Dry Bones: Nationalism and Symbolism in Contemporary Israel,

That Human Bones ¹ And Burials are intimately related with modern nationalism can hardly be doubted (Mosse 1979, 1990). As new and often flimsy creations, nations require symbols of power, past glories and awe that can overcome the roars of discord and contention which periodically appear to threaten their existence. What can provoke emotions of identification more powerfully than shrines devoted to the bones of ancestral heroes, just as state-sponsored burials provide occasions for dramatic collective events that continue to be celebrated in future years? Examples come quickly to mind: the post-World War I ‘tombs of the Unknown Soldier’ that Inglis recently described (1993), or Lenin's Tomb and Mao's Mausoleum, two instances that signify nationalist identifications in addition to expressing revolutionary ideologies. As these examples suggest, the bones themselves may be treated in different ways: they may be placed into the ground in single or mass graves, or else the body may be preserved and displayed in a special structure.