Archaeothanatology is a scientific approach into death and burial that became widespread in the Indo-Pacific over the last ten years. It allows a homogeneous and comparative reading of funerary practices from the level of the tomb to that of the funerary site. This reading of funerary facts and mortuary sequences allow us to compare practices that are intimately linked to the cultural expression of populations at various scales. It also makes it possible to inscribe the mortuary and bioarchaeological observations in a chrono-cultural sequence from individual localities to the broader region. This progress augurs well for the reconstruction of cultural development, mobility and exchanges between populations, which can be usefully compared and combined with linguistic and genetic data, not only available for the region, but also more broadly, on a global scale. It emphasises the cultural specificities of this part of the world.

Along with discussions of methodological issues related to anthropologie de terrain, bioarchaeology and demography, this session aims to feature the latest discoveries resulting from the archaeological excavations carried out in the Indo-Pacific.