Awarded with Eternity: Specifics of the Burial Practices in the Ancient Cultures of the Pacific Region at the Turn of the Eras

Abstract

The paper deals with various aspects of the complex academic issue of studying the culture genesis in the Pacific Region based on the archeological data. Periods of strong cultural surges, milestones in the development of technologies and economy, crucial events in economy and social domain are of acute interest within the scope of the outlined problem. Such periods include the era turn (the 2nd century BC – 3–4th centuries AD), i. e. “The time of great leaders and stone tombs”. The research focuses on two regions – the southern part of the Japanese Archipelago (Kyushu, Ryukyu and Okinawa islands) and the tropical zone of the Pacific coast of America (from Western Mexico to the northern Chile) – and to individual parts of the South-Eastern Asia (the Philippines, Indonesia). The findings obtained in the course of the research confirm the hypothesis about similar formation scenarios of the tribal elite and accompanying components of architecture, arts and commerce in objects of “prestigious technologies” in the ancient cultures of the tropical and subtropical zones of the Pacific Region.