Grave Inventories Research Articles

Genealogical Data-Driven Visits of Historical Cemeteries

This paper describes the Integration of Archives and Cultural Places (IaCuP) project, which aims to integrate information about a historical cemetery, including its map and grave inventory, with genealogical and documentary knowledge extracted from relevant historical archives. The integrated data are accessible to cemetery visitors through an interactive mobile application, enabling them to navigate a graphical representation of the cemetery while exploring comprehensive visualizations of genealogical data. The basic idea stems from the desire to provide people with access to the rich context of cultural sites, which have often lost their original references over the centuries, making it challenging for individuals today to interpret the meanings embedded within them. The proposed approach leverages large language models (LLMs) to extract information from relevant documents and Web technologies to represent such information as interactive visualizations. As a practical case study, this paper focuses on the Jewish Cemetery in Pisa and the Historical Archives of the Jewish Community in Pisa, working on the genealogical tree of one of the most representative families resting in the cemetery.

Graves of the early medieval nomads from the eastern Azov region

AbstractDescribed and discussed here are the “nomadic” burials of two sites, Serbin and Udarnyi (Krasnodar Krai, Russia). A total of four graves were found at the former Serbin site, while an early medieval grave dug into a prehistoric kurgan was excavated at Udarnyi. The burials broadly date from the fourth–seventh centuries AD on the basis of their poor grave inventories and are culturally related to the so-called post-Hunnic- and Sivashovka-type burials. Three burials contained the skulls and limbs of various domestic animals, indicating that the animals had been skinned. “Head and hooves” deposits were quite common in early medieval Eastern Europe. There are several different traditions of skinning, indicating different cultural traditions. The study describes the burials and their finds, and presents their regional parallels.

Second life of damaged things: repairing and modifying jewellery from the Crimea in the Sarmatian period

Crimean jewellery from the Sarmatian period (2nd century BC – 4th century AD) includes a small but interesting group of adornments with traces of damage and repair. These artefacts were elements of grave inventories of the people of the Late Scythian and Sarmatian cultures – deposited exclusively in female and child graves. Most of the repaired personal ornaments are earrings and bracelets. Their quality is usually very low. The existence of repairs made jewellery look less attractive and they were limited to modifications allowing their owners to use such adornments again. The general quality of the repairs seems to indicate that they were performed by peoplelacking expert knowledge of jewellery making.

Surovinové aspekty silicitové produkce na konci eneolitu v západním Malopolsku

Rich inventories of flint artifacts originate from the graves of the Corded Ware culture in western Lesser Poland. Additionally, materials from settlements have also been found in this area. The significant increase in available data in recent years has provided us with a deeper understanding of the raw material conditions of the flint industry during the Final Eneolithic Period. The grave inventories reveal the special significance of Świeciechów flint in the production of axes, while chocolate flint is primarily used for creating blade and flake tools. The use of K-type flint for axe production is specific to the western Lesser Poland region. The evident selection of raw materials is not merely utilitarian but is also influenced by the ideological system prevalent in Final Eneolithic communities.

Wealth of Inhabitants of Sandomierz and Neighbouring Settlements in the 11th–12th Centuries in the Light of Cemetery Materials

It is debatable to what extent so-called grave goods (items intentionally deposited in burials) reflect the actual level of prosperity of people inhumed in early mediaeval graves. The same applies to the types of the burial features in which they were inhumed. Whether the deceased were supplied with particular items or not – and if so, what kind of goods they were – might have resulted, for example, from the extent to which Christianity (having a unifying influence on funerary rituals) was accepted, as well as from local customs or even family traditions, the actual wealth of the buried people and individual decisions as to whether their opulence should be manifested or not. In Sandomierz, between the end of the 10th and the middle of the 12th century, there were at least three non churchyard row cemeteries. We know 20 other burial sites of this type located in the radius of 20 km from the town. An analysis of materials found in them (grave goods) indicated that in the discussed time the wealth of Sandomierz residents was similar to that of people living in the neighbouring settlements dated to the same period. This assumption, however, is not necessarily correct, because the lack of considerable differences between grave inventories might have resulted from local burial customs followed at that time. Another question is whether such customs were a continuation of earlier local traditions or whether they were shaped by the embracing of elements of Christian funerary rituals. Finally, it is also possible that they resulted from both factors.

