Burial Patterns Research Articles

Albian high-resolution biostratigraphy and isotope stratigraphy: The Coppa della Nuvola pelagic succession of the Gargano Promontory (Southern Italy)

High-resolution δ13C and δ18O curves, calibrated against planktonic foraminiferal and calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy, are provided for the upper Aptian–lower Cenomanian pelagic succession of the Gargano Promontory (Coppa della Nuvola section, southern Italy). The succession consists of two superimposed formations: the Marne a Fucoidi and the Scaglia (lower portion only). According to our integrated biostratigraphy, the entire succession spans the latest Aptian (planktonic foraminiferal T. bejaouaensis and calcareous nannofossil R. angustus Zones) and early Cenomanian stages (R. cushmani Zone CC9c). The Marne a Fucoidi–Scaglia transition falls in the late Albian (R. ticinensis Zone; CC9a+b Subzones). The high-resolution δ13C curve from the Coppa della Nuvola section can be sub-divided into characteristic segments. Four negative shifts of δ13C are recorded, followed by increasing values in, respectively, the early Albian (C11, C12), the early late Abian (C14, C15), the late Albian (C16, C17), and the early Cenomanian (C22). The late Albian carbon-isotope event, corresponding to the Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE) 1d or Breistroffer Event, is possibly missing in the Coppa della Nuvola section as a result of condensation or erosion (C19–C20?). Even if, in the section studied, carbon-rich levels are not recorded (though some stratigraphic intervals are covered by Quaternary deposits in the lower portion), it is likely that the lower Albian (T. primula; P. columnata Zones) and the upper Albian (T. praeticinensis Subzone–R. subticinensis Zone; R. achlyostaurion Zone) positive δ13C peaks succeeding negative trends in δ13C (C11–C12; C16–17) record the pattern of global carbon burial, documented in other areas of the Gargano Promontory and elsewhere and connected to the OAE1b and OAE1c. Some or all of the negative δ13C shifts may record the introduction of isotopically light carbon into the ocean–atmosphere system from the dissociation of gas hydrates. The δ18O curve of the Coppa della Nuvola section shows a similar trend to that of the δ13C curve. Although partly of diagenetic origin, the negative shifts in the early Albian, late Albian and early Cenomanian may be interpreted as records of warming events resulting from the introduction of methane and its oxidation product carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The palaeoceanographic conditions inferred by the biotic and isotopic changes suggest fluctuating meso-eutrophic conditions through the late-Aptian–early-middle Albian and increasingly stable oligotrophic situation starting from the late Albian interval. Two main possible episodes of increased eutrophy, suggested by pulses in radiolarian abundance and marked drop in foraminiferal diversity, occurred during the Albian and correlate with the above-mentioned positive carbon-isotope shifts and regional and supraregional accumulation of organic matter (OAE1b and OAE1c).

TRADITION, MODERNITY, AND POSTMODERNITY IN SYMBOLISM OF DEATH

Serving as replicas of the social structures of communities, cemeteries can be analyzed for the cultural patterns they reflect as an historical record. Currently, American culture, referred to as a postmodern society, is said to be undergoing a disregard for the past, even in death, including the guidance and meanings provided by its social institutions. A case analysis of burial patterns in a 150-year-old public cemetery reveals a decrease in identifications with social institutions and an increase in personal, recreational symbols on gravestones among those buried since 1960. Findings lend evidence supportive of theoretical descriptions of larger trends that place greater emphasis on the self in the present for recent generations, but not supportive of a radical postmodern break with the past. Tradition is continuing in most aspects of burial and most of all in the continuation of the use of burial for the disposition of the dead. Still, the treatment of the dead in America reflects individualizing cultural processes, similarly witnessed in changes in burial practices in other industrialized nations.

