KırklareliAşağı Pınar KazısıNeolitik DönemMÖ 6000Kırklareli Müzesi

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THEME 6

“Retrieving and Interpre ng the Archaeological Record ”

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Ancestor and Special Status as Seen from Burial Archaeological Record: A Case Study from Manihina, Ua Huka Island (Marquesas Archipelago)Pascal Sellier (Centre Na onal de la Recherche Scien fi que, Paris)If special status individuals should have unusual burial, this case study from Manihina site (Marquesas Archipelago) is of meaningful evidence. It is part of an ancient funerary site, dated 15th century AD, that is far before the fi rst d iscovery of Ua Huka Island by the Europeans (in 1791). Around 40 human burials have been so far excavated together with pig and dog burials. This one is a complete “secondary burial”, with the whole skeleton of an elderly male individual, together with few rare ornaments (unique among the other graves). This prac ce stands at the very end of a long and compound burial process: It is the fi nal result of a whole mortuary “chaîne opératoire”, which is quite rare to be evidenced within the archaeological record. The archaeo-anthropological observa ons lead to reconstruct a small (probably wooden) box, with all the dislocated bones in it, on the top of which stood a trophy-skull (the cranium and mandible of the subject himself). It should have been an impressive and ostenta ous show of this special individual. In that way, it cannot be seen as a deviant funerary prac ce but more probably as an extraordinary way of turning the dead into an ancestor.

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T06S027 - BURIAL COMMUNITIES IN LONG TERM PERSPECTIVEOrganizers: Julio Escalona Monge (Ins tuto de Historia - CSIC, Madrid), Orri Vésteinsson (Uni-versity of Iceland, Reykjavík), Iñaki Mar n Viso (Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca)Burial archaeology conven onally considers burials and cemeteries primarily as types; as representa ves of technological tradi ons, cultures, ethnicity, religions. The aim is always to characterize the cemetery; e.g. ‘Chris an‘, ‘LBK‘ or ‘Quaker‘, and once such pigeon-holing has been achieved that is too o en all the relevance a site may acquire. In the Chris an era in Europe changes in burial customs and loca ons tend to

be appreciated mostly as evidence for conversion and as a measure of Chris aniza on. Burial customs are seen as evidence for par cular religious beliefs or at least acceptance of par cular religious norms. Yet there is considerable variability in burial customs and burial loca ons which cannot be related to changes in religion, raising the ques on of what else can infl uence how people are buried and where they are buried? In this session the focus will be on burial communi es; how to iden fy, understand and analyse the groups of people who shared burial grounds. How were such communi es cons tuted and how did they react to changes in religion and religious organiza on? The emphasis is on long-term studies of burial topography and on examining changes in burial loca ons against the landscape background, as a feature of se lement pa erns and community organiza on.

ORAL PRESENTATIONS

Abandoning the Ancestors? The Changing Burial Customs of Viking Age Uppland, SwedenJhonny Therus (Uppsala University, Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala)During the transi on from the Viking age to the medieval era we can observe a 200 year long period of accultura on or hybridity in the burial customs. At the advent of the 10th century A.D. the burial customs are dis nctly pagan. Crema on and burial grounds connected to individual farms where the norm, but around 1150 A.D. the area is fully incorporated into the European church organisa on. During the transi onal period diff erent burial customs exists side by side and the change from Pagan to Chris an ways was a decidedly local phenomenon where iden ty and the connec on to the family ancestors were essen al. Only late in the Chris anisa on process did the “correct” burial custom become an important ma er. How far society had come in the adjustment to Chris anity, as well as how the old burial prac ses were connected to the self-image of the local communi es came to infl uence the way in which the change took place profoundly. During this hybrid phase we can also observe how the grave changes from being a largely collec ve monument reserved for a selec on of the popula on to a storage place for individual bodies.

Parish-Forma on from the Perspec ve of the Long-Term Dynamics of Burial Communi es in the Frank-ish Lowlands, a Problema c PathwayDries Tys (Brussels Free University, Brussels), Rica Annaert (Flemish Heritage Ins tute, Brussels), Maxim Hoe-breckx (Brussels Free University, Brussels)The medieval parish in the (Frankish) Low Countries was an important ins tu on, structuring society and landscape, provid-ing (up to today) a sense of community oriented towards the parish church, the parish boundaries and the communal burial ground. It is generally accepted that the ideological choice to organize community burials “ad sanctos”, around local churches, between the late 8th and early 10th c was essen al for the forma on of this organized network of religious life in communi- es. The archaeology of burial communi es before this “long 9th c.”, however, shows a wide variety of regional and chrono-

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logical specifi c forms (and choices) to share and organize burials as communi es. The spa al structure and organiza on of the burial grounds, ritual prac ces and “technologies of remembrance” and the construc on of the actual burial groups and the rela on to and infl uence of ancestry of burial communi es in diff erent areas of the southern Low Countries show how Chris an parish forma on was not a necessary teleological process. The ques on is why and how the church transformed this diversity of rituals and iden es towards ideological uniformity in the Frankish Lowlands in the Carolingian period.

