Deposits of bodies in circular pits in the Neolithic period (mid-fifth to the mid-fourth millennium BCE)

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4531391
AutoresPhilippe Lefranc (Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives), Fanny Chenal (0000-0002-8610-3005, Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives)
Año2019
Volumen5
Número1
Páginas55-69
Fecha de publicación2019-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHuman Remains and Violence An Interdisciplinary Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2054-2240 • E-ISSN: 2054-2240
EditorialManchester University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.7227/hrv.5.1.5
OpenAlexW2957624169
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas2

Among the numerous human remains found in circular pits belonging to the fourth millennium BCE cultures north of the Alps, there are many examples of bodies laid in random (or unconventional) positions. Some of these remains in irregular configurations, interred alongside an individual in a conventional flexed position, can be considered as a 'funerary accompaniment'. Other burials, of isolated individuals or multiple individuals buried in unconventional positions, suggest the existence of burial practices outside of the otherwise strict framework of funerary rites. The focus of this article is the evidence recently arising from excavation and anthropological studies from the Upper Rhine Plain (Michelsberg and Munzingen cultures). We assume that these bodies in unconventional positions were not dumped as trash, but that they were a part of the final act of a complex ritual. It is hypothesised that these bodies, interpreted here as ritual waste, were sacrificial victims, and a number of possible explanations, including 'peripheral accompaniment' or victims of acts of war, are debated

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Excavation · Geography · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology