In the last 20 years the archaeological study of the dead has developed considerably, with theoretical advances and new scientific applications. In theoretical terms, funerary archaeologists have refined approaches to social structure, gender, status and social complexity and explored relationships between the living and the dead, between memory and materiality, and between ideology and power. Scientific advances have been made in human osteology, forensic archaeology and excavation methods of anthropologie de terrain, multi-element isotopic analysis and ancient DNA analysis. This is an exciting time for integrating theoretical and scientific perspectives to better understand the living through their treatment of the dead. Case studies from European prehistory and elsewhere will be explored to highlight some of these interesting developments.