Re-Assessing Burial Communi es and the Making of the Parish in 10th-11th century Cas leJulio Escalona Monge (Ins tuto de Historia - CSIC, Madrid)This paper aims to challenge the widespread assump on that in north-western Iberia the crea on of a parish system took place suddenly in the late eleventh-century, in the context of the Gregorian reforma on. This no on fi nds support both among historians and archaeologists, especially in the lights of recent studies about the construc on of rural parish churches. However, it also has the eff ect of obscuring the situa on in the tenth and for most of the eleventh century. A cri -cal reassessment reveals that signifi cant steps towards the crea on of rural parishes can be detected already in the tenth century. Those are strongly related to a re-defi ni on of rural communi es that expresses itself, among other factors, in burial sites and their rela on to churches. It is suggested that what took place in the late eleventh century was a confl ic ve transi on towards a con nuous, intensely territorialized ‘diocesan model’, whereas the preceding phase was characterized by discon nuous, extensive territorializa on. In the process, the rela onship between bishoprics, monasteries and rural churches became drama cally re-defi ned. Likewise, the role of monasteries as alterna ve burial sites and as controllers of rural churches must be taken on board too as a major factor.

From Burials to Family - The Medieval Household Cemetery in IcelandGuðný Zoega (Skaga ordur Heritage Museum, Sauðárkrókur)In recent years a systema c survey of early Chris an cemetery sites has been undertaken in the region of Skaga ordur, North Iceland. It has revealed a large number of small 11th – 12th century cemeteries, located on individual farms with li le indica on for the existence of contemporary communal cemeteries. At the farm Keldudalur in Hegranes a series of construc on projects has led to the discovery and excava on of a pagan burial fi eld, an 11th century church and cem-etery and associated dwellings. The ubiquity of known contemporary cemeteries in the area indicates that the Chris an cemetery contained the remains of a single household/family. The cemetery popula on consisted of 60 individuals, half of those infants and children and the excellent quality of skeletal material facilitated extensive osteological analyses. The paper discusses what the material tells us about the demographics behind a century of household burials. The discon nu-a on of burial at the pagan grave fi eld, the establishment and early 12th century abandonment of the Chris an family cemetery tells a story of one family’s response to societal and religious changes. However, the spa al layout of the burials and the religious architecture indicate a response that, even if very local, s ll respected a broader ideological framework.

Peasant Monuments? Mortuary Geography, Territorial Ar cula on and Post-Roman Landscape in the South-Western Duero Basin (Salamanca, Spain)Rubén Rubio Díez (Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca)The funerary record is the main indicator of the presence of rural se lements in several regions of the Iberian Peninsula, since the material culture linked to habitat spaces is much more elusive. Thus, the rock-cut graves characterize the post-Roman landscape in outlying rural areas in terms of Visigothic territorial control. It is possible to understand the social organiza on of local communi es and their economic orienta on by analyzing the spa al integra on of the cemeteries. Some recent studies have linked this type of burial spaces with territorial ownership mechanisms by the claim to the memory of ancestors. This perspec ve has led to consider it as peasant monuments. In parallel, the existence of various archaeological sites iden fi ed as early medieval aristocra c se lements allow us to understand the territorial organiza on of the rural world in terms of the dialec cs between peasant spaces and places of power.

An Inves ga on of the Diff eren al Treatment of the Dead in Neolithic Anatolia and the Near EastJacquelyn Kyle (SUNY Buff alo, Buff alo)Examining the ways in which the dead at Çatalhöyük were treated allows a glimpse into the dynamic ideologies of those that disposed of them. Through analysis of the excavated human remains and their contexts, I will explore the ways in which the diff eren al treatment of the dead refl ects diff eren al concep ons of those dead and how those concep ons may have changed through me. Emphasis will be placed on iden fying factors that aff ected how and where people were buried. Treatment of the dead will be examined and compared with other Neolithic sites in Anatolia and the Near East, as will elements that may have infl uenced that treatment. Through analysis of skeletal material, a en on will be focused on the corpse itself, including biological profi le (age, sex, disease/pathology, nutri on), placement of the corpse, and post-

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mortem modifi ca ons. Further, aspects of the grave, including loca on (proximity to other graves, posi on within se le-ment, inclusion in ‘history houses’), presence and types of grave goods, human disturbance to the grave, and addi on of later human remains will be considered. This will allow for the assessment of factors infl uencing decisions about how and where to dispose of the dead, and how the rela ve signifi cance of these factors changed through me.

