Funerary Research Articles

РАСКОПКИ КУРГАНОВ МОНГОЛЬСКОГО ВРЕМЕНИ У ГОРЫ ЯШИЛ В 2022 ГОДУ (СЕВЕРНАЯ МОНГОЛИЯ)

In 2022, a Mongolian-Russian expedition conducted a study of Mongolian burials at the Yashil site (territory of Orkhontuul somon of Selenge aimag of Mongolia). As a result, three burial mounds were excavated on the western edge of Yashil Mountain near the confluence of the Orkhon and Tuul rivers. It was established that two of them contain burials of adults and one burial of a child. The burial of the child was disturbed due to robbery. In the other graves the original position of the dead was preserved. The stone embankment of all the mounds had an oval shape. Only one person was in each grave. The orientation of the heads to the northeast, east and southeast was recorded. The tibia bones of small cattle were found during excavations in the barrows. The main characteristics of the burial rites reflect the traditions of the medieval Mongols. The dating of the investigated objects was determined by the finds.

АНДРОНОВСКИЕ ПОГРЕБЕНИЯ НА МОГИЛЬНИКЕ КЫТМАНОВО (ПО МАТЕРИАЛАМ РАСКОПОК В.И. КАЦА В 1961 Г.)

The article presents the previously unpublished results of V.I. Katz’s archaeological excavations at the Kytmanovo burial ground, discovered by him in 1961 during routine surveys. The site was located on the left bank of the Chumysh River in the Kytmanovsky District of the Altai Territory in the area of a brick factory. Information from the authors’ correspondence with V.I. Katz, as well as materials of his report and the collection stored in the Kemerovo Regional Museum of Local Lore is given. The researcher recorded nine burials belonging to the Andronovo archaeological culture of the Bronze Age. This is evidenced by the peculiarities of the burial rites (orientation and position of the dead people, the presence of wooden intra-burial structures, etc.) and the peculiarities of the discovered inventory, the basis of which are ceramic vessels. The presented characteristics and illustrations of the obtained archaeological material find numerous analogies in the Andronovo sites of the Upper Priobie and adjacent territories.

Zwierzęta w ciałopalnym obrządku pogrzebowym Słowian na przykładzie znalezisk z obszaru dzisiejszej Polski

Animals in Slavic burial rites: the example of finds from the area of present-day Poland. The article concerns the issues of finds of animal remains in early medieval cremation burials, identified with the Slavs, in today’s Poland. Finds of animal remains discovered in 134 burials in 37 cemeteries have been analysed.

Калачиковидные цельнолитые серьги IV–VIIвв.

The article analyses C-shaped all-cast earrings from complexes dated 4th-7th century. There is a collection of artefacts from 79 monuments (France, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria). Precise topological & geodesic data are used to draw the map of embellishments. In the first place C-shaped earrings are found in the Northern Black Sea region. In terms of chronology they were popular for an extended period of time from antiquity (6th-5th century BC till early Middle Ages 4th-5th century AD). C-shaped earrings in complexes of 4th-7th centuries are evident of the Alans’ interference. However, it is assumed that the Huns adopted the Alans’ aesthetics and symbols. Caucasus, Northern Black Sea region and Lower Volga region in the first half of the 1st millennium were occupied by Sarmatian tribes (the Aorsi, the Alans) and the Huns. This territory is found with more than a half of our complex selection with C-shaped earrings. The Danube region (Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria) is another region discovered with archaeological materials that include this jewellery. Besides, C-shaped earrings are found in Brittany in the 5th century burial ground La Mézière (near Orléans), in Burgundy and Normandy. In the South-West France (Occitania, Pyrénées-Orientales) they found a few C-shaped earrings. Two regions in Gaul (France) were mentioned in certain written sources in relation to the Alans’; these regions were also discovered with C-shaped earrings. Volga - Kama - Aral region is registered with 25 closed complexes with C-shaped earrings. Elements of the burial ritual accompanied by tools are described in the table. Both ritualistic elements and tools found in complexes demonstrate homogeneous materials in regions thousands of kilometres apart. Simple C-shaped earrings in Volga - Kama - Aral region can be dated 4th-6th century. Earrings with bunches or pyramids can be dated the second half of the 6th-8th century. These earrings belong to the Sarmatian Alans.

