deposits that contain the remains of many individuals. This created space for new burials but also reflected a deliberate, meaningful engagement with the earlier dead.

What have you learned about the funerary and burial practices? What interesting observations have you made through your research?

Sophie: I argue that this direct engagement reinforced the symbolism of shared group identity, both for those buried in the tomb and for the living group performing the burial. These were likely smaller groups of people related by kinship or family ties. Each tomb probably represented a particular family or lineage, and only those within that group had the right to be buried there. Not everyone in the community was included, so the tombs also serve to single out specific individuals or groups.

There was likely some level of competition between these groups as well. Most sites have multiple cemeteries, and within each cemetery, there might be five, ten, or even twenty tombs. Often, cemeteries were located near important natural resources, so the placement may have also reflected a group’s claim to or control over those resources.

What I’m doing is tracking changes in that practice over time. In the earlier period, there was much more emphasis on individual identity, even within communal tombs. People were buried in pits or cists, often in what we call primary position, meaning they were undisturbed and left intact for generations.

In the later periods, though, I see a clear intensification in secondary burial practices—meaning, the treatment of human remains after the initial funeral. It's in this later phase that individuals start to be much more deliberately co-mingled. I argue that this shift reflects a stronger emphasis on group identity—on being part of the collective in death, not just in life. I suggest that this is related to socio-political developments of the 14th-13th centuries, when select sites in the region emerged as administrative centers known as “palaces.”

We think the funerals involved a procession from the settlement to the cemetery. They would have had to dig out the tomb’s entrance and then perform the burial. The body was probably carried on a wooden bier or in a coffin and might have been dressed in elaborate garments. The funeral procession would have been an opportunity for the burying group to showcase their solidarity in the wake of a disruptive and tragic death.

Most people have only observed the act of archaeology in the media through movies or television. What are the basics of an archeological dig? What is the experience like?

Sophie: Whenever we excavate, there should always be specific research questions guiding the work. You don’t just dig to find more stuff—there's already so much that’s been excavated. Today, excavations are much more targeted, designed to answer particular, unresolved questions.

Sometimes we get clues from what's visible on the surface—remains or pottery that’s been churned up by plowing, for instance. That can help us figure out where to start. Then, we begin carefully excavating, layer by layer, whether we’re looking for a tomb or a building. We pay close attention to changes in the soil consistency and the types of objects we’re finding, which can help us understand the context.

You often do see things right away—bones, objects—but there's usually been some collapse over time, so the first step is removing accumulated soil. Archaeology is really about carefully revealing what's there and documenting everything thoroughly.

What a lot of people don’t expect is how much paperwork is involved. You take extensive notes on what you see, the decisions you make during excavation, and you draw and photograph every find. Recording is just as important as digging.A typical excavation day starts early in Greece—we're up around 5:30 a.m. and working by 6:30 to beat the heat. We work in the field until about 1 or 2 p.m., and then bring everything back to the museum to process it. We work directly with an institution—yes, in a lab or museum setting—to clean, document, and analyze the finds. The afternoons are spent making sure all the paperwork is in order and everything is properly recorded. And that brings up an important point:, there’s also an ethical component, especially when you’re working with human remains. Archaeology is inherently a destructive science—once you excavate something, you can’t put it back—so the documentation is critical.

You’re about to graduate and publish your dissertation in August, what do you want future students to know about the program? 

Sophie: I studied Ancient Greek and Latin in undergrad—which, if you want to be a classical archaeologist, meaning someone who works primarily on Greco-Roman material, you really do need both at the graduate level. So if you're focusing on Ancient Greece or Rome, Greek and Latin are kind of essential.

Then, as a graduate student, I also studied Modern Greek. That was important for day-to-day communication on excavation projects, especially since I lived in Greece for two years while doing my dissertation research. My Modern Greek improved a lot during that time.

Generally, if you’re planning to work in Italy, Italian would be helpful; if you're in Spain, then Spanish. But if you're interested in Greek or Roman archaeology—regardless of the specific period—you’ll need Ancient Greek and Latin. Although it has nothing to do with the prehistoric period, which I now specialize in, reading and teaching Latin remain one of my favorite passionsBoth are offered at Berkeley in the Department of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies.

Undergraduates who might be interested in archaeology can attend a field school that will teach them the basics of practicing archaeology. The Nemea Center for Classical Archeology at Berkeley offers a field school(link is external), and there are scholarships available, located in Greece. 

Students can also attend a field school locally through the Archaeological Research Facility’s field school(link is external). It’s local, here in Northern California, and run through Berkeley. It’s another great way for students to get field experience. The great thing about the ARF field school is that it pays students to participate, eliminating a huge barrier to entry in the field!