Grave goods, refuse or the remains of rituals? Differences in the assemblages from the LBK burials of Arnoldsweiler-Ellebach. (original) (raw)

The question whether an artefact in a burial is a grave good, an artefact intentionally buried with the dead, or was simply accidentally included, has been answered in very different ways by archaeologists. Often, the value one assigns to the object is a decisive factor. In this paper, we try to investigate the formation of burial assemblages from a more neutral starting point, although we are of course not claiming to be free from assumptions. As a working hypothesis we distinguish between the finds from the base of burial pits and those from the fills. While the former should be “structured” in the sense of Richards and Thomas (1984), or more specifically, should display intentionality or indicate a “positive selection” (Eggers 1959), the latter have often been ignored. We conclude that the possible interpretations for pottery and stone artefacts are different and that there is no single deposition scenario that suits all materials. In addition, finds from the fill and the base of burials should be accorded more analytical weight in the future.