Cremation Cemetery Research Articles

Meals for the dead: investigating Romano-British accessory vessels in burials using organic residue analysis

Accessory vessels, including platters, dishes, beakers, flagons, jars, and amphorae, are a common feature of Romano-British burials, raising questions as to their provenance; for example, were such vessels recycled from the domestic sphere or made specially for funerary purposes? Furthermore, uncertainty surrounds their purpose: did they contain foods for the deceased, possibly for their final journey to the underworld? Interestingly, organic residue analysis of vessels from Baginton, a site adjacent to The Lunt fort, Coventry, an early (mid to late first century) Roman military cremation cemetery did not yield evidence for food offerings and may have reflected the use of seconds or damaged vessels in burials, perhaps to provide a symbolic meal. In contrast, here we provide, for the first time, direct chemical and isotopic evidence for ‘meals for the dead’, comprising mainly dairy products, often mixed with leafy plants, extracted from somewhat unusual accessory vessels found in a small, enclosed inhumation cemetery, perhaps associated with a family group, which dates to the late (third to late fourth century, or early fifth century A.D) in urban Canterbury. Thus, we can confirm that accessory vessels found in later Romano-British burials were, in this instance, used in the laying out of funerary meals, presumably to nourish the soul on the journey to the underworld. These preliminary insights on vessel use and burial practices across the span of the Roman occupation of Britain thus provide a strong hint at the diversity of Roman burial practices.

A multi-proxy approach to reconstruct chronology, human mobility, and funerary practices at the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age urnfield of San Valentino (San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy).

The site of San Valentino in San Vito al Tagliamento is one of the main urnfield cemeteries in northeastern Italy. Archaeological excavations carried out in the seventies brought to light a cremation cemetery consisting of mainly urn graves with pottery and metal artefacts as grave goods. These materials suggest that the individuals buried in San Valentino were not an isolated local community but had intense contacts with other north-Adriatic communities, in particular with the neighbouring Veneto area, as suggested by the close similarity of the biconical vessels with those recovered in the graves of Este. This paper provides the first osteological study of a preserved sample of individuals buried at San Valentino and uses an innovative multi-proxy approach to refine the chronology of the site through radiocarbon dating of bone apatite, investigate human mobility using strontium isotopes on calcined human remains, and reconstruct the funerary practices by combining FTIR-ATR data with carbon and oxygen isotope ratios on cremated bones. The results date the cemetery to the end of the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age, with a sporadic occupation in the fourth century BC. Strontium isotopes and concentrations show the analysed individuals buried at San Valentino were a local community that exploited nearby food resources. Interestingly, variations in cremation conditions were detected between San Valentino and the contemporary sites of Velzeke, Blicquy, Grand Bois, and Herstal, located in Belgium, by using FTIR-ATR and carbon and oxygen isotope data. This multi-proxy approach applied to the study of cremated human remains can open new research possibilities, being potentially extendable to the study of many pre- and proto-historic and historic communities that practised cremation.

Radiocarbon Dating of Cremated bone samples from the Site of the Hungarian Church at Pauca, Sibiu County

Archaeological research in the site of Pauca - Hungarian Church started in 2010, and between 2012-2023 has uncovered over 116 graves, some being simple cremation graves with a deposit of remains in the urn, others being double graves (with two urns) and one being a mixed double grave (incineration and inhumation). The dating of the five samples from the cemetery would suggest that the beginnings of the Păuca cemetery is contemporary with the late Germanic period (Gepids) and the early Avar period. Admitting that it is more accurate to date closer to the upper limit of the range (7th century), the cemetery at Pauca could be connected with historical events that occurred between 567 and 630, i.e. the establishment and consolidation of Avar power in the Pannonian-Transylvanian space. The C14 dating of the cremated bones from the Păuca cemetery (Sibiu county) reopens the discussion on the need for more samples of C14 data from the cremation cemeteries attributed cemetery to the so-called Mediaș group and simultaneously may represent a turning point in the evaluation of the chronology of the period between 6th and 8th centuries A.D.

