Mortuary Traditions Research Articles

Middle Holocene hunter–gatherers of Cis-Baikal, Eastern Siberia: Chronology and dietary trends

Analyses of radiocarbon dates (all corrected for the freshwater reservoir effect) and associated stable isotope values obtained from the skeletal remains of ~650 individuals provide many new insights about Middle Holocene hunter–gatherers (HGs) of the Cis-Baikal region, Eastern Siberia. The new radiocarbon evidence clarifies the culture history of the region by defining better the boundaries between the chronological (archaeological periods) and cultural (mortuary traditions) units, as well as our understanding of the transitions between them. Furthermore, differences between the four archaeological micro-regions with regard to the timing and duration of these culture historical units have come into focus for the first time. In terms of dietary patterns, the Early Neolithic foragers of the Angara and Southwest Baikal trended towards a greater reliance on aquatic foods. A similar trend was found in the Late Neolithic (LN) Isakovo group on the Angara, while the LN Serovo group in the Little Sea trended towards an increased dietary reliance on terrestrial game. In the Early Bronze Age HGs, a mosaic of dietary patterns was found: some groups experienced dietary shifts (frequently emphasizing different foods), while other groups displayed stability. Such differences were found even between close neighbours. All these results suggest significant variation in patterns of culture change within and between archaeological periods, mortuary traditions, and micro-regions. Some cultural patterns developed at a quick pace, others much more slowly; some appear to have collapsed rapidly, while others probably went through a more gradual transition to a different pattern. Additionally, this large set of radiocarbon dates allows novel insights into patterns of cemetery use: some seem to have been used continuously, others only sporadically, and some show long periods of disuse. Moreover, some cemeteries of the same mortuary tradition were apparently in use substantially earlier than others were even established. In sum, Cis-Baikal Middle Holocene HG strategies underwent a range of changes not only at the boundaries between relevant culture historical units but also within such units. New insights suggest considerable spatio-temporal variation in the nature, pace, and timing of these developments.

Spatial and temporal differences in Late Neolithic Serovo to Early Bronze Age Glazkovo forager diet in Lake Baikal's Little Sea Microregion, Siberia

Research on Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers from the Cis-Baikal region of Eastern Siberia has yielded many insights into their dietary and mobility patterns. A large dataset of stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values, when paired with freshwater-reservoir corrected carbon-14 dates, allows us to conduct fine-scale investigations into dietary change. Our Small Cemeteries Project has increased the sample of Late Neolithic (LN) Serovo individuals, and Ol'khon Island burials, allowing for new investigations into changes between the Serovo and subsequent Early Bronze Age (EBA) Glazkovo mortuary traditions in the Little Sea Microregion. This is important because research exploring the extent and nature of cultural continuity and change between these mortuary traditions has received less attention than more pronounced earlier transitions. We use stable isotope data from 134 adolescents and adults to explore (1) temporal changes in δ13C and δ15N values across the Serovo and Glazkovo mortuary traditions, and (2) differences in stable isotope values between individuals buried on Ol'khon Island vs. the Mainland. During Serovo times, Islanders and Mainlanders were eating somewhat different diets, with the former consuming more seal and the latter more shallow-water fish. Glazkovo Islanders maintained a broadly similar diet to their Serovo Islander predecessors suggesting the continued existence of a specialized group of Island seal hunters. After ~4100 calBP, and the arrival of the Glazkovo mortuary tradition in the Little Sea Microregion, there is the appearance of a new group of Mainlanders consuming a diet with low δ15N (≤ 14.6‰) and/or low δ13C (≤ ˗19.0‰) values unlike anything seen previously. This diet included less lake fish and seal and more terrestrial herbivores. Previous research has shown that many Mainland Glazkovo individuals with this new diet were non-local. Our study finds that just over half of Glazkovo Mainlanders have a low δ13C or δ15N value and they are found in all cemeteries with multiple individuals. This suggests such individuals, many of which were non-local, were fully incorporated into local social groups. Further increasing the sample of LN and Island individuals is needed to better establish these findings; nonetheless, our research highlights the diversity in Middle Holocene adaptive strategies in the Little Sea Microregion.

