Communal Cemeteries Research Articles

Into the caves, into the waters

People’s ambiguous, ambivalent, non-rational and nonsensical relation towards death is a constant feature throughout the human past. The obvious way of dealing with such a stressful moment in personal and community life is guided by tradition – the well-established system of ways and manners of making spiritual meaning that implicitly answers how to go through this difficult period.
 From the long-term perspective, burying the deceased in pre-established burial grounds is a rather recent phenomenon. We can trace the intentionally arranged cemeteries as a continuous and prevalent way of treating the deceased in today’s Slovenia for no more than the last three millennia, from the Late Bronze Age onwards. The treatment of the deceased was much more diverse before that.
 From the earliest discoveries of human remains in the territory of Slovenia in the Mesolithic (8th–7th mill. BC) to the Bronze Age (2nd mill. BC), three different major manifestations of treating the remains of the deceased are documented. The first and most numerous was to expose and/or bury the deceased in the caves. The second was keeping the excarnated predecessors’ remains close to the daily life in the settlements. The third was to bury human remains in cemeteries. However, recent research revealed the fourth way of handling the dead – the immersion of their remains in the waters. Only from the Late Bronze Age onwards does burying all the deceased of a given community in communal cemeteries become the dominant custom.

Mineralogy and Sourcing of a Stone Bead Industry Found in Communal Cemeteries Associated with Eastern Africa's First Pastoralists, ca. 5000 b.p.

ABSTRACT This article describes the mineralogy and sources for a spectacular stone bead industry associated with the first pastoralists in eastern Africa ca. 5000–4000 cal b.p. Around Lake Turkana, northwest Kenya, early pastoralists constructed at least seven mortuary monuments with platforms, pillars, cairns, and stone circles. Three sites—Lothagam North, Manemanya, and Jarigole—have yielded assemblages of stone and ostrich eggshell beads that adorned interred individuals. Mineralogical identification of the stone beads reveals patterns of material selection, including notable differences among the pillar sites. Geological sourcing indicates use of many local raw materials and two (amazonite and fluorite) whose known sources lie > 200 km away. The data suggest that bead-making represented a significant investment by early pastoralists in personal ornamentation. New sociopolitical factors emerged, such as access to grazing grounds and water, and definitions of self and society manifested in novel mortuary traditions as people coped with a drying, cooling climate.

Vascular flora in communal cemeteries of the Poznań (western Poland)

Vascular flora in communal cemeteries of the Poznań (western Poland)

Buffering new risks? Environmental, social and economic changes in the Turkana Basin during and after the African Humid Period

This paper evaluates risk-oriented frameworks for explaining environmental, social, and economic changes faced by fishing and herding communities in the Turkana Basin during and after the African Humid Period (AHP, 15–5 ka). The orbitally-forced AHP created moist conditions, high lake levels, and unusual hydrological connections across much of northern and eastern Africa. As arid conditions set in and rainfall decreased between 5.3 and 3.9 ka in eastern Africa, Lake Turkana (NW Kenya) shrank dramatically. Shoreline retreat coincided with an expansion of open plains, creating new ecological conditions and potential opportunities for early herders in the basin. In this changing landscape, economies shifted from food procurement (fishing/hunting aquatic resources) to food production (herding), likely through both in-migration by pastoralists and adoption of herding by local fishers. Early pastoralists also built at least seven megalithic pillar sites that served as communal cemeteries during this time. Recent research has shown that local environmental dynamics – both during and after the AHP – were complex, demanding a more careful interrogation of the notion that post-AHP life entailed new and/or heightened risks. Risk-buffering strategies might include mobility, diversification, physical storage, and exchange. Archaeologists working around Lake Turkana have proposed that economic shifts from fishing to pastoralism entailed increased mobility as a risk-buffering strategy to deal with aridity and resource unpredictability, and that pillar sites – as fixed landmarks in an unstable landscape – provided settings for congregation and exchange amongst increasingly mobile herding communities. However, recent research has shown that local environmental dynamics in the Lake Turkana basin – both during and after the AHP – were more complex than previously thought, necessitating re-evaluation of the notion that post-AHP life entailed new and/or heightened risks. Here, we explore risk buffering strategies (e.g. mobility, diversification, physical storage and/or exchange) as only one category of potential explanation for the new social practices observed in the region at this time. Gauging their applicability requires us to (a) assess the spatial mobility of communities and individuals interred at pillar sites; (b) evaluate whether and how mobility strategies may have changed as pastoralism supplanted fishing; and (c) examine alternative explanations for social and economic changes.

