Outside of life

Traditions of infant burial in Ireland from cillin to cist

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3919080
AutoresN Finlay (0000-0003-1636-5250, autor correspondente)
Ano2000
Volume31
Fascículo3
Páginas407-422
Data de publicação2000-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoWorld Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/713781491
OpenAlexW4236491907
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas30
Referências citadas10

The infant forms an ambiguous class of individual, located on the periphery of normal lifecycle events. This is often reflected in the character and choice of burial location. During the Historic period in Ireland the separate burial of unbaptised infants reused earlier monuments, particularly those with Early Christian associations. These cillini (children's burial grounds) were frequently situated in marginal locations and their identification with the host site often enhanced their ambiguous and liminal character. A review of the prehistoric evidence also suggests the differential treatment of infants during the Neolithic-Early Bronze Age, in particular the location of infant burials in the passages of two later Neolithic sites at Fourknocks, Co. Meath. The reuse of earlier megaliths for infant burials may reflect the reinvention of these sites in the contemporary mythological landscape at a latter stage in their own monumental lifecycle. Keywords: IrelandInfantSeparate BurialCillinFourknocksReuse Of Megaliths

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Bronze Age · Character (mathematics · Geography · JAR · Liminality · Megalith · Mythology · Period (music · Prehistory · Situated · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Classics · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · History · Paleopathology and ancient diseases