From fire-induced alterations on human bones to the original circumstances of the fire: An integrated approach of human cremains drawn from a Neolithic collective burial

Abstract

Cremains' alterations often restrict the analysis of osteoarchaeological assemblages, while it should rather inform our understanding of the taphonomic processes of the combustion as well as their implications in term of human behaviour. Although destructive forces of fire alter biological features of bones, it may also provide valuable information on the intensity of the fire, the original atmosphere of combustion and the pre-combustion state of bones. Through a significant review of published studies carried out on burned bones, the authors underlined several important biases that restrict the operability of cremains appearance (cremains colours, warping, cracks, fractures, fragmentation, toughness and resonance) as relevant markers of the original circumstances of combustion. To circumvent each of these biases, we advocate performing multifactorial and spatial analyses of heating signatures within burned bones assemblages. The proposed approach is tested here through an original case-study, the Neolithic collective grave from La Truie Pendue (France, IVth millennium B.C.), which yielded more than 60 individuals and offer the actual snapshot of an intense episode of fire.Results of statistic and spatial analyses shed lights on bone response when subjected to heat, cremains taphonomy and the history of the burial sequence. Cremains' distribution suggests that a highly intense combustion burned the upper part of the assemblage in oxygenated conditions. The fire was probably ignited above the burial sequence, while human remains were still accessible for the community and a few fresh corpses may have fed the fire. In contrast, a lower intensity of combustion and reducing conditions may be reconstructed in the deeper part of the burial, where the corpses were probably all already skeletonized. It points to the presence of two clearly distinct funerary layers within a burial sequence that was finally closed by an intense episode of fire. Opening prospects on the use of fire within Neolithic funerary rites, this study emphasizes the benefits of a careful examination of heating signatures. The applied methodology may have further applications in the physical anthropology (e.g. analysis of ancient cremations or forensic issues) and zooarchaeology (e.g. taphonomic analyses of burned bone assemblages).