The Deceased Entrusting:A Burial Tradition among Bakhtiari Nomads

The study of cemeteries and burial practices of past and present societies help us to understand the socio-cultural structures of human groups and play an important role in archaeological and anthropological researches. There are some ritual behaviors among nomad groups slightly different from the ones of sedentary communities. One of these ritual practices is entrusting the deceased to temporary cemetery or site and then move them to the final burial site. This type of burial, which is considered as one of the secondary   burial types in archeological studies, has been commonly seen among Bakhtiari nomads. By focusing on the Behdarvand Bab, taking interviews to local individuals in the Bakhtiari tribal union and applying the library method, the present case study deals with the ritual tradition of entrusting the deceased among Bakhtiari nomads and its agents. Findings show that according to what practices and patterns the mentioned nomad groups accomplish this ritual tradition.