The Excavation of a Romano-British Site at Netherhall Road, Maryport

A programme of archaeological trial trenching and excavation was undertaken by CFA Archaeology Ltd between Maryport (Alavna) Roman Fort and Netherhall Road on the north-eastern outskirts of Maryport from 2010 to 2016. The work confirmed the presence of a large sub-square ditched enclosure with two phases of construction, which is interpreted as a Romano-British rural farm site. It contained a variety of pottery deposited in its ditches, dating from the 1st to the 4th century CE. A linear feature, thought to be the line of a Roman road, did not produce definitive evidence of being a Roman road, but a Roman-period cremation cemetery was uncovered adjacent to it. One of the burials excavated held two pottery vessels of mid-3rd-century CE or slightly later date, one of which contained the cremated remains of an adult female along with other finds, while a second burial contained the cremated remains of a young child within a decorated Rhenish beaker.

Sr analyses from only known Scandinavian cremation cemetery in Britain illuminate early Viking journey with horse and dog across the North Sea.

The barrow cemetery at Heath Wood, Derbyshire, is the only known Viking cremation cemetery in the British Isles. It dates to the late ninth century and is associated with the over-wintering of the Viking Great Army at nearby Repton in AD 873-4. Only the cremated remains of three humans and of a few animals are still available for research. Using strontium content and isotope ratios of these three people and three animals-a horse, a dog and a possible pig-this paper investigates the individuals' residential origins. The results demonstrate that strontium isotope ratios of one of the adults and the non-adult are compatible with a local origin, while the other adult and all three animals are not. In conjunction with the archaeological context, the strontium isotope ratios indicate that these individuals most likely originated from the area of the Baltic Shield-and that they died soon after arrival in Britain. This discovery constitutes the first solid scientific evidence that Scandinavians crossed the North Sea with horses, dogs and other animals as early as the ninth century AD.

Limitations and potential of analyses of cremation remains - Anthropological analysis of bone remains from a Lusatian culture cremation cemetery in Paszowice (Lower Silesia, Poland).

The main aim of the study was to identify which components of the skeleton are best identifiable after cremation, because only few publications pay attention to the best-preserved bone structures in cremation burials. However, such knowledge offers potential for further analysis and methodology development. One of the most frequently and best-identifiable parts of the skeleton were fragments of vertebrae and long bones epiphyses. Similarly, well preserved are structures made of compact bone tissue, for instance, temporal bone pyramids considered as the hardest components of the mammalian skeleton. Analysed cremated human bones remains came from a Lusatian culture settlement burial site situated in Paszowice (Lower Silesia, Poland). The research has been carried out on material consisting of remains of at least 673 individuals found in 649 burial pits. Among them, 279 burials belonged to adults and 102 to children. It was possible to identify sex in the case of 25% of adult individuals - 40 males and 33 females. In the remaining cases, the attempts to determine the sex and age-at-death have failed. During the analysis some degenerative changes were noted. The analysed material also included 23 multiple burials, usually double and one triple. The study was also aimed at illustrating the elements of the funeral rite. The material excavated from 27 burials suggested that the remains had been retrieved from the pyre with particular care - in some of those urns, the arrangement of remains was modelled on the anatomical system of the human skeleton. The grade of combustion of most bones remains in the necropolis in Paszowice ranged from high to very high. In few cases in the grave were found burned animal remains.