The Symbolic Meaning of Death Ritual in Baduy Society

This article examines the death rites in the Baduy indigenous people, one of the indigenous peoples in Lebak, South Banten. The Baduy indigenous people have cultural characteristics and beliefs that are unique and different from Banten society in general. The various traditional rituals and socio-religious ceremonies performed by the Baduy community must all refer to the customary norms and rules that apply in the local community; no exception in the death rites. How the Baduy indigenous people interpret death and what symbols are in the death rites of the Baduy indigenous people are two important points that will be examined in this article. In addition, how the symbolic meaning in the death rites of the Baduy indigenous people will also be discussed in this article. This article is the result of field research using ethnographic methods with an anthropological approach. The data collection technique used involved observation, in-depth interviews, documentation and literature study. The death rite is one of the sacred rites in the rite of passage for the Baduy community. They believe that the dead will return to the Mandala Hyang (the place where the souls gather after death) after a 7-day death rite. The various symbols in the Baduy death rites show the continuity and relationship that continues to exist between the living and the dead. The Baduy death rituals have symbols that imply the understanding and meaning of the Baduy people towards death and the dead. For the Baduy people, the relationship between the living and the dead continues until the spirit faces the Holy One.

Mirusiųjų deginimo papročio plitimas rytų Lietuvoje: naujas chronologinis modelis, paremtas radiokarboninio datavimo duomenimis

The article discusses the model of the spread of cremation in the East Lithuanian barrow culture based on the data of radiocarbon dating. It proposes a review of the model established in literature that a wave of cremation spread from the south of the region to the north between the late 4th century AD and of the early 6th century AD. The stage of the earliest cremations can be dated to 248–335 cal AD, and the stage of the latest inhumations to 420–556 cal AD. This suggests that both inhumation and cremation were practised in Eastern Lithuania for about two centuries from the Late Roman period to the Late Migration period. The hypothesis that the practice of cremation spread from south to north is being corrected rather than refuted. While this process was quite sudden, it was due to the spread of a new tradition alongside the old rather than a wave of change regarding burial rites. Cremation spread early (c. 250–400 cal AD) in the northern part of the region and was an established practice alongside inhumation. The practice of cremation probably became prevalent earlier in Southeastern Lithuania. These processes are synchronous with the emergence of the horizon of the burials of chieftains and warriors in Eastern Lithuania, but the determination of an earlier date for this horizon provides grounds for new discussions about its historical, cultural, and social background.

Burials With Buckets at the Ostriv the 11th Century Cemetery in the Middle Dnipro Region

The article focuses on the analysis of the wooden buckets used in human burials of the Ostriv cemetery studied in 2017–2020. The discovery of dominant culture-defining artefacts, such as penannular and ring brooches, zoomorphic bracelets, and spiral neck-rings, suggest that this ancient population may be originated from the coastal part of the East Baltic region, including Sambian Peninsula, historical Curonia and Semigallia and the results of anthropological and paleogenetic studies reinforce this theory. One of the characteristic features of the burial rite of the Ostriv cemetery was the presence of sacrificial food stored in vessels (buckets). Remnants of buckets – in the form of bandings hoops, handle mounts, and forged handles – were found placed at the feet of the deceased. Taking into account the fact that buckets were not generally incorporated into the burial practices of the Baltic tribes of that time, the authors of the article suggest that this rite infiltrated into their society after migration to the Porossya region of Ukraine and was associated with the complex processes of the Christianization of the Baltic settlers.

포스트메모리 세대의 아우슈비츠 서사와 윤리

This paper aims to examine the task of imagining Auschwitz presented by the postmemory generation and its ethical implications through László Nemes' film “Son of Saul.” Auschwitz is a death factory and a hole in oblivion that produced victims who could not even leave their remains. Art starts from these holes and has the task of rescuing the victims' anonymity. The victim's anonymity carries the risk of aesthetic fiction that fixes fatal simplification and stereotypes. Nevertheless, aesthetic fiction opens up the possibility of thinking beyond testimony or records by embracing non-reproducible and untold things. “Son of Saul” directed by László Nemes is about a Sonderkommando who claims that the boy who died in the gas chamber facility is his son and wants to hold a funeral according to authentic Jewish style. This paper focuses on the meaning of resistance of burial rituals and the responsibility of being a father in Saul's actions. And through this, the postmemory generation's gaze on Auschwitz asks for ethical excess beyond the family community and ethnicity, and they tries to embrace Cain, who killed his brother, like Sonderkommando.

