Melis, E. 2017 ANALYSIS OF SECONDARY MORTUARY PRACTICES IN THE EARLY BRONZE AGE INHUMATION BURIALS FROM NORTH-WESTERN HUNGARY (original) (raw)
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On the basis of the characteristics of Neolithic and Early Eneolithic mortuary practices in the area of North Carpathian Basin it can be argued that the existence of graveyards is an isolated phenomenon. Various rituals were involved in disposing of the dead. In this article, we focus on (un)usual burials which are singled out into two major categories: cremation and inhumation. Special emphasis is given to cremation as a mortuary practice: arguments for cremation; interpretation possibilities; examples of the use of fire and noticed phenomenon. IZVLE∞EK -S pomo≠jo zna≠ilnih neolitskih in eneolitskih pogrebnih praks v severnem delu Karpatske kotline sklepamo, da so pokopali∏≠a izoliran pojav. S pokopi so bili povezani razli≠ni rituali. V ≠lanku predstavljamo (ne)obi≠ajne pokope, ki sodijo v dve glavni kategoriji: se∫ig in pokop trupel. Poseben poudarek je namenjen se∫iganju kot pogrebni praksi: argumentom, interpretacijam in izbranim primerom.
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The article is discussing two unusual archaeological contexts containing human remains from two different sites in the Lower Danube region which belong to the Late Iron Age. The first archaeological context comes from the vicinity of Krivina, Ruse District, in north-eastern Bulgaria, and consists of a burial in a large pottery kiln. The kiln was used during the 1 st century BC or not later than the early 1 st century AD, and it was still largely undamaged when it was turned into a burial structure containing the complete skeleton of a woman. Archaeological evidence seems to indicate that the deceased was connected, in one way or another, with the pottery production. The kiln in which she was buried was more likely perceived as symbolically belonging to her persona while alive. At the same time, the device was perhaps also considered an approp riate means of "transferring" her into the otherworld. The second archaeological context comes from the cemetery at Poieneşti, Vaslui County, in eastern Romania, and consists of a late 5 th -4 th century BC burial in an oven. It was previously identified either as a failed cremation or as an unusual funerary chamber. However, its scope seems to have been different -namely to literally "prepare" the deceased for the encounter with divine beings. The main motivation of this practice seems to arise from the idea that the human sacrifice is one of the most efficacious means of restoring or legitimizing the social order by appealing to gods or ancestors, especially in socially challenging situations. Both archaeological contexts could be considered particular expre ssions of the social interplaying between the embodied individual identity and the spatial perception of the community as a physical and social body. On the other hand, they stand apart as material illustrations of the perception of fire as a powerful transformative force, both physically and symbolically, among two different communities.
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The relationship between the deposition of human bodies in the domestic space and the deposition of isolated human bones and body parts in different contexts is a characteristic of the Late Iron Age north to the Lower Danube. The diversity of deposition practice also appears in the case of the dog skeletons found in the settlements. In the present article, we try to interpret these deposition practices using as a case study some contexts from the Late Iron Age settlement at Bucureşti-Băneasa, Strada Gârlei, in southern Romania (dated between the 2nd and the 1st century BC), investigated between 2008 and 2013. Children skeletons were discovered in C555 and C519A pits. The comparison between the structure of these pits reveals a certain contrast between their “domestic” aspect (similar to the other pits from the same settlement) and the formalism of the children deposition: placing them on the southern edge of the pits, the deposition at a certain moment of the filling, the crouched position on the right side, a certain bipolarity of the orientation of the bodies. This contrast is highlighted more clearly by the deposition of the child from pit C519A, that (also due to the discreet presence of the domestic waste) evokes a certain ceremonial gesture, characteristic of a burial act. Furthermore, a necklace of glass beads and bronze links (probably combined with iron links) builds the funerary identity of the child. In the case of pit C555, the elements with funeral characteristic are included in the continuous stream of the pits’ filling, marked by the uniformity of the its content