ABSTRACT
Approaching Mesopotamian archeology with newer interdisciplinary theories shows that issues of emotion and belief can be investigated. In Mesopotamian belief, the worlds of the living and the dead were mystically linked for the brief hours when the kispum was performed. The ghosts of dead family members were called by name and invited to join in meal with living family members. As the texts show, ancient Mesopotamian families performed this traditional ritual faithfully, as promised to their loved ones, and according to long tradition. By partaking of food and drink with the family, the deceased symbolically lived on (albeit on another plane of existence). The actual doing of the kispum materialized family bonds and seated family identity deep into the past. Bonds with the deceased that continued after life were cohesive and dynamic for group identity. The ritual consolidated self-perception, or who people thought they were, and how they made meaning for themselves in the world of gods, spirits, and men.