Tradition, Modernity, and Postmodernity in Symbolism of Death

Serving as replicas of the social structures of communities, cemeteries can be analyzed for the cultural patterns they reflect as an historical record. Currently, American culture, referred to as a postmodern society, is said to be undergoing a disregard for the past, even in death, including the guidance and meanings provided by its social institutions. A case analysis of burial patterns in a 150-year-old public cemetery reveals a decrease in identifications with social institutions and an increase in personal, recreational symbols on gravestones among those buried since 1960. Findings lend evidence supportive of theoretical descriptions of larger trends that place greater emphasis on the self in the present for recent generations, but not supportive of a radical postmodern break with the past. Tradition is continuing in most aspects of burial and most of all in the continuation of the use of burial for the disposition of the dead. Still, the treatment of the dead in America reflects individualizing cultural processes, similarly witnessed in changes in burial practices in other industrialized nations.

Mortuary patterns in burial caves on Mangaia, Cook Islands

AbstractThe behavioural, cultural, and political implications of archaeological human remains in non‐mortuary, possibly culinary, contexts requires that we understand the range of mortuary practices in a particular region. Although several rockshelter sites on Mangaia, Cook Islands have yielded burned, fragmentary human bones in earth ovens that seem to support archaeological models and ethnohistoric accounts of ritual sacrifice and cannibalism, the absence of data on the range of Mangaian mortuary patterns obscures these interpretations. We describe burial patterns based on 40 above‐ground interments representing at least 92 individuals in caves of Mangaia, Cook Islands, in order to begin to develop an island‐wide perspective on mortuary patterns. Sampling both pre‐ and post‐European contact sites we found that multiple interments dominate probable pre‐contact burials (73%, 19 of 26) and single interments dominate post‐contact contexts (80%, eight of ten burials), probably reflecting the influence of Christianity on mortuary ritual. Subadults were more frequent in all post‐contact contexts suggesting alternative burial places, probably church cemeteries, for adults. Burial cave remains are broadly consistent with ethnohistoric accounts of interment in caves, however, they also illustrate additional burial practices and differences between time periods, such as primary body position and the role of multiple‐individual interments, which are not discussed ethnohistorically. The mortuary practices in Mangaian burial caves differ from burials associated with marae and seem completely unrelated to the presence of highly fragmentary and burnt human remains in pre‐contact rockshelter middens elsewhere on the island. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evidence of interpersonal violence at the Chalcolithic village of Shiqmim (Israel)

AbstractThree circumscribed depressed fractures were found on the skull of an adolescent boy recovered from a primary intramural burial at the Chalcolithic site of Shiqmim, northern Negev, Israel dated to (∼4500–3200 BCE). The fractures were located on the left side and back of the skull. They are circular in outline and have sharp margins containing numerous small bone fragments. These indicate that the skull was fractured when the bone was still fresh and were the probable cause of death. The location of the fractured areas is typical of blows inflicted by a right‐handed individual in face‐to‐face conflict. The size and shape of the fractures, suggests that they were inflicted by a blunt instrument, possibly a mace head. The absence of any signs of healing or infection indicates that all fractures occurred within a short space of time and resulted in death. Neither biological characteristics nor burial pattern show any unique features that distinguish this individual from others recovered at this site. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Matrix decomposition model for investigating prehistoric intracemetery biological variation.

A matrix decomposition model for analyzing prehistoric intracemetery biological variability is presented. The model, based on the correlation between interindividual biological and burial distance matrices, provides an estimate of the number of distinct burial populations interred within a single cemetery, which effectively ameliorates identifiability problems typical of general variability analyses (Raemsch [1995] Ph.D. dissertation, SUNY at Albany). Unlike other methods for analyzing intrasite variability analysis (e.g., kinship analysis and microchronology), this method is not reliant on a priori subgroup definition. Assuming a kin-structured burial pattern, a residual matrix is defined based on the raw data matrices; the proportion of negative or zero residuals to the total number of residuals provides an estimate of the number of hidden subgroupings (lineages) within the cemetery. The comparative utility of the model is demonstrated on a series of protohistoric and historic period skeletal samples from the Georgia coast, where it demonstrated that the increase in phenotypic variability during the early mission period is the result of population aggregation at the missions and not necessarily genetic admixture between local and nonlocal groups.

