Is it Hot Enough? A Multi-Proxy Approach Shows Variations in Cremation Conditions During the Metal Ages in Belgium (original) (raw)
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Journal of Archaeological Science, 2021
The funerary Bronze Age culture in the Belgian part of the Meuse valley is poorly understood due to the challenging nature of cremation deposits that dominate the archaeological record. Only a few sites were analysed in that region, limiting the possibilities to reconstruct the development of Bronze Age populations in Belgium. Due to its good preservation and detailed excavation reports, the site of Herstal (Belgium) offers a unique opportunity to finally gain new insights into the life and death of those buried in the Meuse Valley during the Late Bronze Age. A total of 21 graves were analysed using a multi-proxy approach, combining grave typology, osteoarchaeology, strontium isotope ratios (87 Sr/ 86 Sr), and radiocarbon dating. The 87 Sr/ 86 Sr results show that the individuals of Herstal most likely used a variety of local food supplies while having interactions with other populations in and beyond the Meuse Valley, as demonstrated by the bronze artefacts and ceramics displaying clear influences from Germany, Southern Netherlands, and NorthWest France. The cemetery most likely shows a local burial style with the presence of two (or even three) individuals in several cremation deposits containing a number of privileged individuals who had access to bronze trading networks.
Anthropological and physico-chemical investigation on a suspected cremation of the early bronze age
2007
Excavations carried out in Tomb IX of the hypogeic necropolis of 'Sa Figu', near the village of Ittiri (Sassari, Italy), supplied burnt human bone remains and pottery unambiguously referred to the Early Bronze Age (characterised by the local culture of 'Bonnannaro'). Besides the anthropological study, we have investigated and evaluated the possibility of a funerary cremation practice in Sardinian prehistory , a subject that has previously not been considered from a scientific point of view. Making use of a calibration procedure based on X-ray diffraction (XRD) line-broadening analysis, related to the microstructural properties, it was possible to estimate the combustion temperature to which the fragmented bones were subjected. It was found that the studied bones reached temperatures varying from 4008C up to a maximum of 8508C. This spread of values suggested inhomogeneous combustion of the bones, which seems compatible with funerary cremation practices.
Radiocarbon, 2023
The Final Neolithic and the Bronze Age (3000-800 BC) are periods of great transformations in the communities inhabiting the area of modern-day Belgium, as testified by archaeological evidence showing an increasing complexity in social structure, technological transformations, and large-scale contacts. By combining 599 available radiocarbon dates with 88 new 14C dates from 23 from funerary sites, this paper uses kernel density to model the temporality in the use of inhumation vs. cremation burials, cremation deposits in barrows vs. flat graves, and cremation grave types. Additionally, by including 78 dates from settlements, changes in population dynamics were reconstructed. The results suggest a phase of demographic contraction around ca. 2200-1800 BC highlighted by a lack of dates from both settlements and funerary contexts, followed by an increase in the Middle Bronze Age, with the coexistence of cremation deposits in barrows and, in a lower number, in flat graves. At the end of the 14th-13th century BC, an episode of cultural change with the almost generalized use of flat graves over barrows is observed. Regional differentiations in the funerary practices and the simultaneous use of different grave types characterize the Late Bronze Age
Cremation and the use of fire in Mesolithic mortuary practice.
In Cerezo-Roman, J. I. Wessman, A. and Williams, H. (eds.). Cremation and the Archaeology of Death. Oxford: Oxford University Press., 2017
Cremation is not widely recognized as a form of mortuary treatment amongst the hunter-gatherer communities of Mesolithic north-west Europe (broadly defined as c.9300 cal. BC to c.4000 cal. BC). However, discoveries within the last two decades have increased the evidence for the practice of cremation (as well as other forms of treatment, such as secondary burial) amongst the hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic, both in terms of the geographic distribution of the practice and its temporal spread throughout the period. Although rare in comparison to inhumation, cremation can now be seen to have been practiced throughout both the early and late Mesolithic and, whilst evidence is currently sparse within the modern areas of Germany and the British Isles, examples are known across Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium, northern France, and the Republic of Ireland. The aim of this chapter is not to present a comprehensive catalogue of cremations in the Mesolithic, but rather to draw on a number of case studies to provide an overview of cremation practices, and the variety of post-cremation treatment of cremated remains, and to place this within the context of other forms of Mesolithic mortuary practice.