| Popis: |
It has been stressed that the archaeological remains of the dead in a formal grave represent only the final stage in what may well have been a protracted and complex series of stages in funerary ritual. From this final stage, however, the archaeologist is potentially able to make an informed assessment of several aspects of the prevailing funerary practice, notably: • the context of burial, whether individual, grouped, or collective; • its structure, whether simple pit, with or without coffin, cist, or more elaborate tomb with the provision of additional space for accompaniments; • the placement of the remains, whole or part, cremation or inhumation, in the latter case including factors such as orientation and posture; • the presence or absence of grave-goods, their intrinsic character, and their choreography within the burial area; • any adjacent features, such as remains of pyres or related structures that might reflect pre-depositional stages in funerary ritual; • any secondary episodes of activity, such as subsequent burials or ‘grave robbing’. There is an implicit assumption that cemeteries should be relatively compact groups of graves, with or without a defining enclosure boundary. In the case of a larger cemetery, it might even be possible from grave associations to determine that it expanded over time in one particular direction, as in the case of Wetwang Slack or in the classic instance at Münsingen. Some graves in larger cemeteries were collectively ordered in regular ranks, as at Rudston or Harlyn Bay, implying an informed rather than random pattern of expansion. Smaller burial grounds, however, perhaps used over a shorter period of time, may be dispersed, or in small clusters over a wider area, as at Adanac Park, Cockey Down, Melton, or Little Woodbury, making their recognition more difficult in the absence of widespread stripping. This pattern could arise if a family group, for example, was segregated from the next allowing for infilling over time, which may not have happened if the settlement served by the cemetery for some reason was abandoned. In present-day western society a grave is simply a place of burial, designed for the disposal and commemoration of the dead. |
