In Memory of the Royal Families: Relationship Between Hypogea and Palaces in Ancient Western Syria

The relationship between objects, people and places can be fundamental when the aim is to create forms of memorialization for the dead among the living. This is especially the case with ancient societies who left behind numerous traces that can be useful for scholars in reconstructing ancient religious beliefs and practices. In particular, archaeologists have used a social memory theoretical framework to enlarge the field of research to a broader agenda that, as emphasized by Andrew Jones, can help researchers in defining ‘how things and places helped societies remember’.1 Regarding funerary contexts, researchers have primarily directed their interest towards the definition of archaeological correlates that can help identify tangible elements to be associated with ancient cults of the ancestors.