Reflection of Advanced Technologies and Social Status Through the Grave Inventory of the Bell Beaker Phenomenon. (Grave of a Metallurgist from Central Moravia)

Reflection of Advanced Technologies and Social Status Through the Grave Inventory of the Bell Beaker Phenomenon. (Grave of a Metallurgist from Central Moravia)

Burial of a mounted warrior with Ringknaufschwert-type sword from the necropolis in Ostrów, Przemyśl District

During the excavation of the Przeworsk culture necropolis at Site 21 in Ostrów, Przemyśl District, a richly furnished burial of a mounted warrior was found. The burial, which can be dated to the developed stage of the Early Roman period based on the grave goods, stood out through the lavishness of its grave inventory. Among other objects, the grave goods included a sword with a ring-like pommel, known as a Ringknaufschwert, two spearhead, one of them with punched decoration, and elements of horse tack. There also were ornaments and dress items, particularly noteworthy among them a gold pelta-shaped pendant decorated with granulation.

Новые погребения предскифского времени с территории Волгоградской области. Проблемы интерпретации

The article is devoted to the publication and analysis of new burial materials of the pre-Scythian period (9th – 7th centuries BC), obtained as a result of excavations of several burial mounds in the Volgograd region. The work was carried out by the expedition of Volgograd State University from the end of the past to the beginning of the present century. The burial mounds were located on the coastal terraces of the Don river and some of its tributaries, as well as on the steppe watersheds associated with the Don basin. The sample includes seven pre-Scythian burials, the burial rite and clothing material of which allows us to correlate them with the previously discovered monuments of the Chernogorovskaya Culture of the southern Russian steppes and date them within the boundaries of the initial stage of the early Iron Age. According to archaeological and anthropological data, various components were involved in the formation of this culture in the Lower Volga region and the neighbouring Don and the Volga-Ural regions. The basis was autochthonous substrates of the Late Bronze Age, as well as cultural formations derived from them at the final stage of the Late Bronze Age. The combination of local and imported cultural traditions is also reflected in the grave inventory of the studied series, especially in the ceramic complex, which shows technological and typological features of various origin. The variety of elements of the funeral rite and the mixed nature of the accompanying inventory of the presented burial series reflect the complex processes of cultural genesis in the Lower Volga region in the pre-Scythian period during transition to a nomadic economy.

Historia, stan i potrzeby badań nad uzbrojeniem z ziem polskich okresów rzymskiego i wędrówek ludów. Spojrzenie subiektywne (pomimo dobrych chęci)

Historia, stan i potrzeby badań nad uzbrojeniem z ziem polskich okresów rzymskiego i wędrówek ludów. Spojrzenie subiektywne (pomimo dobrych chęci)

Раскопки тесинских и таштыкских памятников на могильниках Сагайская протока 2, 5 и 8

In 2021, the Sagai archaeological team of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS excavated four funerary and memorial complexes in the construction zone of the «Second track on the Chаrtykovsкy - Kamyshta stretch of the Krasnoyarsk railway». Mound 2 of the Sagayskaya protoka 2 burial ground contained 11 graves. Traces of diverse funeral rites were noted: intact corpses and partial burials of adults and infants in stone boxes and ground pits without stone structures. The grave inventory is poor - vessels and two iron objects (a knife and a buckle). Petroglyphic images were noted on the slabs of the boxes. Among them, there is a composition of the battle of two warriors, one of whom is on skis. At the site of the “Single kurgan Sagayskaya protoka 5”, Tesinsky graves 1 and 3 were made in the stone ceiling of the Saragash grave. In grave 1, two adults were buried. A partial burial (grave 2) was found at some distance. The burials are tentatively dated to the range of the 1st century BC - 1st century AD. In addition to the burials, an excavation trench was established revealing cultural layer containing roughly made stone tools from river pebbles, fragments of animal bones and ceramic vessels with ornaments typical for the Tashtyk pottery. In the areas associated with burial mound 6 (burial site Sagayskaya protoka 2) and burial mounds 1 and No. 2 (burial ground Sagayskaya protoka 8), 39 cult sites were recorded. By their construction, the sites can be classified into several groups: ground pits with animal bones and vessels under the stone work ceiling; ground pits with the remains of wooden posts; ground pits filled with rubble stones; slabs with the edge dug in the ground or tumbled down. The features of the ceramics make it possible to attribute the graves to the Tashtyk culture.

