Past life and death in a Flemish town. An archaeo-anthropological study of burials from the medieval and post-medieval St. Rombout's cemetery in Mechelen, Belgium (10th–18th centuries CE)

Abstract

The excavation on St. Rombout's cemetery in Mechelen, Belgium yielded 4158 individual articulated remains in 3617 graves. The burials showed relatively extensive variation in the construction of the graves and treatment of bodies, expressed by the presence of a coffin or objects, the orientation and position of the body and the number of individuals in the grave. To provide a more in-depth picture of social organisation and funerary practices, a sub-sample of 351 individuals was studied in detail through a contextual analysis. Burial characteristics related to wealth and social background were confronted with skeletal parameters, including age, sex and pathological changes which can be related to growth disturbances, trauma and physical stress, disease and dental health. The large number of burials and the long period of use of the cemetery, from the 10th to 18th century CE, provide an exceptional opportunity to observe changes over time as well as between groups buried in this parish churchyard.The results showed differences in burial modes associated with age, sex and pathological changes that can be related to social age, gender and socio-economic background. They particularly reveal a possible sub-group in the population consisting of adolescents and young male adults, who showed indications for more severe physical stress, growth disturbances and disease and were buried in less expensive and more unusual graves.