The Dead Don’t Bury Themselves: Reflections on At ypical Burial Arrangements and Gender in Mierzanowice Culture Cemeteries

Abstract

Many archaeological and bioarchaeological studies of the past—and too many in the present day—have confined their investigations of gender to an assumed male/female, man/woman binary. Many Early Bronze Age cemeteries in Central Europe offer the possibility of going beyond the binary, thanks to their richly and complexly gendered burial practices. In this study, 12 burials from three Mierzanowice Culture cemeteries in Poland are investigated bioarchaeologically. These burials are of particular interest because each one in its own way deviates from the typical manifestations of gender in the mortuary practices of this time. Questions are raised, and potential implications are discussed relating to conceptions of gender in these Early Bronze Age communities.