Культурно-хронологические комплексы курганного могильника Сагайская протока-4 (Аскизский район Республики Хакасия)

In 2021, the team of Federal Research Center of the Institute of Coal and Coal Chemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences undertook rescue excavations on Sagaiskaya protoka-4 kurgan burial ground (the Askiz district, the Republic of Khakassia). The article presents the summarized results of cultural and chronological attribution of the researched burial assemblages of this burial ground. The early period of this necropolis is connected to the Chernovaya stage of the Okunev culture (22nd—20th centuries BC). The fence with diagonal lines of stones (kurgan 1) with six studied tombs in stone boxes is attributed to that period. The grave goods of Okunev burial grounds are objects made of bone, ceramic pots and miniature stone ball. The second stage of the burial ground is connected to the Late Bronze Age (kurgan 2). Lugavskiy assemblage (10th —9th centuries BC) related to the earliest stage of the kurgan construction is presented by the findings from the central ruined burial (bronze knife, ring) and untouched child’s tomb (ceramic pot, a set of small pieces of bronze jewelry). The Bainov assemblage of the burial complex (late 9th — early 8th centuries BC), found in the lateral annex fence contained a flat bottomed ceramic pot with a typical ornaments. The third period in the history of the burial ground is connected to the Bidzha population group of the early Tagar culture (late 8th — 6th centuries BC). At that time, the Bronze Age kurgans’ fences were rebuilt in order to make new tombs, and a separate Bidzha complex (kurgan 3) is erected nearby. All the burials of that period have grave inventory of the same type: jar-like vessels with narrow flutings, “glasses”, bone arrowheads, anklets, unknown purpose objects. The unusual feature of the studied part of Sagayskaya protoka-4 burial complex are numerous pits near all fences, in some cases containing archaeological material (animal bones, small fragments of ceramics, stone objects, sandstone slabs). These are the first objects of such a type found in the Tagar kurgans.

RE-EVALUATING THE BRONZE AND EARLIEST IRON AGE IN LATVIA: CHANGES IN BURIAL TRADITIONS IN THE LIGHT OF 14C DATES

ABSTRACTUntil recently, there was a lack of radiocarbon (14C) dates from the Bronze and Earliest Iron Age (1800–500–1 BC) burial sites in Latvia. The chronology of the sites was assessed on the basis of archaeological analogies with neighboring regions and typological studies of the rather meagre grave inventory. In order to establish a firm foundation for an absolute chronology of burial sites and to better understand changes in mortuary practices during the period, sequences of samples from various burial sites have been dated. In this paper we report 48 14C dates from 12 different sites and discuss them in the context of previously established archaeological chronologies. 14C reservoir effects are addressed: regarding FRE, stable isotope analysis is helpful; however, more data should be gathered in future research. In some cases, the new dates are in accord with previous chronologies, while in other cases some widely accepted assumptions may need to be revised. The new dates have proved false several previous assumptions about both the dates of individual graves and whole sites. Based on the 14C dates, we model the chronological spread of burial barrows in Latvia along waterways, the earliest examples appearing in coastal western Latvia.

