This dissertation is focused on changes in burial culture in the modern and post-modern era resulting from the introduction of cremation as a new part of burial practices in Western countries. Its aim is to analyze changes in burial culture in the context of social and political developments and through their physical effects on the landscape. In order to evaluate contemporary burial culture in the Western world, the main cause of changes in burial culture was first separately analyzed as a phenomenon that appeared (the conditions for the origins of cremation) and expanded in geographical space (the circumstances under which cremation was adapted in Western countries). The diffusion of innovations theory is used, which is capable of describing and interpreting the process of introducing cremation in its modern form. In the second phase of research, specific manifestations of changes in burial culture caused by the introduction of cremation are examined based on case studies conducted in the field. In the following part of the dissertation findings are generalized, and how the perception and function of cemeteries have changed due to the influence of changes in burial culture and how the significance of the concept of the deathscape - landscapes and places whose appearance and relationships are...

This study analyses visible artefacts depicted on Athenian white-ground funerary lekythoi from between 475 to 425 BCE, to investigate what the iconographic information of the artefacts can tell us about the funerary activity and how the information relates to the written sources from antiquity. The purpose of this study is to gain a more in-depth view of the Athenian funerary activities, of which we currently have limited knowledge of. The activates surrounding an Athenian funeral is a complex matter consisting of several stages of preparation and visits to the grave. However, when we are looking at the funerary images, it is difficult to determine what stage of the burial culture we are observing, which is what this study sets out to answer. The study uses a theoretical framework in viewing the vase images as a “scene of an idea” rather than a “scene from reality” where expressions of ideas and notion are what is on display on the white-ground lekythos. The study has analysed the visible artefacts from 252 Athenian white-ground lekythoi and thematically grouped them, then with an iconographical method analysed the meaning and representation of the visible artefacts and how they relate to the written sources.  The study has resulted three main conclusions. Firstly, a possible identification of a funerary activity when observing the number and detailed work of the artefacts illustrated by the painter. Secondly, the importance of maintaining a good relationship between the living and the dead. Thirdly, the contemporary events involving the Athenian administrative changes implanted by Solon and how it could have affected the way the Athenians illustrated their funerary scenes.

This study critiques the extravagant behaviour associated with burial practises of modern Xhosa people, with special focus on the Eastern Cape of South Africa. It uses human altruism, cultural conformism, and cooperative behaviour as the theories to explain why people do things they consider to be the norm or do things in a prescribed way, in order to be accepted by a cultural group or class. The artworks which form part of this study are informed through interviews with key informants who are members of the community, as well as the writer’s observations during modern burial events. These artworks portray the obsessive behaviour associated with extravagant funerals, illustrated through repetition, layering, and the multiplicity of cultural objects, such as coffins, candles, pots and other items. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M. A. (Visual Arts)