Encountering the Unburied Dead
Developments in Mortuary Practice in the Landscape of the Late Bronze Age Megaforts of the Carpathian Basin
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11073296 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Barry Molloy (0000-0002-2493-8859, University College Dublin, corresponding author), Linda Fibiger (0000-0002-3947-062X, University of Edinburgh), Thomas J Booth (0000-0002-8731-818X, Crick Institute), Thomas Booth (0000-0002-6134-1488, The Francis Crick Institute), Dragan Jovanović (0000-0002-2716-481X, Victoria and Albert Museum), Lidija Milašinović (0000-0002-1296-2982, National Museum), Victor Sava (0000-0002-0411-3227, Romanian Academy), Marija Ljuština (University of Belgrade), Jovan Koledin (Museum of Vojvodina), Saoirse Tracy (0000-0002-0251-6751, University College Dublin), Dimitra Ermioni Michael (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1-18 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-24 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Field Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0093-4690 • E-ISSN: 2042-4582 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00934690.2026.2641968 |
| OpenAlex | W7140236578 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 52 |
The treatment of the dead body is a highly social phenomenon, rooted in cultural conventions. Choices in mortuary rites include inhumation, cremation, and excarnation, along with secondary manipulation before or after burial. In the Carpathian Basin between 1600 and 700 b.c., people employed diverse choices in peri- and post-mortem treatment of human remains. Beginning by defining local cremation conventions, including fragmentation of the body, we next present new data to reconstruct excarnation and inhumation practices. These display similar patterns of peri- and post-mortem manipulation in both cemetery and settlement contexts, demonstrating intersections between rites. Engagement with human bones in Late Bronze and Early Iron Age contexts is shown to have been ubiquitous and encompass varying states of integrity, revealing distinct practices surrounding their use or reuse. This shows that human remains, as material culture, played myriad roles in social discourses, ranging from place-making to ancestor reverence to domination of others
Bronze Age · Iron Age · Pannonian basin · Prehistory · Structural basin · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |