A Place to Rest Your (Burnt) Bones? Mortuary Houses in Early Anglo-Saxon England

This article presents a fresh interpretation of square and rectangular mortuary structures found in association with deposits of cremated material and cremation burials in a range of early Anglo-Saxon (fifth-/sixth-century AD) cemeteries across southern and eastern England. Responding to a recent argument that they could be traces of pyre structures, a range of ethnographic analogies are drawn upon, and the full-range of archaeological evidence is synthesized, to re-affirm and extend their interpretation as unburned mortuary structures. Three interleaving significances are proposed: (i) demarcating the burial place of specific individuals or groups from the rest of the cemetery population, (ii) operating as ‘columbaria’ for the above-ground storage of the cremated dead (i.e. not just to demarcate cremation burials), and (iii) providing key nodes of commemoration between funerals as the structures were built, used, repaired and eventually decayed within cemeteries. The article proposes that timber ‘mortuary houses’ reveal that groups in early Anglo-Saxon England perceived their cemeteries in relation to contemporary settlement architectures, with some groups constructing and maintaining miniaturized canopied buildings to store and display the cremated remains of the dead.     

Cooking Pots as Burial Urns

Abstract

Large ceramic vessels used as burial urns occasionally have been found in Late Mississippian/protohistoric contexts in Alabama and Mississippi. Ethnohistorical documents suggest that large vessels were used for cooking in a domestic context. A systematic examination of three urns from east-central Mississippi shows multiple uses prior to their final deposition with burials. Vessel size analysis of a temporal sequence of sherds from midden contexts used sherd thickness and curvature data to show that large vessels became more common. Three explanations are examined to better understand the use of large vessels during this time: bet hedging, costly signaling, and changing technology. The results confirm the use of burial urns in domestic contexts before their final use as interment containers, making technological change the most viable of the three hypotheses.     

SOUTH APPALACHIAN MISSISSIPPIAN AND PROTOHISTORIC MORTUARY PRACTICES IN SOUTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

Abstract

Mississippian societies of southwestern North Carolina are generally thought to have been less centralized and less hierarchical than their counterparts elsewhere in the Southeast. This paper compares and contrasts mortuary patterns at the Warren Wilson, Garden Creek, and Coweeta Creek sites to reconstruct patterns of social and spatial differentiation within late prehistoric and protohistoric communities in southwestern North Carolina. These sites include, respectively, a late prehistoric stockaded village, a platform mound and village, and a protohistoric Cherokee town with a public structure and several domestic dwellings. Distributions of burial goods and the placement of burials indicate that some social distinctions were reflected in the treatment of the dead by Mississippian and protohistoric groups in southwestern North Carolina, and that those distinctions were embedded in the architecture and built environment of these sites.     

The Present Condition of the Monuments of Egypt and Nubia

Studies of early Anglo-Saxon social identity have been largely based on information obtained from the skeletal remains and grave assemblages from inhumation burials. As a result, the social identity of populations that practiced the alternative mortuary rite, namely cremation, is often overlooked. This paper will provide new evidence for the social identity of cremation practicing groups based on a comprehensive study of the Elsham and Cleatham cemeteries, both located in North Lincolnshire. The demographic attributes of the burial populations will be scrutinized alongside their associated grave furnishings. In addition, the spatial distribution of burials will be assessed as a means of establishing whether certain social groups were segregated at these cemeteries. Based on the results presented in this paper, it is clear that the often binary differences in grave provisions afforded to men and women in the inhumation rite play only minor roles in the manifestation of social identity among cremating groups in eastern England. Instead, stages in the lifecycle, kin associations and perhaps even ideological beliefs seem to have been emphasized by the treatment of the cremated dead.     

CHEST BURIAL: A MIDDLE ANGLO‐SAXON FUNERARY RITE FROM NORTHERN ENGLAND

Chest burials, in which the body is interred in a wooden chest with a hinged lid, are one of the most characteristic funerary practices of the middle Anglo‐Saxon period in northern England. The majority are dated to between the seventh and ninth centuries, and are found at 19 different sites located within the contemporary early medieval kingdom of Northumbria. The collation of a corpus of chest burials, and examination of their form, context and the identities of the individuals they were afforded to, have revealed that these interments seem to have been made in reused pieces of domestic furniture and provided to both sexes, but rarely afforded to infants or young children. The individuals buried in chests also shared an extremely physically active lifestyle and in some cases met a violent death, further distinguishing them from their contemporaries.     

