Mortuary patterns in burial caves on Mangaia,Cook Islands

The behavioural, cultural, and political implications of archaeological human remains in non‐mortuary, possibly culinary, contexts requires that we understand the range of mortuary practices in a particular region. Although several rockshelter sites on Mangaia, Cook Islands have yielded burned, fragmentary human bones in earth ovens that seem to support archaeological models and ethnohistoric accounts of ritual sacrifice and cannibalism, the absence of data on the range of Mangaian mortuary patterns obscures these interpretations. We describe burial patterns based on 40 above‐ground interments representing at least 92 individuals in caves of Mangaia, Cook Islands, in order to begin to develop an island‐wide perspective on mortuary patterns. Sampling both pre‐ and post‐European contact sites we found that multiple interments dominate probable pre‐contact burials (73%, 19 of 26) and single interments dominate post‐contact contexts (80%, eight of ten burials), probably reflecting the influence of Christianity on mortuary ritual. Subadults were more frequent in all post‐contact contexts suggesting alternative burial places, probably church cemeteries, for adults. Burial cave remains are broadly consistent with ethnohistoric accounts of interment in caves, however, they also illustrate additional burial practices and differences between time periods, such as primary body position and the role of multiple‐individual interments, which are not discussed ethnohistorically. The mortuary practices in Mangaian burial caves differ from burials associated with marae and seem completely unrelated to the presence of highly fragmentary and burnt human remains in pre‐contact rockshelter middens elsewhere on the island. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Early ironworking in Iron Age South India: New evidence for the social organization of production from northern Karnataka

Abstract

Iron production was integral to political and ritual practices during the South Indian Iron Age (ca. 1200–300 b.c.), yet the investigation of the social relations of metals production during this period has been overshadowed by studies of iron consumption, particularly of iron objects in megalithic mortuary contexts. Recent archaeological research in the Tungabhadra River Corridor, Karnataka, has revealed iron production debris within and between settlements in more ephemeral occupational contexts, such as rockshelters. One notable discovery is the earliest ironworking facility in South India at Bukkasagara. The regional pattern suggests that iron production involved at least two classes of specialist producers—smelters and smiths—who exercised varying degrees of control over the practice and products of their craft. It also suggests that iron production was an important component in the construction and negotiation of Iron Age social differences, affiliations, and inequalities.     

The Chalcolithic Period of the Southern Levant: A Synthetic Review

In the southern Levant, the late fifth millennium to mid-fourth millennium BC—traditionally known as the Chalcolithic period—witnessed major cultural transformations in virtually all areas of society, most notably craft production, mortuary and ritual practices, settlement patterns, and iconographic and symbolic expression. A degree of regionalism is evident in material culture, but continuity in ceramic styles, iconographic motifs, and mortuary practices suggests a similar cultural outlook linking these sub-regions. Luxury items found in group mortuary caves provide good evidence for at least some inequality in access to exotic materials. The level of complexity in social organization, however, is still debated. Divergent interpretations of Chalcolithic socio-economic organization suggest that, with the large amount of new information now available, a reevaluation of the debate is due. In this article we synthesize the more recent evidence and weigh interpretations of processes that led to the widespread fundamental changes witnessed during the late fifth to early fourth millennium BC.     

The ‘Semblance of Immortality'? Resinous Materials and Mortuary Rites in Roman Britain

There is increasing evidence for complexity in mortuary practices in Britain during the Roman period. One class of burials demonstrates an association between inhumation in stone sarcophagi or lead‐lined coffins, ‘plaster’ coatings, textile shrouds and natural resins. It has been suggested that this ‘package’ represents a deliberate attempt at body preservation. Fragments with a resinous appearance found in one such burial from Arrington, Cambridgeshire, UK were analysed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The triterpenic compounds identified are biomarkers for the genus Pistacia and provide the first chemical evidence for an exotic resin in a mortuary context in Roman Britain.     