Juglet Pendants from Pannonia

Most juglet pendants are of 4th century from Pannonia, the glass is frequently dark, appearing black. Although juglet pendants have a greater concentration in the eastern Mediterranean, they are also widely attested in the empire’s western half. The following paper1 presents nine specimens from Hungary, eight from Pannonia Province. Three exemplars were parts of grave inventories, whose other items are also known (Bogád, Csongrád and Ságvár). All three burials can be securely dated to the fourth century. Despite the attractiveness of M. Stern’s suggestion, there is no good reason to associate the Pannonian juglet pendants recovered from mortuary contexts with Christianity. The pieces from Pannonia would rather suggest that juglet pendants cannot be associated with Christian beliefs because the other grave goods in the burials from which they were recovered belie this association.

Hrob s kamennou konstrukcí ze střední doby bronzové z Mikulova - A grave with a stone construction from the Middle Bronze Age from Mikulov, south Moravia

A grave dated to the Middle Bronze Age with two burials in stone chambers represents a unique find in Moravia. The grave was the solitary feature from the given period at the excavation site, without any barrow identified. Part of the stone used for the construction is querns from a 40 km distant source, most of the structure is made of local limestone. Both burials – a child and an adult – were deposited simultaneously and furnished with personal jewellery and grave goods. Organic residues and use-wear traces were recorded on bronze artefacts. The grave inventory also includes a stone axe from uncommon stone material – eclogite. Based on a typological analysis and a series of radiocarbon dates, the entire unit is dated to the middle stage of the Tumulus culture, at the turn of the 15th and 14th century BC. The preservation of anthropological material, the exclusive interior construction, the furnishing of both burials and modern documentation represent an exceptional data source for the knowledge of the Middle Bronze Age society and its burial practices. Middle Bronze Age – south Moravia – grave – stone construction – querns

Between worlds and elites at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age in the Lower Danube Basin: a pluridisciplinary approach to personal ornaments

The territory situated to the north of the Lower Danube represents the ideal space for observing the interaction between local communities, local environment and newcomers who arrived here at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. Thousands of burial mounds and relatively few flat graves present an array of common or exceptional inventories, indicating a very dynamic society. Among these grave inventories, the ornaments, beyond their primary symbolism (religious, social, cultural), generate important information which, properly exploited and systematically treated, allows the exploration of social practices in the context of the development of elites in prehistory. This study highlights the results of pluridisciplinary investigations (anthropological, isotopic, metallographic, technological, traceological, malacological and archaeozoological) of the ornaments discovered in a grave of the Early Bronze Age (the first third of the 3rd millennium BC) from Șoimești, Prahova County, with the richest inventory in Romania. The exploration of various aspects, such as the variety of basic materials used (animal teeth, molluscs, metal), ornamental forms and settings, their large number and their distribution in the burial space, allowed for interpretive assumptions about the deceased individual’s relation with the environment (through the fauna in the grave), and cultural and social identity (including status) analysed from different spatial perspectives, including the Lower Danube, Carpathian Basin and the North Pontic steppe.

Złota culture grave from Kleczanów, Sandomierz district, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship

In 2014, a niche grave linked with the Złota culture was accidentally discovered in Kleczanów (Sandomierz district, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship). An approximately 25-year-old man was inhumed inside. He was crippled: one of his legs was shorter as a result of an improperly healed fracture. His body was subjected to magical rituals. For example, his skull was separated from the rest of the body and placed in a stone-lined cache. The grave inventory was composed of at least three vessels (a mug with a handle and two amphorae), two bone plaques (belt elements), a bone awl, and a flint arrowhead, as well as animal bones (a pig mandible, limb bones of the following animals: roe deer, medium-sized bird, and sheep or goat). A 14C date obtained from a bone fragment allows us to date the grave to the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC.

Comments on dating and the periodization of the use of the burial ground in Domasław-Chrzanów, Wrocław district

The paper contains the comments of an archaeologist on the results of dating the Bronze and early Iron Age burial ground in Domasław, Wrocław district by the 14C method. Most of the dates obtained correlate well with previous archaeological dating to the Bronze and early Iron Age. There are, however, a few exceptions (namely, the stylistic characteristics of grave inventories) in which the established typological classification contrasts with the radiocarbon dates determined for these features and situates them much earlier, largely during the period of the Tumulus cultures in Polish territory in the II period of the Bronze Age in the periodization by O. Montelius/J. Kostrzewski and BC and BD in the southern periodization system. Similarly, several other assemblages from the youngest phase of the use of the burial ground from the HC period obtained much older dates.