The Geoff Egan Memorial Lecture 2012

Abstract

Archaeological excavations since 1994 have been uncovering the remains of James Fort in Virginia, the initial site of England’s Jamestown colony, established in 1607. Recovered from closely dated contexts that are associated with documented historical events, the material culture is revealing new and interesting information about the early settlement. The objects reflect the colonists’ interaction with the Virginia Indians, the activities of specialists sent to turn New World resources into profit for the colony’s investors, as well as the choices that individuals made as they transported domestic goods across the Atlantic.     

MEMORY,LANDSCAPE & MORTUARY PRACTICE

Stone Age people handled their dead in various ways. From the Late Mesolithic period onwards, the deceased were also buried in formal cemeteries, and according to radiocarbon dates, the cemeteries were used for long periods and occasionally reused after a hiatus of several hundred years. The tradition of continuous burials indicates that the cemeteries were not only static containers of the dead but also important places for Stone Age communities, which were often established in potent places and marked by landscape features that might have had a strong association with death. The paper explores the tradition of burials in cemeteries exemplified through Jönsas Stone Age cemetery in southern Finland. Here the natural topography, along with memories of practices conducted at the site in the past, played a significant role in the Stone Age mortuary practices, also resulting in the ritual reuse of the cemetery by the Neolithic Corded Ware Culture.     

LAST ORDERS: CHOOSING POTTERY FOR FUNERALS IN ROMAN ESSEX

Summary.   This paper examines ceramic vessels from Roman-period funerary contexts in Essex. Using correspondence analysis, it charts changes in the choice of funerary pottery and isolates the elements in pottery assemblages that unite or differentiate sites. The paper finds that the status of sites can be distinguished on ceramic grounds, reflecting cultural differences in life. Jars and beakers are characteristic of settlement cemeteries, while cups are more typical of high-status burials. Flagons and samian ware are common between them. Underlying funerary traditions are rooted in continuity from the Late Iron Age, rather than post-conquest change. The study also suggests that funerary pottery was selected out of the supply intended for domestic use.     

A Persistent Place for Hunter-Gatherers During the Late Holocene: The Case of Burials in Pit on the Coast of Lángara Bay,Argentine Patagonia

In Argentine Patagonia, the type of archaeological burial “in pit” has been only identified on the coast of Lángara Bay. This modality is characterized by the presence of single and multiple primary burials. Studies on five human burials in pits are presented in this article. The aim is to compare the contexts of burials in pit at the site level and the spatial characteristics of their distribution in the Lángara Bay locality from a diachronic perspective. The approach focuses on mortuary practices and social relations of hunter-gatherer groups during the Late Holocene. A characterization of the burials, their chronologies, bioarchaeological determinations, stable isotope studies, and their spatial distribution are included. The results allow us to chronologically place the contexts between ca. 3000 and 2000 cal BP. A spatial pattern in the distribution of burials in the coastal landscape was identified. Finally, it is proposed that this part of the Patagonian coast was a persistent place of burials in pit.     

大都市边缘区农村居民对宅基地退出和定居的思考——以南京市江宁区为例

中国的快速城镇化推动了乡村发展转型与空间重构,农村居民对于土地退出、定居的想法正发生着变化。基于2014 年在南京市江宁区的问卷及访谈调查,本文探索了发达地区大都市边缘区中农村居民针对宅基地退出和未来定居的意愿。通过运用访谈资料和回归模型,本文发现村庄属性、一些个人主客观因子都影响着农村居民对于土地退出和未来定居的决策。本文还发现,相当多的农村居民倾向于在邻近小城镇定居,对宅基地退出普遍持负面态度。随着宅基地财产功能的提升、城乡一体化进程推进等方面的变化,关于宅基地流转制度的改革势在必行。     

“They want a different life”: Rural northern settlement dynamics and pathways to homelessness in Yellowknife and Inuvik,Northwest Territories