Laid to Rest in Hellenis c Polis. Seeking a Balance between Individual and SocietyLucia Novakova (Trnava University, Department of Classical Archaeology, Trnava)Hellenis c burial rites associate hero cult with the cult of dead or tomb cult. Bringing grave off erings is closely related to ancestor cult based on the idea the deceased has an impact on the living. The hero cult is made dis nct by the formal character of ritual ac vi es and the cost of the grave monument. Another diff erence lies in the implementa on of regular ac vi es which could take place during the internment of the dead in the grave, or when re-visi ng the tomb. A similar model of cult ac vity from the Bronze Age occurs once again. It is expected that the resump on of such prac ces was al-lowed by poli cal and cons tu onal changes in the polis. The need is emphasized to highlight the role of the individual in society, which is star ng to develop in parallel with the loss of poli cal and cultural orienta on to the polis. Live in the community, however, played an irreplaceable role. At this me a change in the understanding of the tomb may be seen-the abode of the decedent becomes a sanctuary designed for worship. Expansion of private heroiza on resulted in a reduc on of its importance, however, allowing a transforma on in the following period.

Regional Variability of Roman Burial Customs in IllyricumTino Lelekovic (Croa an Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb)The paper will focus on the regional variability of the burial customs in Illyricum, especially in southern Pannonia. During the past decade several Roman cemeteries have been excavated in Croa a, which opened new insights on burial rites in this part of the Empire. These new excava ons allowed the redefi ni on and reconsidera on of older theories about spa al and chronological distribu ons of certain burial features in the region, also to speculate about the reasons why certain types of burials are concentrated on certain areas. This paper will try to examine the existence of regions with clearly dif-feren ated burial customs and to try to relate regional variability of burial customs with regional iden es. New excava- ons also revealed burials which diff er from those with predominantly used rites. Some of those burials probably can be

related to certain groups within provincial society (military, local aristocracy…), but some can be interpreted as the burials of minority groups. This paper, through historical and cultural contextualiza on of each of the defi ned types of burial fea-tures, will try to give a sa sfactory explana on for the variability of burial customs in Illyricum, both at a regional level and within certain communi es.

Burial Prac ces of Protestants as Iden ty Community of the Excluded in France during the Modern Pe-riod (16th - 18th centuries)Cécile Buquet-Marcon (Ins tut Na onal de Recherches Archéologiques Préven ves CIF, Pan n Cedex), Isabelle Souquet-Leroy (Ins tut Na onal de Recherches Archéologiques Préven ves GSO, Bègles)During the modern period, in France, Protestants were excluded from society. They lived and died in hiding. The violent events of protestant history obviously had an impact on the funerary prac ces of these communi es because they re-sulted in massive destruc on of places of cult and cemeteries. Exclusion forced Protestants to bury their dead outside the parish cemeteries and forged a funeral tradi on s ll visible today. From recent archaeological discoveries, it is possible to understand that these popula ons adapted to secrecy and exclusion by crea ng hidden graveyards or diffi cult to iden fy in the landscape. It is a way to maintain a religious network of funeral spaces. Our communica on aims to present diff erent protestant cemeteries discovered during archaeological excava ons and the diffi culty to iden fy them. We want to show that, based on management of the dead, Protestants kept a community and religious cohesion featuring dis nc ve signs. They showed fi delity to their religion while changing their organiza on and prac ces.

Muslims, Jews and Chris ans Burying Their Dead All Together in Early Medieval Europe: The Iberian EvidenceAlfonso Vigil-Escalera (University of the Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz)It is commonly accepted that during classical An quity the necropolis were used by a wide range of families and social sectors within a given community. It is not correct, however, to assume that Early Medieval cemeteries were restricted to fi deles (Lauwers 2005: 166). Spanish commercial archaeology has provided a striking repertoire of new sites and an overall advance of archaeological knowledge during the last two decades. Historical narra ves concerning rural se lement between 400-900 AD have also been substan ally revised, and the same is true of our understanding of funerary prac ces

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and the key role played by cemeteries in the social display of communitarian belonging and the reinforcement of local iden es. Despite having being tradi onally emphasized by medieval scholars, the general impact of religious issues upon burial prac ces in Early Medieval communi es must now be tempered, if not directly considered marginal. Several sites re-cently discovered demonstrate that religious beliefs and ins tu ons did not condi on the management of funerary space in towns and the countryside at least un l the 10th-11th centuries.