Stable isotope chemistry,population histories and Late Prehistoric subsistence change in the Aleutian Islands

Aleut population history has been a topic of debate since the earliest archaeological investigations in the region. In this paper, we use stable isotope chemistry to evaluate the hypothesis that two distinct groups of people, Paleo- and Neo-Aleut, occupied the eastern Aleutians after 1000 BP. This study focuses on 80 sets of directly dated eastern Aleutian burial assemblages from Chaluka midden, Shiprock Island and Kagamil Island. We use a linear mixing model informed by isotopic analysis of two large Aleut faunal assemblages to address temporal and spatial variation in human carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data from these sites. The patterning we report addresses both Aleut demographic and economic prehistory, illustrating a transition in both at ca. 1000 BP. Our results suggests that the Chaluka diet, dominated by Paleo-Aleut inhumations, differed in both trophic level and foraging location from the other two sites for much of the past 4000 years. Trends in our data also suggest that individuals from Shiprock and Kagamil burial caves, primarily Neo-Aleuts, had enough access to higher trophic level foods to differentiate their bone chemistries from those buried in Chaluka midden. These trends in diet, recently reported genetic differences, as well as the introduction of novel mortuary practices at ca. 1000 BP, suggest that Neo-Aleuts do represent a population new to the eastern Aleutians.     

The changing Neolithic household: Household autonomy and social segmentation, Tell Halula, Syria

While households are widely held to have existed as the fundamental building block of early agricultural villages, researchers have only a limited understanding of the local social and economic trajectory of Neolithic households. Expanding our archaeological understanding of the Neolithic household beyond architecture, settlement organization, and subsistence practices, in this paper we explore how gradual changes in mortuary practices at Tell Halula, Syria, help us to understand the process of household development around 7500–7300 Cal. BC. Drawing upon high-resolution mortuary data we consider the tempo and mechanisms of change and how these patterns help us understand the organization of the household. Material patterns including the increased use of burial objects, an increased frequency of the placement of burial objects among adults, and the differential use of burial objects between households. These represent subtle, yet observable, small-scale shifts in how social roles were redefined and materialized. We argue that these reflect a series of gradual changes that are suggestive of increased household autonomy and an increase in social segmentation within and between households. The Tell Halula data highlight elements of continuity and how household members adhered to a broadly shared physical and organizational framework of life. Data also illustrate how household members developed subtle means by which practices were personalization, and potentially, reflect growing means by which households and individuals were identified within these communities. Collectively, this research provides a detailed understanding of the grass-roots building blocks of Neolithic households over a short time frame and a more detailed understanding of the local social and economic trajectory of Neolithic households.     

BRINGING IN THE DEAD: BURIALS AND THE LOCAL PERSPECTIVE ON KYTHERA IN THE SECOND PALACE PERIOD

Summary.   This article analyses the mortuary data of the 'Second Palace' period (c. 1700–1450 BC) on the Aegean island of Kythera. It proposes that the chamber tombs which were first introduced to the island in this period can offer potential insights into aspects of local-level social relations, especially at the central site of Kastri. This approach complements the broader cultural perspective that has usually been taken regarding these tombs, which have been viewed as indicators of Cretan cultural influence and, indeed, colonization. It is proposed that a strong horizontal in-group solidarity was being expressed by the tomb-using group at Kastri through spatial and diachronic uniformity in burial practices, and that this uniformity should be viewed at least partially as a response to local-level social agendas. The hypothesis is then explored that status identities were also being asserted in the burial sphere by at least some members of this group, through tomb location, the resources devoted to mortuary rituals and, perhaps, emphasis on lineage.     

Purposeful commingling of adult and child cranial elements from the Chelechol ra Orrak Cemetery,Palau

Continued excavation in 2007 of the early (ca. 2000–3000 calBP) cemetery at Chelechol ra Orrak in Palau, Micronesia revealed the remains of at least six individuals, adding to a minimum number of at least 25 other mostly fragmented individuals recovered in previous years. Of particular interest was the discovery of two isolated adult partial crania one of which, when emptied of sandy matrix, was found to contain a complete child's frontal bone. Here we explore the possibility that the placement of the skulls, particularly the commingling of the adult and child cranial elements, was done purposefully and discuss its significance for early Pacific mortuary behaviours. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sourcing galena from a Middle Woodland habitation site in northeast Mississippi

Galena has been recovered mostly in mortuary contexts – burial mounds, burial caves, and associated mortuary facilities – from Middle Woodland sites in the Southeast. Three small pieces of galena from the Cork site (22OK746) in northeast Mississippi came from midden deposits at a site with no mound or burials. Lead isotope analysis was used to source the samples to the Central Missouri-Tri-State-North Arkansas region. Isotopes provide an excellent sourcing method because their ratios are stable and large comparative source datasets are available. Recovery bias may have led to underestimation of galena presence in Middle Woodland habitation sites.     