Lokalizacja współczesnych cmentarzy komunalnych w Polsce

Location of contemporary communal cemeteries in Poland The main purpose of this paper is to characterise contemporary communal cemeteries and to develop a typology of these facilities from the point of view of its location. The main criteria for the selection of cemeteries were the date of creation (1999–2019) and the communal status of objects. Literature studies in the fields of spatial planning, landscape architecture, geography, sociology and an analysis of legal acts including planning acts were the bases for developing evaluation criteria in the aspect of cemeteries location. The location of cemeteries in relation to: natural system, accessibility, functional and spatial structure of settlement units and religious facilities was characterized. The spatial extent of the research covered cemeteries within their boundaries along with the sanitary protection zone (150 m). Field studies were carried out in July and August 2019. The research showed that out of 63 cemeteries, most are established within the administrative boundaries of cities, but in their suburban, non-urbanized areas. Models of communal cemeteries were developed due to their location.

Managing Early Christian Funerary Practice in the Catacombs of Ancient Rome

Using data collected in the early Christian catacombs of St. Callixtus on the Appian Way and comparing these with data from the Jewish catacombs of Villa Torlonia on the Via Nomentana, this article discusses what sort of labor the building of the early Christian catacombs of Rome entailed, what kind of investment this required, and how these expenses related to the costs incurred in other big architectural projects dating to the same general period. It then explores the significance of these expenses by historically contextualizing the evidence in reference to current debates on the issue of early Christian catacomb organization, early Christian social history, and managerial developments within the early church. The article concludes by highlighting how economic feasibility was a major factor that allowed the early Christian catacombs to develop into huge communal cemeteries and how this development, in turn, affected early Christian identity formation.

Grafheuvels bij Arnhem. Opgravingen op het landgoed Warnsborn 1947-’48

Barrows near Arnhem; excavations on the Warnsborn estate, 1947-’48.In 1947 and 1948 six barrows were excavated on the Warnsborn estate, to the west of Arnhem. Although seemingly initiated for purely scientific purposes, no report was ever published, only some very short notes. This paper gives an account of the organization, the procedures followed and a critical (re)interpretation of the findings, on the basis of the field drawings and the field journal. The conclusion differs in many respects from the excavators’ original interpretations. It may be viewed as a cautionary tale for those relying on records of earlier investigations of this kind. The research was initiated and supervised by prof. Van Giffen, but in fact executed rather independently by his experienced field technician and draughtsman, assisted by two students, who some years later were to be appointed university professors and as such shaped post-war archaeology in the Netherlands. It was the period in which the State Service (ROB, now RCE) was founded, which, headed by Van Giffen, ultimately must have been the responsible institution. The barrows to be excavated were an arbitrary selection from the numerous mounds in the shallow valleys of the Heelsum and Wolfheze brooks: four dating to the Bronze Age, along the valley floor, and two from the Beaker period, slightly apart. All six appear to be part of a long row, as found in many regions across the country, comprising19 barrows. One of the Beaker burials (IV) had a characteristic early Single Grave inventory and was surrounded by a narrow palisaded ditch. The reliability of the observation of a corpse silhouette must however be doubted. The other Beaker barrow (V) was dated only on the basis of its appearance and the fossil soil conditions. It only shows some features that are hard to interpret. The group of four Bronze Age burials offers us a glimpse of the changing burial customs among a small local community. They are characterized by the absence of cremations and the exclusive practice of inhumation in all 27 burials documented. All recorded bodies were supine, with only one exception, a slightly flexed burial. None of these were equipped with any imperishable grave goods. It is remarkable that this small community in the interaction zone of the southern and northern burial traditions had exclusively followed the northern practice of extended inhumation. In the absence of radiocarbon dates and artifacts, dating had to be based purely on circumstantial evidence; with Middle Bronze Age A as the result, with a possible extension into MBA-B, i.e. 1800-1400 cal BC. Two of the Bronze Age barrows (I and II) are relatively small, simple and one-phased, with a single, supine central inhumation, one of these accompanied by a subsequent child burial. The two others (III and the large, so-called ‘Meelworstenberg’) had started similarly, but had grown to larger dimensions, up to 15 and 18 m in diameter, by the addition of new construction phases linked with new central graves. The larger one incorporated a small and low sand dune already present. The barrows became more complex and significantly different also by the introduction of secondary burials, in the form of 6 and 15 shaft graves respectively, orientated tangentially all along the barrows’ margins, and the raising of surrounding post circles. In one case this circle was only partially preserved and documented, but it was of quite impressive dimensions around the larger barrow, and seemingly not connected with a central burial, but with the secondary burials only. In both cases we observe a fundamental shift from a function as an exclusive tomb for selected individuals from the local community, as customary in earlier times, to a communal cemetery for numerous members of the community. This change in burial custom may serve as an argument for the contemporaneity of the last phase of both barrows, the simple barrows representing the earlier stage only.