Rediscovering old finds? Notes on the Bronze Age graves with amber in Western Serbia

e study is the result of rechecking details of funerary practices in the Bronze Age of Western Serbia. Potential presence of amber in grave inventories provided an impetus to examine burial contexts and ways how exotic goods reached the innermost parts of the Balkan Peninsula. Arrival of the first amber artefacts at the territory of Serbia is connected with the Middle Bronze Age, which is later than the earliest finds of the Baltic amber in south Europe and the Mediterranean. e sites with amber artefacts are neither numerous nor with even spatial distribution. e region of Western Serbia stands out from the rest of the broader zone because of its early excavated and early dated amber finds. In all of the cases, the amber finds have funerary context. Focal point of the study is on the rediscovered amber find from the necropolis in Stapari and its context. Based on the data from the documentation and publications, it is not very likely that the necropolis in Stapari can be defined as a flat one. All regional characteristics of synchronous funerary practices must be taken into consideration along with the state of preservation of the site in the 20th century. Consequently, the necropolis can be added to the large group of tumular necropolises, which comprised necropolis in Vranjani, which was analysed as well, due to a problematic amber find. Recent analyses confirmed the Baltic provenance of the amber from the West Morava basin, but contribution to at least partial reconstruction of regional routes which brought the material to this part of the Central Balkans has additional importance. e region settled by the bearers of the Belegiš culture, which was suspected to have served as a starting point for regional trade southwards, provided the first amber find with settlement context.

Bosporan Tumulus With Imprint Of Rhodian Coin

In the Hellenistic period Rhodes was an important centre of trade and wine production. Finds of Rhodian amphorae stamps are very common in the Northern Black sea region, but Rhodian coins are quite rare. Some finds from the tumuli of the Cimmerian Bosporus demonstrate Rhodian influence also. One tumulus excavated on the Tuzla cape (the Taman peninsula) in 1885 is especially interesting. A rich grave dating to the end of the 3rd or beginning of the 2nd century BC was excavated. The grave inventory consists of two Greek vases, one gold wreath, a silver ladle (kyathos), a silver strainer of unusual form, and a silver footless bowl of mastos type, bearing a gold indication of a Rhodian coin. It is the only find of such type in the aristocratic burials of the Bosporan Kingdom.

Understanding Final Neolithic communities in south-eastern Poland: New insights on diet and mobility from isotopic data.

We present the first comprehensive multi-isotopic data on human and animal remains from the Final Neolithic Corded Ware culture (ca. 2900–2300 cal. BC) in south-eastern Poland. The study focused on communities of two settlement areas located in the Małopolska Upland and in the Subcarpathian region. Carbon and nitrogen isotopes of bone collagen were investigated to obtain insights into human dietary preferences, whereas the strontium isotope composition of human tooth enamel was used to trace the mobility and provenance of individuals. Sr isotope data point to a non-local origin of at least one-quarter of the investigated individuals in the Subcarpathian region, consistent with associated allochthonous grave inventories of eastern or western origins. In contrast, all investigated individuals in the Małopolska Upland were of local origin. Furthermore, our study shows an example that the use of fauna for the assessment of the local 87Sr/86Sr range of an archaeological site can lead to incorrect conclusions and suggests that a detailed Sr isotopic survey of the geological background and its hydrologic elements is necessary to provide conclusive constraints for the identification of local and non-local individuals in prehistoric communities. Carbon and nitrogen isotope composition of bone collagen indicate an omnivorous diet that included C3-based terrestrial plant and animal resources, in which plant food dominated. In both regions, there were no significant sex differences in dietary intakes. Higher δ15Ncoll values of younger infants presumably reflect the effect of weaning.