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The material culture of burial and its microgeography

A Luxembourg cemetery as a methodological example of an object-centred approach to quantitative material culture studies

Bibliographic Data

ID2391172
AuthorsChristoph Klaus Streb (University of Luxembourg, corresponding author), Thomas Kolnberger (University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg), Sonja Kmec (0000-0002-3980-5063, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg)
Year2019
Volume24
Issue3
Pages334-359
Publication date2019-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1359183519840744
OpenAlexW2940226758
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited38

This article uses a novel quantitative methodology to examine sepulchral material culture. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of social spatialization and art as agency, the authors contend that variations in grave designs and materiality cannot simply be explained in terms of changes in fashion and mentality. Other factors also need to be taken into account. Using a digital data collection tool, the Cemetery Surveyor Application (CSA) developed at the University of Luxembourg, they compile a set of data encompassing all the material aspects of each grave in a cemetery in Luxembourg (Western Europe), the setting of their case study. The graves are dated from the 1850s to 2015. |The authors compare the chronological evolution of the most recurrent material features with a GIS-based spatial analysis of the same features. The results of the spatial analysis not only largely confirm the chronological study, but also allow them to be more precise (dating is often problematic) and include undated graves (a third of the sample). The digital data collection tool also allows them to compare cemeteries and to highlight variations in these that cannot merely be imputed to chronology, but also to spatial proximity and material agency

Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy · Archaeology · Art · Assemblage (archaeology · Chronology · Comparability · Material culture · Materiality (auditing · Object (grammar · Social science · Sociology · Spatialization · Anthropology · Computer Science · Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · History

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Unique citing works3
Citations per year0,43
Citation span2019 - 2026 (8)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 3
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