A monumental cemetery built by eastern Africa’s first herders near Lake Turkana, Kenya

Monumental architecture is a prime indicator of social complexity, because it requires many people to build a conspicuous structure commemorating shared beliefs. Examining monumentality in different environmental and economic settings can reveal diverse reasons for people to form larger social units and express unity through architectural display. In multiple areas of Africa, monumentality developed as mobile herders created large cemeteries and practiced other forms of commemoration. The motives for such behavior in sparsely populated, unpredictable landscapes may differ from well-studied cases of monumentality in predictable environments with sedentary populations. Here we report excavations and ground-penetrating radar surveys at the earliest and most massive monumental site in eastern Africa. Lothagam North Pillar Site was a communal cemetery near Lake Turkana (northwest Kenya) constructed 5,000 years ago by eastern Africa's earliest pastoralists. Inside a platform ringed by boulders, a 119.5-m2 mortuary cavity accommodated an estimated minimum of 580 individuals. People of diverse ages and both sexes were buried, and ornaments accompanied most individuals. There is no evidence for social stratification. The uncertainties of living on a "moving frontier" of early herding-exacerbated by dramatic environmental shifts-may have spurred people to strengthen social networks that could provide information and assistance. Lothagam North Pillar Site would have served as both an arena for interaction and a tangible reminder of shared identity.

POMNIK ŻOŁNIERZY POLEGŁYCH W I WOJNIE ŚWIATOWEJ W PRZYTOKU

The article describes a brief historical outline of a small village Przytok, where a piece of a monument dedicated to citizens of a village fallen in the Great War survived on a communal cemetery. It begins with the description of commemoration of soldiers who died in military actions and then the evolution of this process is presented. As a result it led to establishing new war graveyards and founding monuments dedicated to fallen soldiers. The second part of an article is about mentioned war memorials, it describes their process of creation and how they look like nowadays. This part of work also contains examples of war memorials located in villages surrounding Zielona Gora and few objects placed in Germany. Last part presents inscription on Przytok’s war memorial. Here the author tries to analyze Przytok citizens and their fate on fronts of the Great War.

Dining together: Reconstruction of Neolithic food consumption based on the δ15N values for individual amino acids at Tell el-Kerkh, northern Levant

We report here stable nitrogen isotope values of amino acids and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values of collagen in human (n=18) and faunal remains from Tell el-Kerkh, which was a large settlement in the northern Levant during the Neolithic period. A unique outdoor communal cemetery involving >240 individual burials was found in the Pottery Neolithic levels at Tell el-Kerkh. To test the hypothesis that the burial locations of individuals within the cemetery were determined by household units sharing food resources, we separated individuals from one layer into seven groups within the cemetery, and compared the isotope values of collagen, glutamic acid, and phenylalanine. The results of analysis of individual skeletons in the cemetery suggest that the early farmers had different isotope values based on their burial locations, perhaps indicating distinct household burial spaces.