New data from the Early Iron Age settlement of Vynnyky-Golyanivka

For the first time in the article, newly discovered materials from the excavations of a two-layer settlement in Vynnyky near Lviv, which were conducted in 2014–2015, are introduced into scientific use. This settlement (which was discovered by V. Zvarych in the late 1970s and at the same time surveyed by prof. M. Peleshchyshyn) is located on the southeastern part of the hilly ridge of Roztochchya (336 m above sea level). Excavations in 2014–2015 revealed three Early Iron Age objects, the first of which is a 0,7 m diameter pit; the second is a construction measuring 2,8×2,0 m and up to 0,5 m deep; and finally, the third object is a pit with a diameter of 1,4 m, which has a pear-shaped form. Several characteristic fragments of vessels from the infill of object № 1 are interesting. Special attention is paid to the fragments of the dark-glazed tableware with a wall thickness of up to 0,8 cm with a series of horizontal chamfers, which are located at the top of the neck. Samples of vessels with similar ornaments were not found during excavations in Vynnyky in previous years. The closest analogy is, perhaps, a conical handmade mug from the cremation cemetery of the Vysotska culture in the village of Konyushkiv, Brody district, Lviv region, studied by L. Krushelnytska and which is also decorated with rows of in-depth linear decoration under the rims and over the bottom. Territorially, the closest analogy to the analyzed vessel from object № 1 of Vynnyky is the large dark-glazed pot from the barrow in the village of Loivtsi, Novoushitsky district, Khmelnytskyi region (from the excavations conducted by L. Krushelnytska in 1979). This Loivtsi large pot, according to the grave goods from cremation barrow, includes a pair of iron three-rings bit shank and a pair of one-ring fishing bits, which reliably date the Loivtsi complex to the middle – third quarter of the VIII century B. C. probably can be dated back to this period. The possibility of contacts of the population of that time in the territory near today's Lviv with such rather distant regions of Western Podillia doesn`t surprise. Finally, the probability of the existence of such contacts between the population of Western Podillia and Upper Dniester regions was emphasized during the first publication of materials from the infill of construction 1 in Golyanivka Place in 2003. The authors interpret the settlement in the Golyanivka Place in Vynnyky as one of the earliest sites of the Cherepynsko-Lagodivska group but consider it to belong to the local population, which was found here by the bearers of the traditions of the Western Podillia group, which partially moved to Roztochchya. And, although the ceramic materials from Golyanivka clearly show these exclusively «eastern» impulses (reflected mainly in the profiling and ornamentation of some ceramic vessels), their presence in this settlement may represent evidence of the closest trade and exchange contacts or imitation of imported traditions of ceramics in the autochthonous local environment. And what is interesting: in Vynnyky, but – one and a half kilometers south in the Lisnychivka Place, on the edge of the first floodplain terrace of the Marunka River, a settlement and some pits with ritually reburied remains of humans – ceramic material of which, although mostly synchronous with the early phase of development of the Cherepynsko-Lagodivska group, but differs sharply from the material from Golyanivka, as it parallels almost exclusively with the Zakhidnopodilska materials of that time such as the settlement in Staryi Zbarazh in Ternopil region. Key words: Early Iron Age, Cherepynsko-Lagodivska group, Zakhidnopodilska group, Vysotska culture, chamfer, large pot, mug, lid.

Let's make a mess, maybe no one will notice. The impact of bioturbation activity on the urn fill condition.

The research was carried out at the cremation cemetery of the Lusatian culture in Wtórek, Ostrów Wielkopolski district, Wielkopolska province, Poland. Contrary to the so-far-studied topics related to the CT imaging of burnt bones and their virtual exploration, we concentrated on the analysis of the structures formed by the soil fauna activity in the fills of urns and additional vessels, and reconstruction of the dynamics of the ecosystem variability within the cemetery area based on thereof. We also demonstrated the impact of macrofaunal activity on stratigraphy and bone fragmentation. From the total of 222 excavated burials in 18 urns and one additional vessel, the remains of macrofauna or its bioturbation activity were identified. Out of 19 vessels subjected to CT examinations, traces of macrofaunal activity were demonstrated in 13: in five vessels animal bioturbative activity was not observed and in one, observations was impossible (due to significant metal-related artifacts). In two vessels both macrofaunal remains and traces of activity were identified. Discovered bioturbations were associated with specific species or genera. Nests or their parts of the genus Geotrupes sp. beetles were the most frequently observed traces of macrofaunal activity. Tunnels and aestivation chambers of earthworms and chambers of the genus Harpalus sp. beetles filled with Setaria sp. caryopses were discovered. The chitinous parts of other insects and the humerus bones of the vole of the genus Microtus sp. were also identified. It was shown, especially due to the non-destructive method, that rodents activity had the most destructive effect on the bone stratigraphy as well as on the movement and fragmentation of the burnt bones. The chances of visualizing bioturbations decreased with time since their creation. The process of disappearance of traces of macrofaunal activity concerned both traces of rodent activity and nests set up by Geotrupes sp. and other species.