Clamber of the dead: material ontology and cosmological affect within the hunter-gatherer mortuary traditions of the Eastern Baltic 4000-3000 cal. BC

ABSTRACT The application of clay to the heads of deceased hunter-gatherers within the Middle Neolithic burials of Finland and Latvia was originally identified by researchers working in these regions during the 20th century. This practice stands apart from the deeper-seated traditions of grave adornment which characterise the hunter-gatherer archaeology of the Baltic region during the Middle Holocene. However, the variable extent to which these ‘death masks’ are preserved and recorded has confounded attempts to discuss their meaning or significance in detail. This paper approaches the problem through a discussion of the materials involved in masking, rather than the forms represented by the masks themselves. Through this discussion, an understanding of the relationship between material ontology and cosmology emerges, which is subsequently situated within a socio-historical context through a review of the available radiocarbon dates and broader patterns of social change in the Middle Neolithic archaeology of the Eastern Baltic.

Isotopic insights into the jar-and-coffin mortuary ritual of the Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia

AbstractThe use of coffins and jars as funerary receptacles was common across Southeast Asia. During the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries AD, cremation was the dominant mortuary tradition on the Angkorian plains, but in the Cardamom Mountains to the south, contemporaneous groups practised a unique burial tradition involving the deposition of un-cremated bone in exposed ceramic vessels and log coffins. The authors present the first geochemical analysis of individuals from this highland culture, specifically the site of Phnom Pel. The childhood diets of those interred in jars and coffins may have been sourced from different areas within the Cardamom Mountains, suggesting that the individuals came from discrete groups.

Moche Mortuary Pottery and Culture Change

In this article, I investigate the Northern and Southern Moche archaeological cultures by evaluating the data gathered and theories developed since their first identification 25 years ago. I suggest that what was previously considered the Southern Moche tradition was the dominant one throughout most of the North Coast, with regional variations, prior to about AD 650. After that date, the “Classic Moche” tradition ended in both regions and was succeeded by distinct Northern and Southern ceramic and mortuary traditions and, inferentially, reorganized social, political, and religious systems as well. The relations between regional mortuary and other traditions and fineware styles are considered in light of pan-regional dynamics including the ascendancy of the Wari Empire.

Хронология неолитической керамики Байкало-Енисейской Сибири: основные идеи и новые данные

There are two main research areas in the Neolithic studies of the Baikal-Yenisei Siberia. One of them relates to research of mortuary traditions, another with a research of hunter-gatherer’s campsites. Ceramics is of the greatest importance for the cultural identification of campsites complexes. As a result of the Canadian-Russian project, for the Neolithic burials a clear chronological model based on AMS radiocarbon dates corrected for the freshwater reservoir effect (FRE) was created. There are several hypotheses for ceramic complexes that were proposed, but all of them predominantly were based on the radiocarbon dates obtained by the liquid scintillation counting method. This data cannot be admitted as reliable because of the limitation of this method, the big root-mean-square deviation, and the lack of data on stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes. Over the past few years, we have received in the Keck-CCAMS Group and Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit laboratories 35 new AMS-radiocarbon dates for the complexes with Neolithic ceramics. Samples taken for analyses were obtained from the 14 multilayered sites of the Angara region, Tunka valley, and Lake Baikal coast. They are represented by fragments of teeth, bones, and horns of the mammals (predominantly Cervidae and large ungulates) that accompanied pottery in cultural horizons. In five cases the carbonized organic residues (foodcrusts) from the inner surface of ceramic vessels were used as samples. In one more case, it was a strong humified soil cleaned from impurities. The technical assessment of the reliability of all dates was provided. The definitions obtained for faunal remains look the most correct. Dates obtained for foodcrust are likely significantly older, because of possible FRE influence. The geoarchaeological assessment of new dates and their correlation with the most reliable dates of previous years is provided. Based on the AMC-dating, the following chronometric frames for the Neolithic pottery of the Baikal-Yenisei Siberia are offered: Early Neolithic Net-impressed and the Khaita ceramics in the Angara region – 8539–6914 cal BP, on the Lake Baikal coast – 8160–6960 cal BP, in the Tunka valley – 7843–7681 cal BP; Ust-Belaya ceramics in the Northern Angara region – 7421–7014 cal BP (perhaps the real age is younger), in the Southern Angara region – 6730–6306 cal BP; Posolskaya ceramics on the Lake Baikal coast – 6750–6300 cal BP, in the Southern Angara region – 6730–6306 cal BP; Serovo and Dotted-comb ceramics on the Lake Baikal coast – 5841–4620 cal BP.

