Conference: Death, Burial and the Transition to the Afterlife in Arabia and Adjacent Regions

Society for Arabian Studies

Another announcement for a conference which doesn't fall into the mainstream of Egyptology, but is clearly relevant:

The Society for Arabian Studies is pleased to announce the next in its series of biennial conferences, entitled Death, Burial and the Transition to the Afterlife in Arabia and Adjacent Regions, to take place at the British Museum from November 27-29, 2008.
Click here to download these details as a pdf format document.

The conference aims to review, synthesise, and contextualise the evidence for burial practices and associated beliefs in Arabia and neighbouring regions from earliest prehistory to the present day. In order to adequately address an issue of such fundamental importance to all societies, contributions are sought from a wide range of disciplines, including archaeology, physical anthropology, history, epigraphy, cultural anthropology, ethnography, and theology. It is envisaged that the conference will cover a wide range of themes . . . .

Geographically, the conference will focus upon the Arabian Peninsula, i.e. modern-day Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. In addition, we strongly encourage contributions discussing adjacent regions (including Iran, Iraq, the Levant, Egypt, and South Asia) where specific burial traditions and beliefs may relate to, inform, or expand our understanding of traditions in the Arabian Peninsula.

See the above page for full details.