The persistent presence of the dead
Recent excavations at the hunter-gatherer cemetery at Zvejnieki (Latvia)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3596950 |
|---|---|
| Authors | L N Stutz (0000-0002-0575-7075, Emory University), Lars Larsson (0000-0003-3722-035X, Lund University), Ilga Zagorska (0000-0001-7868-7998, Latvian Academy of Sciences) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 87 |
| Issue | 338 |
| Pages | 1016-1029 |
| Publication date | 2013-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Antiquity (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-598X • E-ISSN: 1745-1744 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0003598x00049838 |
| OpenAlex | W2099508310 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 25 |
| References cited | 14 |
The well-known Mesolithic cemeteries of Northern Europe have long been viewed as evidence of developing social complexity in those regions in the centuries immediately before the Neolithic transition. These sites also had important symbolic connotations. This study uses new and more detailed analysis of the burial practices in one of these cemeteries to argue that much more is involved than social differentiation. Repeated burial in the densely packed site of Zvejnieki entailed large-scale disturbance of earlier graves, and would have involved recurrent encounters with the remains of the ancestral dead. The intentional use of older settlement material in the grave fills may also have signified a symbolic link with the past. The specific identity of the dead is highlighted by the evidence for clay face masks and tight body wrappings in some cases
Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Beaker · Ethnology · Excavation · Face (sociological concept) · Genealogy · Geography · Grave goods · Hunter-gatherer · Identity (music) · Mesolithic · Settlement (finance) · Sociology · Taphonomy · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · History · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
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Mobility and Place Making in Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Italy
Neolithic fish remains from the freshwater shell midden Riņņukalns in northern Latvia
Los Canes Mesolithic burials
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Damaged Burials or Reliquiae Cogotenses? On the Accompanying Human Bones in Burial Pits Belonging to the Iberian Bronze Age
Neolithic fish remains from the freshwater shell midden Riņņukalns in northern Latvia
Materialising the Social Relationships of Hunter-Gatherers
Disturbing the dead. Archaeothanatological analysis of the stone age burials at Zvejnieki, Latvia (excavated 2006–2009)
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More Than Just Zvejnieki
Symbolically Overloaded’ Burials
The construction of monumental landscapes in low-density societies
Towards understanding the influence of Neolithisation for communities using the Zvejnieki cemetery, Latvia
New Aspects of the Mesolithic-Neolithic Cemeteries and Settlement at Zvejnieki, Northern Latvia
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| Unique citing works | 25 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,27 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2025 (11) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 22 |