Visible homelessness in the Northwest Territories, Canada is often described as a recent phenomenon by policy makers and the popular media alike. Indeed, since the late 1990s, homeless shelters in Yellowknife and Inuvik report a steady increase in demand for beds and other support for homeless people. Homelessness in these two communities disproportionately affects Aboriginal northerners, however little is known about their individual pathways to homelessness. Moreover, homelessness in the Northwest Territories is often portrayed as an issue confined to larger “urbanizing” regional centres, yet many homeless Aboriginal northerners have originated from small, rural settlement communities. Despite this, little concern has been paid to how factors at the small community level intersect with more visible forms of homelessness in larger, urban centres, not to mention how these intersections shape a territorial geography of homelessness. In this article, I aim to uncover and explore the often hidden factors at the northern rural settlement level that ultimately contribute to more visible forms of homelessness in northern urban centres. I suggest that uneven and fragmented social, institutional, and economic geographies result in a unique landscape of vulnerability to homelessness in the Northwest Territories. This geography emerges through the production of particular dynamics between rural settlement communities and northern urban centres. In particular, four main factors represent these rural‐urban dynamics: 1) the attractions of opportunity in northern urban centres; 2) rural settlement‐urban institutional flows; 3) chronic housing need in the settlements; and, 4) disintegrating social relationships in the settlements. I explore the particular ways in which these factors influence rural‐urban migration among the homeless population and what roles this mobility plays in individual pathways to homelessness.     

殷墟使用朱砂情况的考察

与史前、夏及早商时期一样,朱砂在殷墟文化时期的北方仍是较为稀缺的资源,只存在于规格较高的考古遗存中。通过对安阳殷墟及其他同时期情况进行分析,朱砂的使用从殷墟早期到晚期呈上升趋势。依据使用场合的不同,可分为朱砂葬、朱砂祭祀坑和朱书文字三类。朱砂葬是朱砂使用情况中最为常见的一种。本文通过对殷墟西区、大司空、孝民屯、徐家桥和侯家庄王陵区墓地的朱砂葬进行分析,发现晚商时期只有高等级贵族才有资格使用朱砂。从其使用情况推测,晚商时期朱砂在丧葬活动中的礼仪功能是主要的,用以体现死者的身份等级,同时或具有辟邪的功能。殷墟朱砂的来源,最大可能性仍然是以贵州为中心的我国西南地区,不过特定时期也可能采用了来自陕西秦岭一带的资源。     

Multiple identities in the Beaker period: interpreting inhumations out of the Beaker spotlight in southern England

ABSTRACT

The Beaker period in southern England is associated with the appearance of a highly visible set of material culture in the archaeological record, primarily associated with inhumation burials. This Beaker material culture has a long history of archaeological research and has resulted in this period being named after a style of pottery, the Beaker. However, the funerary record for this period is one that exhibits substantial variability. This paper considers how the archaeological narrative of the Beaker period has been constructed and presents a set of examples that exclude Beaker pottery and Beaker artefacts from the grave assemblage, located in southern England. Herein, it is questioned what these burials represent and whether they can be considered Beaker burials or represent other identities co-existing with Beaker using societies. Whilst the Beaker period does not represent an unchanging, fixed set of traditions over time or space, the examples employed demonstrate non-Beaker related burials to have been present from early in the Beaker period. We aim to highlight this important aspect of the archaeological record as requiring more research and synthesis, and promote discussion of non-Beaker identities during this dynamic period of prehistory.     

Experiencing gloomy Dis: Tombs,tunnels and the phenomenology of the Roman Underworld in the Phlegraean Fields

Recent work in landscape archaeology has emphasized the importance of considering the experience of moving through landscapes and examining the place of burials within wider landscape contexts. This work recognizes that burial placement was often intended to create and curate experiences and meaning. While burials near roads and waterways have been discussed at length, burials near tunnels, which are an important feature of the road network of Roman central Italy, have not yet featured in discussions of the experience of Roman landscapes or the visibility of graves. This article explores these twin themes in the Phlegraean Fields west of Naples, where burials appear next to the entrances of two monumental tunnels. This placement appears to make an experiential play on the perceptions of the descent into the Underworld as described in Classical literature.     