composition, as well as by the presence of the domestic waste underneath, among and above the human body. The “melting” until blurring of the images that evoke “the domestic” and “the funerary” is highlighted by the presence of a perforated calvaria fragment belonging to an young adult in the filling of pit-house C585. The fragment was treated like an artefact, in the sense that it has been preserved, used and discarded in the pit-house filling similarly to the other disused objects. The same complete-fragment concept, as well as the relationship between the structural character of the deposition (similar to a funeral), and the deposition of the disused objects and consumption waste can be also established in the case of the dog skeletons and of the isolated bones. Although the processing of the faunal material from the whole settlement is in a preliminary stage, a certain opposition relationship between the age of the human skeletons and that of the dog skeletons emerged. On the one hand, the complete human skeletons belong to children, while the only skeleton fragment belongs to an adult. On the other hand, the complete dog skeletons belong to mature or old individuals, while the isolated bones discarded in the filling belong mainly to juveniles. In a wider geographical area, the relationship between the deposition of bodies and the community of domestic waste and the disused objects with which they are associated in the filling of pits often fades the borders between different contexts (habitation, grave, “pit fields”, “places of worship”). The “funerary” and the “domestic” images are transferred from a domain of the social space to another; they are combined in diverse material communities, building distinct meanings of an “everyday domestic life” impregnated by “funerary” and mortuary practices that are incorporated in the “domestic” materiality. The everyday space of habitation is a combination of practices which join to the “domestic” images of its death. The death of houses, workshops, and pits is knitted in certain significant moments with the death of objects, people, and dogs
Ve světle nových, komplexnějších pohledů na kulturu gravettienu v Evropě obecně a na Moravě zvláště (tj. období rámcově před 30 000-20 000 lety) se stává aktuální rovněž popis a interpretace nejstaršího umění na našem území. Jedním ze základních problémů jistě bude rozpor mezi perspektivou našeho současného pohledu a myšlením i děním v době přespříliš vzdálené. Nedostatek kontextuálních informací, do nichž by bylo možné nejstarší umělecké artefakty zasadit, bývá nahrazován více či méně vhodnými analogiemi či jiným typem hypotéz, jejichž teoretická východiska jsou ovšem poplatná intelektuálnímu prostředí té které výzkumné etapy v celém průběhu posledního století. Větší či menší váha se přikládala paralelám z etnologie současných lovců a sběračů na straně jedné či z etologie primátů na straně druhé. Nedoceňovala se variabilita minulých lidských společností a kultur, které vznikaly mezi oběma těmito protipóly.
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VORWORT DER HERAUSGEBER Die Reihe "Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie" soll einem in der jüngeren Vergangenheit entstandenen Bedürfnis Rechnung tragen, nämlich Examensarbeiten und andere Forschungsleistungen vornehmlich jüngerer Wissenschaftler in die Öffentlichkeit zu tragen. Die etablierten Reihen und Zeitschriften des Faches reichen längst nicht mehr aus, die vorhandenen Manuskripte aufzunehmen. Die Universitäten sind deshalb aufgerufen, Abhilfe zu schaffen. Einige von ihnen haben mit den ihnen zur Verfügung stehenden Mitteln unter zumeist tatkräftigem Handanlegen der Autoren die vorliegende Reihe begründet. Thematisch soll darin die ganze Breite des Faches vom Paläolithikum bis zur Archäologie der Neuzeit ihren Platz finden. Ursprünglich hatten sich fünf Universitätsinstitute in Deutschland zur Herausgabe der Reihe zusammengefunden, der Kreis ist inzwischen größer geworden. Er lädt alle interessierten Professoren und Dozenten ein, als Mitherausgeber tätig zu werden und Arbeiten aus ihrem Bereich der Reihe zukommen zu lassen. Für die einzelnen Bände zeichnen jeweils die Autoren und Institute ihrer Herkunft, die im Titel deutlich gekennzeichnet sind, verantwortlich. Sie erstellen Satz, Umbruch und einen Ausdruck. Bei gleicher Anordnung des Umschlages haben die verschiedenen beteiligten Universitäten jeweils eine spezifische Farbe. Finanzierung und Druck erfolgen entweder durch sie selbst oder durch den Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, der in jedem Fall den Vertrieb der Bände sichert. Herausgeber sind derzeit: Kurt Alt (Mainz) François Bertemes (Halle) Nikolaus Boroffka (Berlin) Peter Breunig (Frankfurt am Main)
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