Могильник Сосновый Мыс в Северном Приангарье: анализ погребального обряда и результаты радиоуглеродного датирования

The article presents the results of the study of 8 burial complexes of the Sosnovyi Mys burial ground. The article contains all the information about the history of the discovery and study of this archaeological site. We describe the geographical location and geomorphological structure of the burial ground deposits and give a complete description of the burial complexes No. 1–8 (excavation # 1, archaeological works of 2011). The analysis of individual elements of the mortuary tradition is carried out. Some similarities and differences with synchronous burials on the territory of the Southern Angara region have been revealed. All burials were divided into three groups based on the analysis of the mortuary tradition elements: 1) burials # 2, 4, 5, 7, 8; 2) burial # 3; 3) destroyed burials # 1 and 6. Published in the article radiocarbon dating results showed the Neolithic age of most burial complexes. The exception is burial No. 3, which belongs to the Early Bronze Age. Analyzing the radiocarbon AMS dates, we can state the high ratio of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes ( δ 13 C and δ 15 C ) obtained for a human bone sample. These data indicate a high trophic level of the humans, which points out the presence of a freshwater reservoir effect (FRE). A special study of this problem has not been conducted yet for the Northern Angara Region, so it is not possible to determine the radiocarbon offsets. The complexes of the Sosnovyi Mys burial ground may be synchronous with the late phase of the Kitoi burial tradition (the finale of the Early Neolithic). However, if the value of the correction for the FRE is ever calculated and turns out to be the same as in the Baikal region (or more significant), then the age of the burials may be determined by the beginning of the Middle Neolithic, which is determined by the period 7027 ± 33 – 5571 ± 88 cal BP. The search for analogies to the features of the mortuary tradition and categories of grave goods with the materials of the Southern Angara region is carried out. The main problem of further study of the burial ground materials is the determination of the correction value of the FRE based on the dating of human bones, as well as finds and individual animal bones directly related to the burial complexes for the entire territory of the Northern Angara region.

Memories of migration? The ‘Anglo-Saxon’ burial costume of the fifth century AD

Abstract

The earliest Bronze Age culture of the south-eastern Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Abstract

Implementing Photogrammetry in Three Bioarchaeological Contexts: Steps for In-Field Documentation

AbstractHuman skeletal remains hold a wealth of information about past life-ways, but their documentation and recovery from archaeological contexts is challenging. Four challenges face bioarchaeological field work: poor skeletal preservation; complex mortuary traditions; sub-par excavation conditions; and excavation time limits. Poor preservation often prevents the collection of metric data from skeletons. This project tested whether a bioarchaeologist with basic photography skills and excavation equipment could address these challenges using photogrammetry. Photogrammetry was employed at the ancient Maya sites of Say Kah and Chan Chich, both located in northern Belize, to document human skeletal remains and their archaeological contexts. Steps are provided for implementing photogrammetry in the field, as well as addressing challenges for using the technique during burial documentation. This project produced only one adequate 3-D model and no metric data could be collected. Overall, photogrammetry seems to be a promising method for bioarchaeological research because it is low-cost, effective, and fairly straightforward to learn. The technique was faster than traditional line drawing, but sub-par excavation conditions and dark, small spaces hindered the creation of useful models. Photogrammetry provides an excellent alternative to traditional documentation addressing the challenges of poor skeletal preservation and holding potential for unraveling complex mortuary traditions.