陕西宝鸡苟家岭西汉墓葬发掘简报

为配合国道主干线连霍高速宝鸡至牛背梁段高速公路建设,陕西省考古研究院与宝鸡市考古研究所对宝鸡市西郊的苟家岭村西汉墓葬进行了抢救性考古发掘。共发掘清理出10座墓葬,其中部分墓葬保存完整,随葬器物丰富。这也是首次在该地发掘的西汉时期墓葬,为进一步研究关中西部西汉时期聚落分布及丧葬制度增添了新的考古资料。     

Early Evidence for Domestic Chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) in the Horn of Africa

Domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus L. 1758) are one of the most valued farm animals in the world today. Chickens are widespread and economically and socially significant in Africa. Despite their importance, little is known about the nature of their introduction and subsequent integration into African economies. One reason for this is the morphological similarity of domestic chickens to wild galliform birds in Africa such as guineafowl and francolin. Here, we present direct dates and morphological evidence for domestic chickens recovered from Mezber, a pre‐Aksumite (>800–450 BCE) rural farming settlement in northern Ethiopia. Key morphological markers differentiated these domestic chickens from francolins. The Mezber direct chicken element accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates of cal 820–595 BCE and indirect/charcoal AMS dates of cal 921–801 BCE constitute the earliest osteological evidence for chickens in Africa. Chicken bones in the domestic food waste of an early rural settlement at Mezber and their presence in later Aksumite urban contexts show that chickens were integrated into diverse Ethiopian highland settings. The Mezber specimens predate the earliest known Egyptian chickens by at least 550 years and draw attention to early exotic faunal exchanges in the Horn of Africa during the early first millennium BCE. These findings support previous archaeological, genetics and linguistic data that suggest maritime exchange networks with South Arabia through ports along the African Red Sea coast constitute one possible early route of introduction of chickens to Africa. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Constructions of Rural Women's Voluntary Work

This article examines the nature and circumstances of women's voluntary work in rural communities. Drawing on original research conducted in two villages in Avon, England, it focuses on three main themes. Firstly, it considers theoretical debates on the conceptualisation of rural women's labour, arguing that traditional divisions between public and private forms of work provide an inadequate basis for understanding either women's labour participation or their domestic lives. The notion of voluntary work as a third sphere is discussed as it relates specifically to the rural labour market and community. Secondly, the article examines voluntary work in terms of the empowerment of women. It addresses issues of women's role and status in the rural community, questioning whether the state's use or reliance on voluntary work in rural areas represents an exploitation of women's position or an opportunity for women to gain influence and power. Thirdly the article evaluates the contribution of women's voluntary work to the conceptualisation and representation of rurality. The focus here is on the way in which voluntary activity supports a particular form and image of the rural community and, in turn, the implications this has for gender divisions and women's identity in contemporary rural England.     

Village and community in early colonial New England

The long-standing correlation between community function and nucleated settlement form in early colonial New England is mistaken. Puritan communities were established, but new communities—often called villages in colonial records—were developed and survived quite well regardless of settlement form. As in England at the time, village meant community and community was a social web. Village status in New England provided a community with land and thus enabled the community to undertake settlement. But the social web that comprised community did not require nucleated settlement, and the dispersed settlement form that many colonists had known in England dominated the village landscape of early colonial New England.     

Al-Ghoryeen: An Early Bronze Age settlement in central Oman peninsula

Al-Ghoryeen, located 95 km southwest of Muscat, is a unique settlement dating to the Umm an-Nar period and is built upon a Late Hafit period settlement. It was found in 2004 and excavation began in 2018. Preliminary analysis of the results revealed two major occupation phases with an occupational gap in between. A change occurred between the earlier and later phases of the settlement system reflected mainly in the difference in building sizes and plan. We excavated either partially or completely a stone round tower and more than 10 domestic structures. The distribution of the architectural features including the round tower, domestic structures and burials showed some kind of organised settlement structure. The Hafit period settlement was tested in two trenches where ¹⁴C analysis dated the earliest occupation to the late Hafit period.     

国内外农村居民点区位研究评述

随着人类经济社会的发展,居民点的外在特征和空间结构也在不断的演化与变迁,居住地点的选址和布局最能反映出人类活动与地理环境之间的相互影响与作用机制。目前国内外在城市居住区位研究方面已经形成大量研究成果,相比之下,农村居民点相关研究还存在一定滞后。文章从居民点区位影响因素、区位演变、居民点分布和等级结构四方面对国外相关研究进行了评述,梳理了国内农村居民点区位研究的相关内容,在此基础上对存在的问题进行了讨论和总结,并对今后研究内容进行了展望。