This introductory chapter presents the main aim of the book: to examine the relationship between burial practices and societal change. It outlines developments within theory and methods in mortuary archaeology, and their relevance for the discussion of societal change in the past. The chapter critically engages with central concepts for how the relationship between burial practices and societal change is perceived in archaeology – periods and transitions, scale, and causes and narratives – and explains how these concepts are treated in the various chapters in the book. Lastly, the chapter presents the themes and structure of the book and introduces the individual chapters.