Osteological and paleodietary investigation of burials from Cova de la Pastora,Alicante, Spain

We present results of osteological and isotopic analyses of human remains from Cova de la Pastora (Alcoi, Alicante, Spain) and discuss the implications in light of a new sequence of radiocarbon dates indicating that the cave was used as a burial site in the Late Neolithic (ca. 3800–3000 cal BC), Chalcolithic (ca. 3000–2500 cal BC), Bell Beaker Transition (Horizonte Campaniforme Transicional - HCT; ca. 2500–2200 cal BC) and the Bronze Age (ca. 2200–1500 cal BC). Similarities in stable isotopic values of C and N indicate little variation in subsistence between men and women, and a similar nutritional base from the Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age. This pattern of stability is augmented by evidence of trauma and disease found on numerous skulls in the collection. Since no clear associations of specific grave goods with certain individuals based on sex or age could be determined, the only suggestion of social inequality lies in the burial practice itself, where certain individuals were interred in caves while others were not.     

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS: CHILDHOOD MORTALITY AND BURIAL PRACTICE IN LATE NEOLITHIC ATLANTIC EUROPE

Towards the end of the fifth millennium BC, a new funerary tradition developed in Iberia and elsewhere in Atlantic Europe involving the use of megalithic tombs and natural or artificially constructed caves for the collective burial of the dead. Ancestor worship has been the most common theoretical framework used to explain this Neolithic burial tradition, despite demographic information which indicates that these burials house the remains of a significant percentage of children and adolescents. Using data from Late Neolithic (3500–2500 BC) tombs in south‐western Iberia as a departure point, in this paper we suggest that by reconsidering the impact that childhood mortality had upon burial and grave visitation practices in Neolithic communities, archaeologists can gain valuable phenomenological information which will allow for a more robust, multivocal interpretative approach.     

Interpretations of Burial and Commemoration in Moravian and African Diasporas on St. John, Virgin Islands

I address change and continuity in mortuary practices from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries within enslaved and free populations on the former Danish and current US Virgin Island of St. John. Based on the evidence I present, St. John’s former residents created diverse burial sites for practical and symbolic reasons related to environment, kinship, socio-cultural politics, and religion. The following analysis reveals how people historically transformed identities of selves and communities as they perceived and commemorated the dead through meaningful mortuary sites and practices within dynamic local and regional contexts.     

CHARIOTS AND CONTEXT: NEW RADIOCARBON DATES FROM WETWANG AND THE CHRONOLOGY OF IRON AGE BURIALS AND BROOCHES IN EAST YORKSHIRE

This paper presents 21 new radiocarbon dates for Iron Age burials excavated at Wetwang Slack, East Yorkshire, including three chariot burials. The dates are analysed using a Bayesian approach, along with previous dates from the cemetery and from other chariot burials in the region. The model suggests that regular burial at Wetwang spanned the third and earlier second centuries cal BC, a shorter period than once thought, whilst the chariot burials all belong to a short‐lived horizon centred on 200 cal BC. The dating of brooch types present in the burials is also reassessed. Our results imply that brooches of La Tène D form appeared in Britain in the later second century cal BC, in line with Continental evidence, but reinforcing the void in the later Iron Age sequence revealed in a recent study of decorated metalwork. Both this apparent gap and the end of the classic East Yorkshire mortuary tradition may well be manifestations of the more general changes that swept across Europe at this period, ushering in the new forms of political organization and social practices that define the Late Iron Age.     

Hunter-gatherer burials and the creation of persistent places in southeastern Australia

One of the difficulties in interpreting hunter-gatherer mortuary practices is that many mortuary theories are derived from sedentary societies and rely upon an excavated record. This paper is an analysis of both historical and archaeological evidence of Aboriginal burial practices in the Murray River region of southeastern Australia. The archaeological data relies primarily upon analysis of burials exposed through erosion rather than systematic excavations which limits the range of burial characteristics that may be recorded and interpreted. The mortuary practices identified are highly patterned but regionally and locally variable. It is argued that the evidence demonstrates the persistence of place for Aboriginal people. The existence of persistent places is further related to a potentially fluid but structured connection between people and land.     

Food for eternity? The analysis of a date offering from a 3rd millennium BC grave at Hili N,Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)

Ever since the early 3rd millennium BC the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) has played an important role in eastern Arabia where its remains, in the form of seeds, fruits and stem fragments, are preserved on numerous archaeological sites. The recent discovery of a carbonised mass of pitted dates in a collective burial pit from the end of the Umm an-Nar period (ca. 2200–2000 BC) at Hili (United Arab Emirates) constitutes the earliest example of a food preparation involving this species. The present paper describes the discovery and identification of this unique offering before addressing the question of its significance in a funeral context in Bronze Age Arabia.     