Death in a Diachronic Perspec ve. The Case of IcelandOrri Vésteinsson (University of Iceland, Reykjavík)The loca on and composi on of cemeteries represents important informa on about social structures. In order to make the most of this informa on it is cri cal to be able to hypothesize about the rela onship between the cemetery and the community it served. A cemetery may serve a single household or whole ci es and it may be exclusive to such units or ac-cept outsiders as well. A cemetery can also be reserved for par cular groups – based e.g. on gender, age, class, ethnicity or religion – which may cut across se lement communi es or be subsets of them. An a empt can be made to reconstruct the pa erns of burial for any given society, to defi ne its burial paradigm. This can be revealing of social structures but it becomes par cularly informa ve when studied diachronically. To demonstrate the poten al of this approach the case of Viking Age to early-modern Iceland will be considered. In Iceland the burial paradigm changed considerably against a backdrop of rela ve se lement stability and in ways that cannot be accounted for by religious change alone. Religion is an important aspect of the story but many other important issues are illuminated by adop ng this approach.

The Same, but Diff erent. Consistency and Varia on in Choosing the Place of Burial at Prehistoric Communi esRaluca Kogalniceanu (Giurgiu County Museum, Giurgiu)When it comes to the Copper Age, there is not much we can rely on in our research other than the bare discoveries. Based on the quality, quan ty and nature of data available, we can try to shed light on various aspects concerning the way people lived and died. When it comes to burial prac ce, one aspect that is as interes ng as it is diffi cult to interpret is the choice of burial place. An analysis of 35 se lement and cemetery pairs a ributed to the Gumelniţa cultural complex allowes observa ons of both common traits and local or zonal varia on. For the interpreta on of elements that might have stayed at the basis of some of the common or diff erent choices the Prehistoric communi es made, I turned to ethnographic records, especially those related to the image tradi onal communi es north of the Danube had about the topography of the other world.

Burial Grounds, Burial Habits and Communi es in Rough Cilicia (Isauria) in Long-Term Perspec ve (Late Hellenis c through Early Byzan ne Periods): An OverviewVeronica Iacomi (“Sapienza” Rome University, Rome)Among the most common and best preserved monuments of Rough Cilicia (late An que Isauria, modern Turkey), tombs and cemeteries of the region off er a wide variety of burial customs and during a long me-span (II/I c. BC – VI/VII c. AD). Many cemeteries, in fact, were reused through the centuries, but undeniably transforma ons in religious and funerary habits may be traced, together with constant preferences accorded to loca on or tomb architecture. In the frame of an overview of the main necropolises of the region, special a en on will be given to those case-studies which off er an in-teres ng perspec ve on specifi c topics such as: loca on of cemeteries/single tombs in regard to urban topography and/or natural landscape; value and meaning of the tomb as arguable by loca on, inscrip ons, and other features (reliefs, symbols, architectural decora on) in a given period/micro-region; ideological aspects related to local funerary tradi ons as well as to the acquisi on of foreign models; informa on on the dead conveyed in the funerary inscrip on (when and where available) as a refl ec on of punctual beliefs, strategies, and religious and civic values. In this sense, the Cilician example, with its specifi ci es and peculiari es, will contribute on the debate about burial communi es in a long-term perspec ve.

Ancestors on the Landscape. Burial Topography in Early Medieval Central IberiaIñaki Mar n Viso (Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca)The aim of the paper is the analysis of early medieval burial sites of graves dug into the rock in central Iberia. The memory of ancestors was an important way in which burial areas gave a landscape plenty of meaning for the communi es. The study of some cases (the regions of Ciudad Rodrigo and Sierra de Ávila and the sites of La Genestosa and La Coba) reveals the crea on of a communitarian iden ty thanks to these burial areas. There were two diff erent types of topography, iso-lated graves and disordered cemeteries, but both were not related with any ecclesias cal building. However, the landscape has been deeply transformed thanks to the implementa on of the parish system in 12th-13th centuries. The data of some charters related to the parishes of the bishopric of Ávila shows that the new churches have been built on new places and the early medieval burial areas has been abandoned.