In situ measurement of geoacoustic sediment properties: An example from the ONR Mine Burial Program, Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory

In support of the Office of Naval Research’s Mine Burial Program (MBP), in situ acoustic and resistivity measurements were obtained using ISSAP, a device developed and built by the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping. One of the field areas selected for the MBP experiments is the WHOI coastal observatory based off Martha’s Vineyard. This area is an active natural laboratory that will provide an ideal environment for testing and observing mine migration and burial patterns due to temporal seabed processes. Seawater and surficial sediment measurements of compressional wave sound speed, attenuation, and resistivity were obtained at 87 stations. The ISSAP instrument used four transducer probes arranged in a square pattern giving acoustic path lengths of 30 and 20 cm with a maximum insertion depth of 15 cm. Transducers operated at a frequency of 65 kHz. The received acoustic signal was sampled at a frequency of 5 MHz. A measurement cycle was completed by transmitting 10 pulses on each of the five paths and repeating three times for a total 150 measurements. Resistivity measurements were obtained from two probes mounted on ISSAP following completion of the acoustic measurements. [Research supported by ONR Grant Nos. N00014-00-1-0821 and N00014-02-1-0138.]

Organic carbon burial rates, and carbon and sulfur relationships in coastal sediments of the southern Baltic Sea

Organic C burial rates and C–S relationships were investigated in the Holocene sediment sequences of 3 shallow polymictic coastal lagoons in the southern Baltic Sea to better understand the biogeochemical cycling of C and S in these environmental systems. The results show that these lagoons may have a considerable influence on the environmental status of the southern Baltic Sea area in having the potential to act as a temporary sink or source for heavy metals. High organic C accumulation rates (C org-AR) can be observed in the sediments due to a high organic matter supply from land and a high productivity of the water bodies as a result of eutrophication. However, organic C burial does not increase as a result of increasing sediment accumulation rates (SAR). Even when high sedimentation rates do occur, there appears to be a thorough recycling and resuspension of the sediment enhancing the biological decay of organic matter before burial or the removal of organic matter from the system by transport. That is why high SAR in the coastal lagoons do not enhance pyrite formation, and thereby permanent fixing of heavy metals in the sediments, to the extent that could be expected from their magnitude. Initially there is a high potential for a temporary binding of heavy metals, but the latter are likely to be subject to mobilization and redistribution within the sediments and the water column. The patterns of burial of organic and mineral matter are different from those observed in the present-day Baltic Proper, implying possible important links in deposition between the central and coastal areas of the Baltic Sea and implications for C cycling in the ecosystem of the Baltic Sea.

Accumulation of organic and inorganic carbon in Pliocene–Pleistocene sediments along the SW African margin

The Ocean Drilling Program Leg 175 recovered a unique series of stratigraphically continuous sedimentary sections along the SW African margin, an area which is presently affected by active coastal upwelling. The accumulation rates of organic and inorganic carbon are a major component of this record. Four Leg 175 sites (1082, 1084, 1085, 1087) are chosen as part of a latitudinal transect from the present northern to southern boundaries of the Benguela Current upwelling system, to decipher the Pliocene–Pleistocene history of biogenic production and its relationship with global and local changes in oceanic circulation and climate. The pattern of CaCO 3 and C org mass accumulation rates (MARs) over 0.25-Myr intervals indicates that the evolution of carbon burial is highly variable between the northern and the southern Benguela regions, as well as between sites that have similar hydrological conditions. This, as well as the presence over most locations of high-amplitude, rapid changes of carbon burial, reflect the partitioning of biogenic production and patterns of sedimentation into local compartments over the Benguela margin. The combined mapping of CaCO 3 and C org MARs at the study locations suggests four distinct evolutionary periods, which are essentially linked with major steps in global climate change: the early Pliocene, the mid-Pliocene warm event, a late Pliocene intensification of northern hemisphere glaciation and the Pleistocene. The early Pliocene spatially heterogeneous patterns of carbon burial are thought to reflect the occurrence of mass-gravitational movements over the Benguela slope which resulted in disruption of the recorded biogenic production. This was followed (3.5–3 Ma) by an episode of peak carbonate accumulation over the whole margin and, subsequently, by the onset of Benguela provincialism into a northern and a southern sedimentary regime near 2 Ma. This mid and late Pliocene evolution is interpreted as a direct response to changes in the ventilation of bottom and intermediate waters, as well as to dynamics of the subtropical gyral circulation and associated wind stress.