Biological and spatial structure of an early classic period cemetery at Charco Redondo, Oaxaca

This article presents an analysis of biological and spatial patterning of an Early Classic (A.D. 250-500) Chatino cemetery at the archaeological site of Charco Redondo, located in the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico. The Early Classic was a time of political instability positioned between two phases of state-level centralization within the coastal valley. The communal cemetery at Charco Redondo adds significantly to the inventory of excavated graves from this time period and provides novel data on mortuary practices during a critical phase in the development of state level polities in the region. Cluster analysis of mortuary data is combined with intracemetery biodistance approaches to reconstruct how the Charco Redondo cemetery was organized with respect to biological relationships. Cluster analysis of mortuary data identified three groupings of burials. Multidimensional scaling of Euclidean distances and Gower coefficients based on 45 odontometric and 13 dental morphological variables suggests a strong relationship between grave characteristics and locations and phenotypic variation. In other words, the cemetery at Charco Redondo appears biologically kin-structured. The communal nature of the cemetery conflicts with the assumed "household" burial model for this time period. We propose the observed combination of features represents a transitional practice in which aspects of community, kin, and individual identity were signaled simultaneously within the funerary environment during a time of political transition in the Valley. This article highlights the utility of intracemetery biodistance analyses for examining dimensions of kinship, "house," and community throughout Mesoamerica where overarching models often mask regional variability.

A glimpse of human life from the Neolithic cemetery at Tell el-Kerkh, Northwest Syria

The excavations at Tell el-Kerkh, Northwest Syria, have uncovered the presence of a large Neolithic settlement that had a long cultural sequence. The settlement covers a vast area of at least 16ha and shows signs that it was a complex society. Excavations recently revealed a Neolithic cemetery with the remains of over 240 individuals that is one of the earliest outdoor communal cemeteries in West Asia. The discovery of the cemetery has provided a great deal of information about Neolithic life, and forms the basis of this paper, which discusses causes of death, division of labour, and ownership in Kerkh Neolithic society.

Mortuary Variability and Status Differentiation in the Late Jomon of Hokkaido Based on the Analysis of Shuteibo (Communal Cemeteries)

The shuteibo, a type of communal cemetery characterized by a circular embankment, was constructed in the latter half of the Late Jomon (c. 1520 cal BC–1250 cal BC) in Hokkaido, Japan. Shuteibo at the Kiusu, Misawa-1, Bibi-4 and Kashiwagi-B sites are key to understanding the complex hunter-gatherer societies of the Late Jomon. Elite graves inside the shuteibo and non-elite graves outside them show clear differences in terms of grave goods, red ocher and grave markers at Kiusu-4. These communal cemeteries may have been created and maintained by elites who had access to highly valued materials, such as jadeite, through long-distance trade. Differences in the number of graves and grave goods among shuteibo at the Misawa-1 and Bibi-4 sites indicate differences in group size and intra-site elite differentiation. The Kiusu site has both the largest example and the largest concentration of these cemeteries in Hokkaido. At the inter-site level, differences in the size of these communal cemeteries indicate variability in the number of corporate groups as well as in relative power between sites.