Gazetteer of small‐scale monuments in prehistoric Hadramawt,Yemen: a radiocarbon chronology from the RASA‐AHSD Project research 1996–2008

This paper provides a new, interpretive gazetteer and chronology of Hadramawt’s highland monuments based on results from archaeological survey and test excavations by the RASA‐AHSD (Roots of Agriculture in southern Arabia‐Arabian Human Social Dynamics) Project. With the exception of a few incidental sightings and an unpublished pipeline survey, the prehistoric record of southern Yemen’s highland plateau has been largely unknown. There are few settlements, so that understanding human landscape history must begin with the numerous small‐scale stone monuments left by mobile people. With examples representing monuments from the fifth, fourth, third and first millennia BC, the corpus of small excavations and radiocarbon dates reported here provides the first guide to the monument types of South Arabian highlands. Monument building began under more moist conditions and appears to have commemorated animal sacrifices long before commemorating mortuary rites and interment. There appears to be a temporal break of 1000 years before the widespread and varied practices of Bronze Age tomb construction, which lasted through the third millennium BC. After another break in monument construction, tombs were reused in the first millennium BC, sometimes with successive ritual visits. The data presented offer new material for the interpretation of the lives and activities of prehistoric pastoralists throughout the Holocene.     

A Taphonomic Approach to Late Classic Maya Mortuary Practices at Xuenkal,Yucatán,Mexico

Abstract

Following a brief introduction to mortuary practices in Prehispanic Maya society, we outline the analytical procedures followed during the excavation and laboratory investigation of five burial assemblages from the Late Classic period site of Xuenkal, Yucatán, Mexico. A detailed account of a sequence of primary and secondary interments is provided with a focus on taphonomic and biovital information, emphasizing the importance of an interdisciplinary approach, especially human taphonomy, for the reconstruction of complex Maya mortuary treatments. Our results show that bodies of the dead or their parts followed surprisingly long and complex funerary paths.     

HISTORY AND ITS DEAD

Thomas Laqueur has brought together half a century of research on modern European mortuary culture into an impressive narrative of how the Christian churchyard was replaced by the modern cemetery, how interment was partly replaced by the technology of cremation, and how writing and preserving the names of the dead coincided with democratization and social reform. Beyond the grand narrative of the history of modern burial, he also shows how the modern culture of history and memory is intertwined with the transformation of mortuary practices. On a deeper level, he points toward new ways of conceptualizing the relation between the living and the dead, leading up toward, if not fully confronting, the challenge that propels his own endeavor, namely the existential‐ontological predicament of living after those who have been and the nature of spectrality.     

Maritime interregional interaction in Micronesia: Deciphering multi-group contacts and exchange systems through time

Recent theoretical perspectives focusing on interregional interaction can help explain the evolution of western Micronesian societies. Data from ethnohistoric accounts, oral traditions, and more recently, archaeological investigations, document the interactions between culturally and linguistically distinct island groups in the northwest tropical Pacific. Here, I look at the nature and emergence of these interaction networks between the islands of Yap and Palau in the Western Caroline Islands of Micronesia and the implications they had for transforming indigenous lifeways, exchange systems, and sociopolitics. In particular, I discuss a major facet of these interaction spheres—the Yapese quarrying of their famous stone “money” disks in the Palauan archipelago.     

Intentional human burial: Middle Paleolithic (last glaciation) beginnings

This paper analyzes intentional burial as a historical phenomenon. Mortuary practices are viewed as a particular sphere of human activity, involving the transfer of the physical remains from one natural environment to another. The general and specific laws governing mortuary treatment and its development are discussed, and the earliest known deliberate burials—those of the Middle Paleolithic—are examined against this theoretical background. Middle Paleolithic groups invented almost all the basic ways of treating a corpse before burial and almost all the ways of burial itself. They seem to have developed a cult of the dead, based upon dualities such as concealment vs exposure of the body, burial of the body intact vs disarticulated, burial of the whole body vs parts of it only, and so on. It is shown that, in the Middle Paleolithic, there were centers of taphological activity, that inhumation was selectively practiced on only a small minority of the population, that men were buried much more often than women, and that the patterns of burial seem to have been independent of identifiable factors such as human physical type or level of technology.