Earliest malaria DNA found in Roman baby graveyard.

experts are helping archaeologists to work out what caused the of 47 babies whose bodies have been unearthed together in a 5th-century outside Rome. The experts think the tiny skeletons--including the bones of 22 miscarried fetuses--may have been victims of Plasmodium falciparum an extremely virulent form of the organism that causes malaria. The Roman site could mark the northern edge of P. falciparums penetration into Europe. The archaeologists who excavated the site led by David Soren of the University of Arizona in Tuscon are intrigued by its unusual configuration. The at Lugnano Umbria was created in a ruined villa. The bones were found at different depths with more at higher levels. This is not the normal burial pattern for a Roman cemetery says Soren. There were also signs of witchcraft at the burial site including puppy skeletons perhaps meant to ward off demons thought to cause disease. Study of the soil between the remains indicates that all the babies were buried within a few weeks. Medics suggest a epidemic as the cause of the deaths. The honeycomb pattern of many of the bones suggests anemia a symptom of and severe is implied in the eras literature. Malaria is the most logical explanation for the deaths says Mario Coluzzi a parasitologist at the University of Rome. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) studies due to be published next month in Ancient Biomolecules show the presence of P. falciparum DNA in the bones of the oldest infant-- the earliest DNA ever identified. This is by no means proof that the cause of the infants death was malaria says Robert Sallares of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology UK who led the DNA study but it allows it to remain a contender. (full text)

An Integrative Approach to Mortuary Analysis: Social and Symbolic Dimensions of Chumash Burial Practices

Although most archaeologists recognize that valuable information about the social lives of ancient people can be obtained through the study of burial practices, it is clear that the symbolic nature of burial rituals makes interpreting their social significance a hazardous enterprise. These analytical difficulties can be greatly reduced using a research strategy that draws upon the strengths of a broad range of conceptually and methodologically independent data sources. We illustrate this approach by using archaeological data from cemeteries at Malibu, California, to explore an issue over which researchers are sharply divided: when did the simple chiefdoms of the Chumash Indians first appear in the Santa Barbara Channel area? First we establish the social correlates of Chumash burial practices through the comparison of historic-period cemetery data, ethnohistoric records, and ethnographic accounts. The resulting understanding of mortuary symbolism is then used to generate hypotheses about the social significance of prehistoric-period Malibu burial patterns. Finally, bioarchaeological data on genetic relationships, health status, and activity are used to independently test artifact-based hypotheses about prehistoric Chumash social organization. Together, these independent data sources constitute strong evidence for the existence of a ranked society with a hereditary elite during the late Middle period in the Santa Barbara Channel area.

The Body Context: Interpreting Early Nasca Decapitated Burials

AbstractOne of the most enigmatic aspects of decapitation practices among south coastal Peruvian Paracas and Nasca cultures (900 B.C.-A.D. 750) is the near absence of headless bodies in the archaeological record. Drawing on a case study of an Early Nasca, Phase 3 headless burial at Site PV62D13 in the lower Ica Valley, together with examples of headless interments reported in the literature, I examine the nature and disposition of headless burials. Three burial patterns, or forms, are proposed. The burial at PV62D13 is distinguished for its extended posture and interment in a non-cemetery setting and is proposed to be a dedicatory burial. Burial forms for disembodied heads are also examined, and over time, a notable increase in cached heads, buried without grave offerings is observed. Painted ceramic images of Nasca trophy heads and headless bodies are reviewed diachronically and a marked increase in decapitation scenes is noted for Late Nasca. Attention is drawn to the limited number of headless body images overall, and possible solutions to reconcile the visual imagery with the archaeological data are offered.