Atypical early medieval graves discovered in Staré Město – ‘Na Valách’ and the issue of their interpretation

In 2018, during a rescue archaeological excavation taking place in one of the gardens of Staré Město near Uherské Hradiště, 23 early medieval graves containing skeletal remains of 26 individuals were detected. The site is situated on the northern border of the well-known Great Moravian burial ground ‘Na Valách’. In a large number of the newly excavated graves, greater or lesser deviations from the usual funeral rite were recorded. While the established burial rite in Great Moravian society means the deceased lies on their back in the supine position with extended extremities and head towards the west, here we found skeletons in very different orientations, lying in a prone or crouched position, or, at least, with unusual positions of their upper or lower limbs. Additionally, some of the graves contained incomplete or no skeletons. There is also one double burial and a triple burial, and several graves in superpositions. In nine graves, objects of material culture were found, the most important of them come from the rider’s grave 20/2018. The presented study aims to interpret the burial contexts using the bioarchaeological approach, which is, however, affected by the quality of the preserved finds, especially skeletal remains.

Bone diagenesis of archaeological human remains from Apulia (Italy) investigated by ATR-FTIR and XRF spectroscopy

The analysis of the organic and mineral content of biological samples allows to define post-mortem alterations and the preservation status of ancient human remains. Here, we report a physical–chemical characterization of bone specimens from some skeletal remains found in Apulia (Italy) dating back to the prehistoric, classic-hellenistic, and medieval periods. Specific infrared band ratios from Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform InfraRed and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopies were considered to evaluate the extent of the diagenetic process and the elemental composition of bone.Physical-chemical post-mortem transformations were related to the soil composition and specificity of tissue districts, burial rituals, probable dietary customs and pathologies.

Założenia rowkowe o charakterze funeralnym ze stanowiska Domasław 10/11/12 / Chrzanów 4, pow. wrocławski jako przejaw oddziaływań kulturowych

The most interesting feature discovered in Domasław’s burial ground is the ditched enclosures complex of a funeral character. The oldest complex with a ring trench was dated to the middle Bronze Age (HaA2). This custom reaches its apogee in the early Iron Age (HaC). A total of 26 chamber graves encircled by trenches, as well as another ditch without a burial probably also from this period, were discovered in the cemetery. At the end of the Early Iron Age, burial practices within the Domasław necropolis did not cease completely. The category of sepulchral features with a younger chronology should also include the rectangular, nearly quadrangular structures which appear in the La Tene period and even at a later phase using this burial ground. The Domasław burials with surrounding trenches have no analogies in the nearest regions. Excavated circular structures make the largest group of funeral ditches to the north of the Carpathian and Sudeten Mountains. The influence on the shaping of the burial rite’s material remains as recorded in the form of chamber graves which stand out for their construction and furnishing, might be also treated as an element of impact. The appearance of circular ditches within this province might be also treated as an element of southern (Hallstatt) impact. The circular ditches at this burial ground is the manifestation of these influences. The strong impact from the Hallstatt circle probably led to profound changes in the sphere of beliefs, ideas, and social stratification. The custom of surrounding graves with rectangular ditches recorded in enclaves of the La Tène culture in Poland is undoubtedly the effect of the arrival of Celtic people from the south to these areas.

Batak Muslim Local Wisdom: Sociological Analysis of Buffalo Slaughtering Tradition of Angkola Community Death Ceremony

This research examines the local wisdom built by the Muslim community of Angkola around the ritual of slaughtering buffalo in the event of death ceremony. This study is a field research combining observation, interviews, and document analysis with a sociological analytical technique to evaluate the tradition beginning with the reasons for its adoption, the process, and the desired outcomes. The study’s findings indicate that the Angkola people’s practice of slaughtering buffalo in burial ceremonies is motivated by a desire to preserve traditional culture as well as a means of protecting the social strata of traditional elders. Furthermore, this ritual appears to be a technique of sustaining societal social cohesiveness. The buffalo slaughter served as the foundation for implementing Islamic ideals in an atmosphere of brotherhood and generosity, with Mora Khanggi and Anak Boru serving as the primary funders. The outcomes of the study demonstrate that the practice of local communities as part of life knowledge can be sociologically connected with Islamic theological teachings. Acculturation of culture with religious teachings can genuinely present various choices for propagating religion while also exhibiting theological flexibility in order to make it more welcoming to its devotees.

Das Geschäft mit den Toten

Funeral homes provide an essential service in modern societies, yet their role as commercial actors engaging with the deceased has also been contested. This article surveys the development of funeral markets in Germany since the late nineteenth century, asking about the changing interplay of market logics and socio-cultural norms. It reveals the early development of a vibrant commercial market for funerals already prior to World War I. Looking at strictures on advertising and competition, it then highlights the increasing moralization of the funeral market beginning in the interwar period. Analysing municipal efforts to socialize funeral services, finally, it discusses efforts to de-commodify burial services and control funeral costs into the postwar period.