A Glimpse into Burial Practices of Medieval (10th to 13th c. AD) Elites in the Horqin Region, Northeast China

Cette étude a pour but de présenter deux tombes à chambre en brique des périodes Liao et Jin (Xe-XIIIe s.) fouillées récemment dans la region du Ke’erqin (à Dongmengyi dans le district de Shuangliao et à Hamaqin dans le district de Changling), dans l’ouest de la province du Jilin, dans le nord-est de la Chine. La description de ces découvertes, réalisée de la manière la plus détaillée possible, met en relief les éléments architecturaux, ceux du mobilier funéraire, et les restes humains. Dans un deuxième temps, les auteurs proposent de mettre en perspective ces découvertes en les comparant aux sépultures publiées pour cette région. 246 tombes du Ke’erqin et des alentours ont été intégrées à une base de données et permettent de mener des analyses quantitatives sur les coutumes funéraires. Ces informations, visualisées au sein d’un Système d’information géographique (SIG), sont analysées pour connaître les configurations spatiales de la distribution des divers types de tombes, de leurs formes, et même des objets les plus proches de ceux découverts à Dongmengyi et Hamaqin.

Un nouveau groupe funéraire du Bronze ancien aux Mureaux (Yvelines) : retour sur les pratiques funéraires franciliennes entre 2200 et 1600 av. J.‑C.

Localisé en bord de Seine, le site des Herbages aux Mureaux (Yvelines) a fait l’objet de deux opérations archéologiques, en 2013 et 2014. La première a permis l’exploration partielle d’un ensemble funéraire du début du Bronze ancien, d’où provient un poignard en alliage cuivreux de type Butterwick. La seconde a porté sur une occupation du Chasséen septentrional, en marge de laquelle a été mis au jour un nouvel ensemble funéraire, également daté du Bronze ancien. Ces deux groupes comprennent respectivement trois et quatre inhumations individuelles, principalement datées par des mesures radiocarbone. Celles-ci suggèrent une utilisation assez courte des espaces funéraires considérés, située entre la fin du Bronze A1 et le début du Bronze A2. Considérant la présence d’un artefact, dont les centres de production sont situés dans les îles britanniques, des analyses isotopiques ont été menées (87Sr/ 86Sr) visant à obtenir des précisions sur l’origine géographique des différents sujets étudiés. Les résultats interindividuels plaident en faveur de l’homogénéité populationnelle. Le rapport obtenu sur les sédiments environnants affiche des valeurs nettement supérieures, signes d’une probable mobilité résidentielle sans qu’il soit possible de préciser la provenance des sujets inhumés. À l’échelle locale, des parallèles évidents peuvent être établis entre les deux ensembles funéraires des Herbages. La mise en perspective de ces données fournit l’occasion d’établir un état des connaissances des pratiques funéraires propres à l’âge du Bronze ancien francilien. Les analogies relevées aux Mureaux ne vont pas dans le sens d’une quelconque normalisation des traditions funéraires régionales. Aucune règle ne semble prévaloir, que ce soit dans le traitement des défunts, la position et l’orientation des corps, la dotation funéraire, le mode d’ensevelissement ou encore dans les agencements sépulcraux. Au-delà de cette diversité, transparaît pourtant une évolution fondamentale des comportements face à la mort.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PRECLASSIC AND PROTOCLASSIC BURIAL PRACTICES AT IZAPA AND IN SOUTHEASTERN MESOAMERICA

AbstractExtensive investigation at the archaeological site of Izapa in southern Chiapas, Mexico, by the New World Archaeological Foundation yielded few burials at the site's core ceremonial precinct. Those found were located on the acropolis that supports Mound 30a and defines the north side of Izapa Group B. The majority of caches found in this zone date to the Protoclassic Hato and Itstapa phases (100b.c.–a.d.250). The shift in mortuary practices ca. 100b.c.was accompanied by several changes to the site's occupation and architectural patterns. Study of these mortuary traditions provides important insights regarding the reconfiguration of Izapa's political organization at the turn of the millennium. Comparisons of mortuary practices at Izapa with those of neighboring civic-ceremonial centers El Ujuxte, Takalik Abaj, and Kaminaljuyu during the Preclassic and Protoclassic transitions contextualizes the practices found at Izapa at a regional level.