Low-grade metamorphism in the Scottish Southern Uplands terrane: deciphering the patterns of accretionary burial, shearing and cryptic aureoles

ABSTRACTSystematic studies of metapelitic grade linked with the geological re-survey of the Southern Uplands have been used to generate a contoured metamorphic map currently covering nearly two-thirds of the terrane. These studies, based on approximately one pelite sample per 2·5 km2, have used XRD measurements of clay mineral reaction progress, particularly illite crystallinity, to delineate zones of diagenesis and low-grade metamorphism in the imbricated Ordovician and Silurian strata. The regional pattern revealed by metapelitic zonal sequences does not agree with earlier observations that grade increases across the strike, from SE to NW. Instead, the map shows considerable variations in metamorphic trends, including patterns of grade increasing from older into younger strata, indicative of accretionary burial. Other patterns identified include those generated by high strain rates in the Moniaive Shear Zone (MSZ), and by extensive low-temperature cryptic aureoles associated with late granitic intrusions. The present pattern is the result of uplift that generated normal movement on reactivated thrust faults and differential block movement on NW-trending faults.Regional metamorphic patterns were generated by burial and underplating in an accretionary thrust stack. Subduction was initiated in the early Caradoc and probably ceased in the early Wenlock. Metapelitic patterns suggest that two levels of accretion are exposed in the terrane. Strata accreted to the toe of the prism and stacked above the décollement zone are typically at late diagenetic grade. Underplated strata below the décollement are typically at anchizonal grades with moderate to well-developed slaty cleavage. Coherent thrust-bounded tracts of strata at both levels were rotated and buried to produce a syntectonic depth-controlled pattern of meta-morphism. Shear zone metamorphism at depths of 12 km or more was probably confined to the underplated lower level of the thrust stack, and Devonian granitic intrusions were also emplaced mainly within the underplated strata.

ANCESTOR WORSHIP: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF RITUAL ACTIVITIES IN NEOLITHIC NORTH CHINA

Based on the analysis of burial patterns found at several archaeological sites in the Yellow River valley, this study demonstrates the existence of various forms of ritual practice directed towards ancestors during the Neolithic period. Different ritual behavior revealed in the data clearly indicate the development of the ancestral cult in three respects: (1) the ancestors venerated shifted from collective groups to exclusive individuals with high social status; (2) the worshippers who performed the rituals changed from large social organizations at the community level (probably represented by multi-lineage groups) to small social groups at the lineage or family level; and (3) social beneficiaries of the ritual changed from the entire community to selected social sectors of the whole, mainly lineages or families with high social status. Ancestor in ancient China, therefore, can be characterized by two basic forms, ancestor worship and ancestor worship, with a number of variations within the two. The former form may have been associated with an egalitarian social organization, and the latter seems to have deeply influenced the religious and political systems of the Shang dynasty. Although the shift from the equal treatment of group ancestors to the unequal treatment of individual ancestors is parallel with the overall development of social organization from egalitarian to stratified, there is no one-to-one correspondence between the two progressions. Unequal treatment of dead forebears, who were identified with different social sectors, may have occurred in basically egalitarian societies while veneration of particular individual ancestors probably appeared in societies in which socio-economic stratification among community members had yet to develop.