The Mediaeval Cemetery at 6 Bokšto St. The Orthodox Community’s Social Arena in Vilnius

Each burial site is a reflection of the community that left it; thus the burial rite features allow assumptions to be made about the society, its social structure, its distribution of power, the social status and economic situation of the deceased, and possible gender and age differences. The Bokšto St. inhumation cemetery, which dates to the last third of the 13th – early 15th centuries, is unique in the context of mediaeval Vilnius due to being a Christian cemetery that appeared while Lithuania was still a pagan country. It is primarily a place where the Orthodox community could demonstrate its religious affiliation in pagan Vilnius by burying its dead in accordance with its own traditions. This cemetery also reflects the community’s internal features and was a place where its members could interact, i.e. a social arena. Therefore, investigation of the cemetery’s various elements and its burial rites allows for hypotheses to be made not only about the community’s religious affiliation but also about its social structure, its connections, cultural environment and distribution of power, as well as allowing one to talk about past traditions and rituals. The wealth of assembled information makes it possible to examine this cemetery as a place that reflects the traditions of not only death but also of life.

When Balts Met Vikings at the Curonian Lagoon. Strategies of Social Representation at the Viking-Age Cemetery at Linkuhnen

The cemetery at Linkuhnen by River Memel had a long history of usage by local Baltic tribes, starting in the early Roman Period and continuing to the Viking Age, with the highest number of burials in the 10th–11th centuries AD. When Linkuhnen was excavated in the 1930s by German archaeologists, it was considered a Viking cemetery, since some of the grave goods (especially weaponry) seemed to bear signs of Scandinavian influences. However, the Scandinavian influence was overstated and the interaction between local Balts and Vikings was never thoroughly explained by the excavators. New research on the old excavation archives indicates that Linkuhnen was not a Viking burial ground but that incoming influences from Scandinavia brought a shift to the internal strategies of representation by local Baltic elites. The burial rite changed from simple single cremation graves to lavishly equipped collective cremation graves for members of powerful families or military units. Another remarkable feature is the large number and ‘international’ character of weaponry in the burials, some of the highest quality (Ulfberht), while the jewellery represents local types only. Unlike other Scandinavian-influenced sites on the southern Baltic coast, the Scandinavian presence in the River Memel area only led to minor interactions between Balts and Vikings, though it had a significant influence on the local Baltic elites’ internal representation of status.

The day the music died: Making and playing bone wind instruments at La Real in Middle Horizon, Peru (600–1000 CE)

• Forty bone wind instruments (aerophones) produced from camelids and condors were recovered from La Real, Arequipa. • Recreating a chaîne opératoire can illustrate the way these instruments were produced and played by all members of society. • Use of these instruments is abandoned in the later Middle Horizon overlapping with Wari expansion into the region. • Condor and camelid bone related to the symbolism of Andean mobile agropastoral communities and gender complementarity. • Cessation of making and playing these bone instruments attests to shifting ideologies about musical experiences. Musical performance and audience participation are important activities in both group celebrations and funerary practices. This paper considers the intersection of music and ritual in shifting local mortuary traditions during state expansion in the southern Peruvian Andes. It addresses musical activities and burial rites during the Middle Horizon (MH) (600–1000 CE), a period defined by social change, population expansion and greater influence of the Wari state. We present new evidence for shifting sound-making practices from the site of La Real in the Majes Valley of Arequipa. We mobilize morphological and acoustic analyses to determine the variation in instrument production and the likely idiosyncratic ways that participants played these objects. There is a musical tradition of manufacturing wind instruments from animal bone in the early MH (600–850 CE) followed by abandonment of these practices in the late MH (850–1000 CE). We suggest this shift correlates to a higher valuation of formalized acoustic aesthetics over collective instrument production and group musical performance. Instead of playing their own instruments at mortuary events, communities listened to music as spectators.

Основные результаты археологических работ в бассейне реки Сурхандарья в Узбекистане

Archaeological excavations in the Surkhandarya River Basin show that the nomadic graves of the Rabat necropolis located in the foothill hilly areas of Northern Bactria belong to the second half of the 1st c. BCE — the fi rst half of the 2nd c. CE. This is probably a site of the great Yuezhi. Above-ground burials in naus-type crypts dating from the same period were found on the ruins of the settlement, near the flat part of the Surkhandarya valley, most likely belong to the Yuezhi before the formation of the Kushan Empire. The two types of graves, differing in their form and burial rite, location area, etc., only confirm the fact that the Great Yuezhi and Kushans of the Imperial era are not exactly the same ethnic groups. The discovery of Serkharakat, Chinartep and other necropolises in the upper reaches of the Surkhandarya River confirmed our assumptions about the patterns of distribution of ancient monuments and additionally reveals the diversity of cultural groups of the period from the pre-imperial Yuezhi to the Kushan Empire.