Religion et Sepulture: L'Eglise, les vivants et les morts dans l'Antiquite tardive (review)

Reviewed by: Religion et Sépulture: L’Église, les vivants et les morts dans l’Antiquité tardive John S. Kloppenborg Religion et Sépulture: L’Église, les vivants et les morts dans l’Antiquité tardive. By Éric Rebillard. [Civilisations et sociétés, Vol. 15.] (Paris: Éditions de l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales. 2003. Pp. 243. €22.00.) Since G.-B. de Rossi's La Roma sotterranea cristiana (Rome: Cromolitografia pontificia, 1864), the opinio communis has been that at least by the beginning of the third century, Christians owned and managed cemeteries and that it soon became normative for Christians to be buried in such church-controlled cemeteries. Rebillard's point of departure is the question, if the earliest church already controlled cemeteries reserved for the Christian dead, why do medieval legislators make no reference to this? His thesis comes in several parts: that the evidence of Christian control of cemeteries in the third century is much less convincing than has been supposed; that in the third century burial in a church-controlled cemetery was far from the norm; that it was not the Church that defined tomb violation as a crime, but rather the state; that the Church's principal interest was in the burial of martyrs; and that there was no standardized funeral liturgy (since it was the family rather than the Church that was involved in the burial of most of the Christian dead). The two main texts supporting the traditional view are Hippolytus, Ref. 9.12, according to which Pope Zephyrinus appointed the deacon and future pope Callixtus to be in charge of to koimeterion, identified by most with the famous catacomb of San Callisto. From approximately the same time Tertullian's Ad Scapulam 3 refers to pagans who objected to the existence of burial grounds (areae) for Christians. Rebillard points out that the Greek koimeterion originally referred to individual tombs, not communal cemeteries, and that in Latin coemeterium was probably equivalent to martyrion rather than designating a general place for Christian dead. Valerian's decree of 257, forbidding Christians to visit "their places called koimeteria" (Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.11.10) makes little sense if koimeteria referred to ordinary graves, since the emperor could [End Page 511] hardly forbid Christians to bury their dead. As far as Ad Scapulam 3 is concerned, Rebillard argues that Carthaginian pagans were not objecting to the existence of areae reserved for Christians, "mais plus vraisemblablement les enclos dont ils savaient que les propriétaires étaient chrétiens" (p. 20). Apostolic Tradition 40 would seem to contradict Rebillard's thesis, since it prescribes that the poor should not be overcharged for burial in the koimeteria (plural!) since "it is the property of every poor person" and that the bishop should support those who care for cemeteries lest they become a burden on those who use them. Rebillard points out, however, that the original Greek of the Apostolic Tradition is not preserved, nor is the Latin for this section. What has been preserved is a Sahidic version dating from about the sixth century. Moreover, he distinguishes two parts of the prescriptions of chapter 40: one which requires burial places to be provided for the poor, which does not necessarily imply that the Church possessed or managed such places; and the other which indicated only that if the Church did own such cemeteries, the bishop should ensure that nothing was demanded of the poor to be buried there (p. 134). Rebillard's interpretations of these texts seem possible but hardly compelling and do not successfully exclude the more usual interpretations, that the Roman Church possessed cemeteries controlled by the bishop. Throughout Rebillard insists that the choice of a place of burial was not imposed by the Church; Christians "had no religious reason to privilege a form of communal burial at the expense of burial by families" (p. 49). Collegia also offered burial for members, which offered another possibility for burial for Christians who were members of such professional or neighborhood groups. But he argues that membership in a collegium would not have necessarily made burial by the collegium more likely; on the contrary the family remained the "communauté naturelle...

Pre‐Columbian treponematosis in medieval Britain

AbstractThere has been much debate regarding the origins of treponemal disease and, in particular, acquired syphilis. Greater numbers of skeletons with apparently diagnostic bone lesions in the New World than in the Old have given rise to the postulate, particularly advanced by American workers, that the disease originated there prior to AD 1492 and was carried back to the Old World by Columbus's sailors. This paper presents evidence for the presence of treponemal disease in medieval Norwich prior to AD 1492, however. The dating of the site is good and the skeleton concerned comes from a well‐sealed context. Others in the group have similar lesions and there are four individuals with evidence of leprosy. All were buried in a communal cemetery. The individual has widespread, bilateral, florid periostitis, especially of the tibiae and fibulae, and the radiographic changes support the diagnosis of treponemal disease. Differential diagnosis and geographical situation suggest that this skeleton displays evidence of syphillis.