The Greenland Norse. A biological-anthropological study

The study concerns all known Norse skeletal material from Greenland. The material represents the human remains of the Norse who sailed out from Iceland to colonize the south-western part of Greenland one thousand years ago, and maintained two major settlements there for five hundred years. Although the demise of the settlements, which was more or less contemporary with the southward migrations of the Thule Culture Eskimos, has traditionally been the focus of research, the tendency is now changing towards a broader multidisciplinary effort to reconstruct the Norse society. Data gleaned from the remains of the Norse Greenlanders themselves are intrinsic to this effort. Comprehensive radiocarbon analyses were conducted to place the anthropological material in a chronological setting. These datings corroborated the general ideas of church chronology in Norse Greenland. Furthermore, the results of the radiocarbon analyses indicate a dietary shift from predominantly terrestrial to predominantly marine foodstuffs over the settlement period. The analyses of burial practices and burial patterns point to a society which by and large followed the burial practices known from other contemporary medieval societies. However, a rather large number of non-clerical individuals seem to have been interred inside the church structures. This may indicate an organization of the church in Greenland much like that of Iceland, where the churches were owned, at least for some time, by the local magnates. No statistically significant differences emerged from synchronic or diachronic analyses of anthropometric or non-metric traits. A tendency towards smaller dimensions, in accordance with previous studies, was however indicated. The Norse population seemed rather homogenous. There was no indication of assimilation with Eskimos. The incidence of infectious middle ear disease was assessed as an indicator of general health conditions. The results, while not displaying a statistically significant secular trend, could indicate worsening living conditions, which seems to be supported by some of the demographic results. Besides middle ear disease, occurrences of other pathologies were noted. Evidence of traumatic lesions seemed to reflect a society where combat with swords or axes was not unknown. Palaeodemographical analyses showed that mean age fell slightly over time, and that subadult mortality rose. Female mortality rates differed from male mortality rates, basically because more females died at a younger age. However, this trend was not statistically significant. An attempt was made to estimate the total population size by calculating burial densities and total burial area. This yielded a total population of about 26,000, i.e. an average of 1,400 individuals throughout 500 years of settlement. Finally, a hypothetical population profile was modelled by assuming average values for certain demographic variables (growth, immigration and emigration rates, etc.). This showed that a founder population of about 500 people could well have increased to about 2,000 over 200 years. Likewise, depopulation could be accounted for by assuming an average emigration rate of 10-13 individuals per year, with corresponding falling growth rates. The total summated population of this model was 26,500 individuals. The significance of these calculations is that hypotheses about the demise of the settlements need not resort to "catastrophic" events such as epidemics or warfare.

Cysteine and disulfide scanning reveals two amphiphilic helices in the linker region of the aspartate chemoreceptor.

The transmembrane aspartate receptor of E. coli and S. typhimurium mediates cellular chemotaxis toward aspartate by regulating the activity of the cytoplasmic histidine kinase, CheA. Ligand binding results in transduction of a conformational signal through the membrane to the cytoplasmic domain where both kinase regulation and adaptation occur. Of particular interest is the linker region, E213 to Q258, which connects and transduces the conformational signal between the cytoplasmic end of the transmembrane signaling helix (alpha 4/TM2) and the major methylation helix of the cytoplasmic domain (alpha 6). This linker is crucial for stable folding and function of the homodimeric receptor. The present study uses cysteine and disulfide scanning mutagenesis to investigate the secondary structure and packing surfaces within the linker region. Chemical reactivity assays reveal that the linker consists of three distinct subdomains: two alpha-helices termed alpha 4 and alpha 5 and, between them, an ordered region of undetermined secondary structure. When cysteine is scanned through the helices, characteristic repeating patterns of solvent exposure and burial are observed. Activity assays, both in vivo and in vitro, indicate that each helix possesses a buried packing face that is crucial for proper receptor function. The interhelical subdomain is at least partially buried and is also crucial for proper receptor function. Disulfide scanning places helix alpha 4 distal to the central axis of the homodimer, while helix alpha 5 is found to lie at the subunit interface. Finally, sequence alignments suggest that all three linker subdomains are highly conserved among the large subfamily of histidine kinase-coupled sensory receptors that possess methylation sites for use in covalent adaptation.