Headdress forms in the Paracas Necrópolis Mortuary Tradition

Headdress forms in the Paracas Necrópolis Mortuary Tradition

Communities of Mortuary Practice: A Renewed Study of the Tianma-Qucun Western Zhou Cemetery

Western Zhou archaeology (1046–771 bc) is dominated by cemetery- and mortuary-related data. To date most studies have relied on later historical narratives and focused on the investigation of elites and their mortuary practices. This paper sets out to provide a renewed approach to the study of Western Zhou cemeteries by looking at the graveyard as a whole and with it the relationship between the commoners and nobles who were buried in them. Its case study is the important site of Tianma-Qucun, located in modern-day Shanxi province, the residential site and burial ground of the Jin state during the Western Zhou period. We provide a community-focused study of mortuary practices aimed at uncovering local-specific shared ways of doings things. This approach not only affords a refined vision of Western Zhou mortuary ritual and practice, but also one where local variation and appropriations can be appreciated as well. Thus, while common Zhou mortuary traditions should be understood to have been of greater import to Zhou elites, their impact on the lower echelons of society remains less clear. By examining the mortuary practices of individual communities, we aim to uncover these site-specific manifestations in their larger contexts.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF UNWORKED MOLLUSCS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO UNIONIDAE (FRESHWATER MUSSELS), IN MAINLAND SOUTHEAST ASIAN MORTUARY CONTEXTS

AbstractArchaeological evidence demonstrates that molluscs, either as unworked or worked artefacts, have been deposited in burial settings as objects which speak to secular or various philosophical, religious or cosmological concerns. Those molluscs imbued with secular or cosmological significance are identified and selected with reference to the specific behaviour, characteristics or qualities of the mollusc itself within a given society’s socio-cultural belief system. This paper examines data from mainland Southeast Asia to explore the distribution and potential significance of Unionidae bivalves in human burials from a range of large, later prehistoric burial sites. This family of bivalves was important in the mortuary tradition of the region from the Neolithic through to Iron Age, especially during the Bronze Age.

Death on the Early Formative Oaxaca coast: The human remains of La Consentida

Based on calibrated AMS radiocarbon dates from stratigraphically controlled contexts, the Early Formative period site of La Consentida was occupied between 1950 and 1550calBCE. In addition to evidence of early pottery and mounded earthen architecture, this site has produced fourteen sets of human remains in twelve discrete burials. The people of La Consentida lived and died during a period of key socioeconomic transitions including the establishment of sedentary villages, a shift toward agriculture, and the origins of formalized social inequality. In this paper, we discuss the archaeological context of La Consentida's burials and the results of bioarchaeological and stable isotopic analyses of human and faunal remains from the site. Stable isotope values and paleopathological data suggest significant maize consumption concurrent with increasing dental attrition. Considered alongside changes in food processing tools, this pattern suggests a culinary transition regarding maize use. Burial goods and associated features (including a ceremonial cache containing faunal remains, ceramics, and a musical instrument) shed light on mortuary practices. As some of Oaxaca's earliest known human remains the burials of La Consentida offer a rare opportunity for multidisciplinary investigation of the diet, lifestyles, and mortuary traditions of an early Mesoamerican village.

Her Mirror, His Sword: Unbinding Binary Gender and Sex Assumptions in Iron Age British Mortuary Traditions

At the site of Hillside Farm, Bryher, on the Isles of Scilly, a materially rich single Iron Age inhumation was discovered containing the unsexable fragmented remains of one adult with a number of high-quality metal grave goods including an iron sword with a bronze scabbard and a bronze mirror. Swords and mirrors have long been considered high-status, oppositionally gendered grave goods that crosscut regional divisions in the pre-Roman British Iron Age (c. 800 B.C.–A.D. 43). Their combined presence within the burial of a single individual represents a touchstone within the ongoing unraveling of a long-held, interconnected set of reified binary sex and gender assumptions that have permeated discussions of British Iron Age mortuary contexts. In better recognizing this web of “binary binds,” we can deconstruct the a priori, exclusionary, interconnected sex and gender assumptions that configure how we investigate the terms of engagement between materials and persons in these burial contexts. Crucial to this analysis is an approach to patterning that (1) does not begin with a search for sex and gender as evidence of male and female dichotomies, (2) sees the potentiality for any component of a mortuary assemblage to have multiple points of significance, and (3) embraces data ambiguity. Developing such critical approaches will ultimately contribute to the deployment of more inclusive forms of analysis that do not reify sex and gender as the primary organizing principles within mortuary contexts, aiding scholars in avoiding assumptions that bind sex and gender analyses into artificially binary paradigms.

