ABSTRACT
The biocultural model has proven very useful within skeletal bioarchaeology and a considerable amount of research is grounded in this perspective. The contextualized analysis of human remains refers not only to the incorporation and consideration of these different variables but also to the integration of social theory in the formulation of a problem-orientated research design. The chapter highlights areas where mummy researchers have a longer tradition of engaging with theory: evolutionary theory and mortuary theory. The integration of mortuary theory can also be observed in the discussion of mummification in Egypt mummification, Bronze Age Britain, and Sicily. Although the body is the source of data for bioarchaeologists, it is only recently that the discipline has begun to explicitly ground discussion within social theory of the body. The chapter focuses on two areas where mummy researchers have most explicitly engaged with the concept of care: the use of medicinal plants and therapeutic tattooing.