Cultural Transformation at the Maya Postclassic Community of Laguna de On, Belize

Comparisons of Late Classic (A.D. 600-900) and Early-to-Middle Postclassic (A.D. 1000-1400) settlements at Laguna de On illuminate the transformation of Maya society at the community level in the aftermath of the Classic-period collapse. Affluent subsistence production communities such as Laguna de On reflect the emergence of the village as a focal point for social, political, and economic organization at this time, a pattern that persists in the Maya Lowlands to this day. Ties with the past are observed in comparisons of Classic-to-Postclassic domestic and public architectural efforts, burial patterns, faunal remains, lithic tool production and use, and settlement strategy at Laguna de On. Although some technological and material differences are observed in household assemblages of each period, the changes are not interpreted as material reflections of population replacement or ethnic difference. Postcollapse Belize Maya community organization and domestic patterns are analyzed as scaled-down transformations of Classic-period institutions in response to altered conditions of regional demography, ecology, and political geography.

The Development of the Burial Mound Tradition in the Caddo Area

This is a significantly revised version of a paper I presented at the 1994 East Texas Archeological Conference in Tyler, Texas. The gist of that paper was that the origins of the burial mound tradition in the Caddo area can be traced, not to the Coles Creek culture in the Lower Mississippi Valley as the conventional wisdom would have it, but to an independent Fourche Maline mound building tradition that developed in and around the Red River Valley beginning about 100 B.C.2 I still think that there was an independent Fourche Maline mound building tradition and I still think that, as I tried to show in my conference presentation, the earliest mounds at the earliest Caddo ceremonial center we know of, Mounds D and C at the Crenshaw site, were constructed in that tradition. As I will show in this paper, it is clear that the Crenshaw mounds were not "Coles Creek" mounds. But in the three years since my conference presentation, I have changed my interpretation of the slightly later, late Fourche Maline period, full-fleshed, group burials that were also found in Mound Cat Crenshaw. These are the earliest graves found so far at any Caddo site that seem to be clearly in the tradition of the distinctive, high status "shaft tomb" burials of early Caddo culture in the Red River Valley. In my original presentation I argued that these graves, and hence the early Caddo mound burial tradition, could be derived from the old Fourche Maline burial mound tradition. But since then I have come to consider that argument unconvincing and untenable. The new argument I offer here is that the stimulus for the early Caddo mound burial pattern did indeed come from outside the Caddo Area, as many archeologists have suggested, but it was not from Coles Creek culture as has commonly been supposed. I now think that these graves indicate the point in time when powerful influences from the "Emergent Mississippian" cultures to the northeast of the Caddo Area, perhaps from Cahokia itself, were beginning to transform the centuries-old Fourche Maline burial mound tradition into the essentially Mississippian early Caddo burial mound tradition. This transition must have entailed not just changes in the Fourche Maline burial mound tradition but also basic changes in the structure and importance of the elite stratum, if such there was, in Fourche Maline society itself. Thus, these graves would reflect an early stage in the transformation, under Emergent Mississippian influence, of the evidently still quite weakly developed elite social stratum in late Fourche Maline society into the well defined elite stratum that seems to have dominated early Caddo society; i.e., the social elite responsible for the deep, richly accoutered shaft tombs that were emplaced in mounds at all the important early Caddo ceremonial centers. So in this paper I will first attempt to isolate and describe the old Fourche Maline burial mound tradition. Then I will try to show that the earliest mounds at Crenshaw were built in that tradition. Finally, I will try to show how that tradition was interrupted and significantly altered around A.D. 800, and I will argue that the Emergent Mississippians were behind this transition.

Les coutumes funéraires dans l'Epipaléolithique jordanien

In Jordan, the study of burial customs hasreceived little attention by researchers due to the fact that there is little archaeological evidence available at the present time. The purpose of this study then is to provide new information on burial customs and patterns during the Epipaleolithic period in Jordan. It analyses these burial patterns, compares them to those in Palestine and also provides information on the developments of these customs from the burial type or from the grave goods recovered along with the skeletal remains and offers an explanation of the social and economic life during that period.

Burial Patterns and Cultural Diversity in Late Bronze Age Canaan

Burial Patterns and Cultural Diversity in Late Bronze Age Canaan