Chronology of middle Holocene hunter–gatherers in the Cis-Baikal region of Siberia: Corrections based on examination of the freshwater reservoir effect

A dataset of 256 AMS radiocarbon dates on human skeletal remains from middle Holocene cemeteries in the Cis-Baikal region, Siberia, and associated carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values are analyzed for new insights about culture history and processes of culture change. First, based on the typological criteria all dated human burials are assigned to mortuary traditions and typochronological units–Late Mesolithic, Early Neolithic, Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Next, all dates are corrected for the Freshwater Reservoir Effect (FRE) according to the regression equations developed using paired radiocarbon dates on human and terrestrial faunal remains from the same graves and examined for chronological trends using a Bayesian approach. While the entire corrected culture historical sequence is younger by roughly 200–400 years relative to the previous model the shift of the specific period boundaries is not systematic due to the varying proportion of aquatic food in the diets of the relevant groups. Examination of the dataset subdivided into smaller spatio-temporal units provides additional insights. During the Early Neolithic, in the Angara and Southwest Baikal micro-regions there is a chronological trend toward increased reliance on aquatic food. During the Early Bronze Age in the Little Sea micro-region, there appears to be a trend toward increased reliance on the Baikal seal. This shift, however, can also be interpreted as increasing migration over time of new groups from the Upper Lena. The sample from the Early Neolithic Shamanka II cemetery in Southwest Baikal shows two non-abutting phases of use each displaying a trend toward greater consumption of aquatic foods. These findings provide new chronological framework for the study of other cultural changes affecting middle Holocene hunter–gatherers in the region. The results may also allow better correlation with other sequences, cultural and environmental, that are not affected by the FRE.

Death, Dying and Bereavement in Norway and Sweden in Recent Times

One of my research projects examines pictorial symbols and epitaphs on gravestones in Norway and Sweden. The focus has been on the 1990s and the 2000s. The choice of this period is motivated by the fact that new national burial laws were adopted in both countries in the early 1990s. These laws provided the next of kin with the possibility of choosing memorial symbols and inscriptions more freely than had previously been the case. To judge from the data under study, individual symbols have gained popularity, especially in Sweden, while Norway has been more faithful to earlier traditions of a collective character; moreover, secular motifs are more manifest on the gravestones in Sweden than in Norway. Another research project analyses memorial websites on the Internet related to persons who have died in recent years. The all-inclusive issue in these studies concerns mourners’ expressions of their emotions and beliefs regarding the deceased person’s afterlife, that is, beliefs in after-death existence. Belief in the deceased being somewhere in heaven is common. Belief in angels is also a popular concept in memorial websites. Moreover, in Sweden, this includes deceased pets as well. The previously strictly observed distinction between humans and pets has become indiscernible in Sweden. Norwegian practice, however, remains critical towards this type of “humanlike characterization”. In Norway, memorial websites for the deceased are generally associated with more traditional Christian concepts than are similar sites in Sweden. By contrast, in Sweden, one observes a kind of diffuse religiosity reminiscent of New Age ways of thinking, according to which the individual plays the central role, and glorification of afterlife existence prevails. Secularization, that is, a decline in the influence of traditional forms of religious experience, is conspicuously more prominent in Sweden. Within the project on memorial websites, I have performed a special study of memorials of persons who have committed suicide. In Norway, differences between suicide and deaths by other causes are conceived in an entirely different manner than on memorial websites in Sweden. There, the contrast between suicide and other forms of death has been increasingly wiped out. Norway has preserved earlier mortuary traditions to a greater extent, and no notions of a bright afterlife, or of angels, are to be found in connection with suicides.