A forgotten shield boss from Brodno, Lower Silesia, Poland. A contribution to the study of Roman influences in ‘barbarian’ armament in the Roman period

In the National Archives in Wrocław, in the Department of the Province of Silesia are kept documents about the protection and conservation of historical monuments, and specifically information on archaeological finds from the areas around the town of Środa Śląska (German: Neumarkt). One of those artefacts was an iron shield boss of the Roman period, found at the cremation cemetery belonging to the Przeworsk Culture in Brodno, Lower Silesia. It is most probably of Scandinavian origin, and is closely related to the finds from Scandinavia and the Black Sea coast, but the form of the shield boss confirms the Roman inspiration behind ‘barbarian’ military equipment. Chronologically the boss from Brodno should be placed within phase C1b, i.e. roughly in the mid-3rd century A.D. The analogies from other sepulchral sites suggest that the boss might have been an element in the inventory of a well-equipped warrior, perhaps a member of a travelling band. The presence of such an artefact in a cemetery of the Przeworsk culture in the Oder river basin is proof of intense contacts between various communities which inhabited vast areas of “barbaric” Europe between the Baltic and the Black Sea at that time.

Pewne uwagi na temat możliwej funkcji bezpośredniej miecza brązowego z grobu nr 7429 z cmentarzyska ciałopalnego kultury łużyckiej w Domasławiu w świetle analiz traseologicznych

The specific relationship between weapon-form and mode of use has become a subject of intense research regarding the martial practices of past societies. In recent years the application of wear analysis to bronze offensive weapons has allowed us to define their function on the basis of recognizable damage. This paper aims to present results of use-wear analysis conducted on a unique bronze sword that was found in Domasław, Poland in a cremation cemetery belonging to Lusatian culture. The sword reveals a broad range of traces, ones which may be attributed to respective fighting techniques. Another goal of the present work is to partially fill the research void which presently exists concerning warfare as practiced by the Lusatian culture people, and to point out the necessity of carrying out further studies of this kind.

Bronze Age and Iron Age archaeology at Thainstone Business Park, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire

Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd was commissioned by Axiom Project Services to undertake an archaeological excavation in advance of a commercial development at Thainstone Business Park, Aberdeenshire (NGR: NJ 7707 1809). Excavation identified the remains of a Middle Bronze Age roundhouse and a contemporary urned cremation cemetery. Evidence of Late Bronze Age cremation practices was also identified. A large roundhouse and souterrain dominated the site in the 1st or 2nd century AD. Material culture associated with the Iron Age structures suggested a degree of status to the occupation there.

The tradition of pottery painting in the Upper Silesian-Lesser Polish regional group of the Lusatian culture in the Early Iron Age. The example of the cemetery at Dobrzeń Mały, Opole district.

Abstract The idea of covering pottery with polychrome ornaments adopted from the Greek art of the Late Geometric period spread to almost every corner of Early Iron Age Europe, including some areas in present-day Poland. Painted pottery was manufactured in Middle Silesia and southern Greater Poland. Finds of painted vessels are recorded also in Upper Silesia, and a smaller number still, in Lesser Poland. The presented paper addresses painted pottery identified with the Upper Silesian-Lesser Polish regional group of the Lusatian culture from settlement and funerary contexts (cremation and bi-ritual cemeteries). A closer look is taken at the previously unpublished finds of polychrome vessels from the cemetery at Dobrzeń Mały investigated during the 1970s. Their collection is now displayed and preserved in the Museum of Opole Silesia in Opole.

One hoof in the grave? Animal remains as inhumation grave goods in early medieval eastern England

ABSTRACT Animal remains placed into inhumation graves in fifth to seventh century England have been recorded for many years, but for reasons related both to the development of the discipline and the sparse nature of the evidence, there has been little systematic study of these remains. The evidence for animal remains in inhumation burials across five eastern UK counties (Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire) is reviewed, and results from three cemeteries – Oakington, Cambridgeshire; Lakenheath, Suffolk; and Castledyke South, Lincolnshire – are discussed in detail. A broadly consistent animal cosmology is indicated, which may extend across the UK, but the practices in which animals are incorporated as grave goods are seen to vary between cemeteries and even on an intra-cemetery or family basis. This may have implications for the analysis of animal remains in early Anglo-Saxon cremation cemeteries, where the much larger numbers of burials and animal pyre goods have resisted easy interpretation.

