Abstract
An extraordinarily diverse and well-preserved material, including the remains of 47 insect taxa and 12 taxa of other invertebrates, extracted from the 17th century burial of Bishop Peder Winstrup in Lund Minster, is presented and discussed in terms of the treatment of the body, activities connected with the burial and faunal significance. The invertebrate assemblages include species from gardens, insects feeding on living plants as well as dried or decaying plant matter. Many of the species are regarded as closely associated with humans (synanthropic), and a number of these are associated with outbuildings, such as stables and cellars. The absence of species associated with cadavers (necrophilous taxa) in the studied insect material is significant. The most plausible explanation is that the bishop died, and was buried during the winter, when such species are inactive, and thus precluded from colonising the body. A number of species were recorded which are today rare or very rare in southern Sweden. This is a strong indication that they once were more common and widespread, perhaps due to a greater prevalence of their preferred habitats. Sweden’s earliest fossil bedbug is also amongst the finds.
Highlights
Deposits formed in dry and aerobic conditions do not normally yield fossil insect remains, as the exoskeletons are rapidly broken up by mechanical action, or decay as a result of fungal attacks (Elias, 2010)
This contrasts significantly with the insect assemblage associated with the coffin of the medieval Archbishop Greenfield from York Minster, which was dominated by the graveyard beetle Rhizophagus parallelocollis (Panagiotakopulu and Buckland, 2012)
The uniquely diverse insect material collected from the coffin of Peder Winstrup, mainly found in the pillows, the mattress and the plant bed, provides insights into the treatment of the body, activities connected with the burial and faunal implications
Summary
Deposits formed in dry and aerobic conditions do not normally yield fossil insect remains, as the exoskeletons are rapidly broken up by mechanical action, or decay as a result of fungal attacks (Elias, 2010). In stable arid conditions, cold climates with permafrost conditions or in sealed containers, such as jars with stored products or coffins with buried bodies, the preservation of biological remains may be excellent. Many lice and their eggs were found on 15th century CE mummies of Inuit women at a site in western Greenland (Hansen, 1989). Morrow et al (2016) presented nine beetle and fly taxa recovered from the Medici embalming jars found in the San Lorenzo Basilica, Florence All of these studies demonstrate the importance of insect remains for providing a better understanding of burial contexts and practices. As a part of forensic analyses, insects in particular may provide important information concerning the treatment of corpses, exposure conditions and time prior to burial, as well as conditions in the tomb and their significance for the decay process (Panagiotakopulu and Buckland, 2012; Huchet, 2014)
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