Ancestor worship is a combination of many distinctive elements, beliefs and rituals that had an important social meaning in ancient societies. Remains of ancestors and associated beliefs and rituals have been found in numerous archaeological sites of the Near East and the role of ancestors in ancient communities should not be underestimated.
This paper examines the characteristics of ancestor worship, with a focus on the archaeological remains found in the major geographical centres of Mesopotamia dated to the third millennium BCE. Through the analysis of this phenomenon this article argues that the study of ancestor worship could be used to investigate many different aspects of ancient societies, such as changes in the political, economic and religious systems and the movements of populations or cultures.
