On 26 December 2003, an earthquake in Bam, south-eastern Iran, resulted in an estimated death toll of 40,000. This article suggests that post-disaster burial practices provide alternative avenues for research, notably the changes in burial styles, grave markers and other material culture associated with burials. This article is the result of ethnoarchaeological research conducted on eight cemeteries in Bam, at intervals of 2, 6 and 17 months after the earthquake. The cemeteries chosen span a time period of 200 years prior to the disaster to 17 months after it, in order to track a wide range of long-term patterns. The post-disaster burial patterns are compared with those patterns prior to the disaster. We hope to demonstrate that the patterns present can be used to interpret burial practices under conditions such as natural disasters in archaeological contexts.

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________________________________________________________________Bam, Iran, was destroyed by a powerful earthquake in December 2003. In what is perhaps Iran's greatest tragedy in living memory, the majority of the mud brick houses and concrete buildings were completely flattened and more than half of the city's population was killed. Five years after the disaster, a team of Iranian archaeologists and ethnographers excavated the remains of six houses destroyed in the earthquake. The excavated material culture demonstrates the stark contrasts between the residents' public lives lived outside of their homes, and their private lives lived inside of their homes. ________________________________________________________________Résumé: Bam, en Iran, fut détruite par un violent tremblement de terre en décembre 2003. La majorité des maisons en briques cuites et des constructions en béton armé ont été complètement rasées, et plus de la moitié de la population a péri dans ce qui fut peut-être la plus grande tragédie qu'ait jamais connue l'Iran. Cinq ans après la catastrophe, une équipe d'archéologues et d'ethnologues iraniens a entrepris les fouilles des vestiges de six maisons détruites par le tremblement de terre. La culture matérielle mise à jour met en évidence des contrastes marqués entre la vie publique des habitants à l'extérieur de leur habitation, et leur vie privée à l'intérieur de celle-ci. ________________________________________________________________

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