What about Exotic Species? Significance of Remains of Strange and Alien Animals in the Baltic Sea Region, Focusing on the Period from the Viking Age to High Medieval Times (800–1300 CE)

During the Viking era and the Middle Ages, in the Baltic Sea area, the remains of alien animal species are found rarely but recurrently. These species, which were previously widely distributed in other regions, were originally considered “exotic” by the local people of the Baltic Sea region. Conversely, “exotic” was also used to describe the last local specimens of those indigenous species that had become very rare over time. Other categories of exotic animals can be defined: the first specimens of domesticated animals seen in an area, and mythical species whose existence was generally, but erroneously, assumed. In the present paper, the evidence of selected exotic species in the Baltic Sea area is analyzed with regard to both their cultural–historical and ecological significance. Many exotic specimens were used for social and hierarchical display, illustrating the individual’s sophistication and broad knowledge of the world, their wealth, and their supra-regional influence. As a result, before Christianization, these species became part of burial rites. At the same time, some of these species became or were already integral parts of the fauna of the Baltic Sea region. Some newly immigrated species were welcomed by the people, while others were considered pests. “New”, initially exotic, species formed the basis for the purely anthropogenic urban ecosystems that emerged during this period. Meanwhile, other, formerly common, species had become “exotic” because of their increasing rarity; when they became extinct, they left significant gaps in the biocoenoses wherein they were interconnected. These ecological effects, as well as some of the socio-cultural characteristics of exotic species, find parallels in modern times.

Resolving the interfaith conflict over burial preparation: Who has the right to bury the dead?

The body of the deceased is not an object but still a person. It deserves to be treated respectfully, and often this respect is expressed through religious rites. However, problems arise when the family of the deceased follow different faiths and disagree over the burial rite. Such a scenario is examined in this study where the immediate family of the deceased professed different faiths and could not agree on the burial rites to be performed. This research is intended to examine the issue of burial rights as a reason for interfaith conflict. Who has the right to prepare the body of the deceased for the burial? Which rites should be followed? Using the theological and legal approaches, we found that the conflict was caused by (1) belief in an afterlife and (2) law, culture and religion give the right to decide the burial or disposal of the body to living parties. The legitimate way to determine how to treat the body of the deceased and according to which religious rite the burial is to be performed is by confirming the religious identity of the deceased as stated in the legal document. In other words, the burial rites to be followed by the family of the deceased depend on the proven religious identity of the deceased, whether Christian or Muslim.Contribution: This article attempts to justify the right of the deceased to be buried according to their personal faith, which may not be identical with the faith practised and professed by their family. In cases of religious conversion, both parties claim their right to bury the deceased according to their own religious rites, and it is often difficult for both sides to reach an agreement. Nevertheless, this conflict can be resolved peacefully if the rights of the deceased are respected by the bereaved.

Title-Holding Among Egba Muslims of Ogun State, Nigeria: X-Raying the Nexus Between Islam and Yoruba Culture

Title-holding was a cultural practice of Yoruba before the penetration of Islam in Egba land, an area predominantly inhabited by the Yoruba speaking people of Ogun State, Nigeria. The acceptance of Islam by the Egba reformed, to a large extent, the socio-religious and cultural lives of the people. The Yoruba cultural systems of marriage, naming and burial rites were greatly influenced and reformed by Islam. However, a good number of the Egba, who profess Islam, still retain some of their cultural beliefs and traditions. Consequently, there is a nexus of Yoruba culture and Islamic practices and rites such as marriage, naming and funerals. Such connection can also be noticed in title-holding among the people. This paper, therefore, critically appraises the fusion of the Yoruba cultural elements to the Islamic practice of the title-holding among Egba Muslims. The paper adopts the historical approach to establish the institutionalization of title-holding in Islam. It then x-rays the institution of title-holding among the people. The study also examines the similarities between the Muslim titles and the Yoruba traditional titles patterned along the traditional set up in Egba Muslim Community. Realizing the fact that title-holding has become a firmly rooted institution among the Egba Muslims, the paper posits that the practice should be restructured for better administration of the people and development of Islam in Egbaland in particular and Yorubaland in general.