On the Road to the Other World. Plants in the Burial Rites of Bogaczewo Culture (Roman Period, northeast Poland)

Abstract

Charred microscopic plant remains, other than charcoal, uncovered in the contents of grave pits, provide information on the use of plants as grave goods and other aspects of the burial rite, as well as on the taxonomic composition of the plant cover of the cemetery and the landscape around it. This paper presents the results of an analysis and interpretation of such eco-facts from the Bogaczewo culture cemetery at Paprotki Kolonia site 1 in the Masurian Great Lakes District. All of the charred plant remains came from the contents of 87 grave pits with pyre remains and contents of urns, dated, in general, to the early Roman Period and phase C1. Thirty-six taxons of different kinds were represented among them, including cereals and wild plants of different habitats. An analysis of the age, sex, number of individuals and social status of the deceased, defined on the basis of the grave goods and the use of plants in the burial rite, showed no pattern. The only probable rule seems to be the fact of the domination of wheat among the cereals uncovered in grave pits. The interpretation of the function of plants put intentionally on the pyre in the burial rite showed that their use was connected with universal and complicated symbols of cereals and plant food. Wild plants might have been used in the rite for their medicinal or magic properties. Some plants discovered in the contents of grave pits might also have overgrown the sites of the pyres and their close vicinity. Their taxonomic set shows that at the time of the use of the cemetery at the Paprotki Kolonia site 1, its surface was deforested and overgrown with herbal plants.