Burial Practices at Lapiņi Curonian Cremation Cemetery, West Latvia, at the Close of the Iron Age and in the Middle Ages (12th–14th/15th Centuries)

Burial Practices at Lapiņi Curonian Cremation Cemetery, West Latvia, at the Close of the Iron Age and in the Middle Ages (12th–14th/15th Centuries)

Are metals necessary for the study of social stratification during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age? A proposal for a new methodological approach

The relationship between the social status of individuals and the presence of metal grave goods has been one of the most extensively researched areas in mortuary archaeology. Our study raises questions about the potential existence of other indicators of social status, which may also be important bearers of social information. This study made use of the individuals from the Wicina cremation cemetery (n = 355), buried during the late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age, for whom age at death was estimated. The presence of timber grave chambers (GCh) and the minimum number of vessels (MNV) per grave were considered as proxies for social stratification. Tests were completed to determine whether these grave indices differentiated the probability of survival of individuals from different age classes, and to identify the indices that had the most significant predictive power with respect to age at death. Social stratification was reflected in the probability of survival: individuals belonging to a higher stratum of society had a greater probability of surviving for a longer period of time, and vice versa. Our results showed that the occurrence of metal objects had no effect on the probability of survival.

A strontium isotope pilot study using cremated teeth from the Vollmarshausen cemetery, Hesse, Germany

Strontium isotope research to answer questions regarding mobility and provenance of individuals from archaeological cemeteries has, until very recently, been focused almost entirely on bone and tooth samples from inhumation burials. This study investigates whether cremated tooth enamel, when present, can provide reliable strontium isotope ratios despite heat-related alteration and millennia in the soil. We obtained 87Sr/86Sr ratios for 34 enamel and 2 dentine samples from 28 individuals, as well as for 18 soil leachates, from the Urnfield cremation cemetery of Vollmarshausen (State of Hesse, Germany). Our results show that cremated enamel from this site was not subject to contamination from the burial environment. Using our results and comparison with relevant published bioavailable strontium isotope baselines, we also show that the individuals from Vollmarshausen were predominantly local to the area around their burial site. This study contributes to the growing body of evidence regarding the applicability of strontium isotope analysis to cremated human remains, which given the wide global and temporal spread of this form of burial treatment opens up new possibilities for cremation archaeology.

Urnfields in the middle Oder basin – a perspective of a Lubusz-Greater Polish territorial community

Urnfields in the middle Oder basin – a perspective of a Lubusz-Greater Polish territorial community

Weaponry of the Przeworsk Culture in the light of metallographic examinations. The case of the cemetery in Raczkowice

AbstractThis paper discusses seven finds of weaponry (one sword and six spearheads) from the Roman Period Przeworsk Culture cremation cemetery in Raczkowice, Częstochowa Distr., PL. This assemblage can generally be dated to Phases B2–C1. All the discussed artefacts went through the funeral pyre and two underwent additional treatment as part of funeral rites: the sword and one of the spearheads were bent. Metallographic examinations demonstrated that all these weapons were forged from single pieces of ferrous metal. However, in some of these the carbon content was high enough to allow for heat-treatment, thus making these artefacts potentially high-quality weapons. Regrettably, the cremation ceremony removed all possible traces of heat-treatment and it may have also caused partial decarburising of metal. On the basis of typological and technological traits it can be supposed that all the discussed weapons were of local Przeworsk Culture provenance.

Ceramic hinterlands: establishing the catchment areas of early Anglo-Saxon cremation cemeteries

ABSTRACT The cremation cemeteries of early Anglo-Saxon England have long been recognized as central places, serving discrete territories or catchment areas. Their prominent locations, size and proximity to prehistoric and Roman routeways and monuments have been viewed as indicators of their centrality. Yet, little is known about the extent of these hinterlands or where one catchment area ended, and another began. Focusing on urns from two cremation cemeteries in North Lincolnshire and pottery from 80 non-funerary find-spots, this study places cremation cemeteries within a ceramic landscape. Using thin-section petrology to identify domestic and funerary pottery with a common source, direct links are drawn between cemeteries and settlements and the catchment areas of cemeteries revealed. The methodology developed is not specific to the study of Anglo-Saxon cremation practice, rather it is applicable across time and regions, facilitating investigations into the hinterlands of cremation cemeteries throughout Europe and the wider world.

Кремаційний могильник ранньозалізного віку Монастирок-2 на Волині

The article presents materials from the recently discovered cremation cemetery of the pre-Scythian period Monastyrok-2, Rivne region (Ukraine). Collection was obtained during filed walking prospections and small scale excavations. Classification of all materials was carried out and on the basis of the given analogies a general dating was proposed between end of X and VIII century BC.