What Remains
description
Transcript of What Remains
MAGAZINE STAFF
Lindsay ArmstrongLindsay is a forth year Anthropology major. His field of study comprises osteology, taphonamy, and archaeology.
Jess BartonJess is a third year Anthropology major from the hometown of Maple Ridge, B.C.
MAtthew BranaghMatt is a second year student at the University of Victoria majoring in Anthropology.His interests are religious and mythological archaeology.
Hannah JohnsonHannah is a third year International Student from Portland, OR in the USA,. She is pursuing a Medieval Studies major with a Psychology minor.
Branwen MartindaleBranwen Martindale is a 4th year undergraduate student at the University of Victoriamajoring in Anthropology.
TABLE OF CONTENTSKinds of Burial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
by Jess Barton
Grave Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
by Hannah Johnson
Cemeteries and Mass Graves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
by Branwen Martindale
Who Is In The Burial? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
by Lindsay Armstrong
A Viking funeral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 22
by Matthew Branagh
Text References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Image References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
KINDS OF BURIAL
Fig. 1 - Hung from hooks by their necks and feet, the bodies of the Capuchin Catacombs appear to be lunging towards any viewers (Cohen, 2012).
BY JESS BARTON
Inhumations
An inhumation is simply a burial, the
terms are synonymous. An inhumation is defined
by the Oxford English Dictionary as the “action or
practice of burying the dead; the fact of being
buried” (2012). The common North American
practice of burial is where a six foot deep hole is
dug, usually in a cemetery, and then the deceased
is placed within a casket, and the casket is lowered
into the hole in the ground then covered in soil.
Although it is typical in North American burials for
there to only be one person in the grave, that is
not always the case in other places. It is not always
clear if it was done purposefully or not, but there is
a lot of incidences where there have been two or
more people found in a single grave, in a
combination of different sexes and age groups. Not
so common in the current times, but extremely
popular in the medieval times, was the trend to
include inanimate objects in the burial with the
individuals or what anthropologists like to call, grave
goods. It is extremely difficult to define what a true burial
is, as every culture has their own interpretation and
variations of the inhumation process and what it entails.
Fig. 2 - The lowering of a casket into the ground before it is buried
in modern times (Memorial Ecosystems, 2012).
Cremations
To cremate is defined by the Oxford English
Dictionary as the “dispos[al] of (a dead person’s body)
by burning it to ashes, typically after a funeral
ceremony” (2012). After the deceased individual has
been cremated, there are several different ways in which
people deal with the ashes. Some like to place the ashes
in a vase or bottle which can put in display within
peoples homes. Others tend to spread the deceased’s
ashes throughout the land, for example spread half of
the remains in the ocean and the other half over a
bridge, for various symbolic reasons. Cremations are one
of the most popular methods of disposing of the body. In
fact, in modern day Britain, cremation is considered the
“dominant rite” (Parker Pearson, 1999, p. 5). Civilizations
have been using cremations dates back hundreds of
centuries. Each society seems to have their
own perspective and funerary customs that
accompany the process of cremation, and it is
still prevalent and used to this day. And
example of the use of cremation is practiced
in the Hindu religion in India. The people will
take the dead to the city of Varanisi and
cremate them on the terraces of houses that
line the Ganges river, so that their ashes can
then be scattered in the sacred river (Parker
Pearson 1999, p. 50). This is just one way that
cremations can take place, other societies
have been known to burn the deceased on a
pyre while in modern day first world countries,
people will take the deceased to a funeral
parlor to be cremated.
Fig. 3 - This diagram illustrates what happens with a cremation pyre,
how long it takes and what it leaves behind. This experiment was
conducted with a pig, not a human (Parker Pearson, 1999).
Mummification
Fig. 4 - An individual from Grauballe bog, a young man, whose neck
was split from ear to ear (Parker Pearson, 1999).
The Oxford Engl ish Dictionary
defines to mummify as the act of
“preserv[ing] (a body) by embalming and
wrapping it in cloth” (2012). Whenever
people refer to mummification, the most
common thought is to connect this burial
process to the ancient Egyptians. One of
these great examples is the body of
Tutankhamen, who’s process of
mummification was extremely elaborate.
Tutankhamen’s body was wrapped in “f ine
l inen bandages” that contained “items of
glass, cornel ian, lapis lazul i , felspar, iron
and especial ly gold” (Parker Pearson
1999, p. 59). Once the body was wrapped
and preserved, Tutankhamen was placed in
a “sarcophagus [that] lay within four
nested golden shrines and enclosed three
mummiform coff ins. The innermost of
these was of sol id gold while the outer
two were of gi lded wood” (Parker Pearson
1999, p. 59). While they were one society
that predominantly practiced this form of
burial , they were not the only ones. There
is also a natural form of mummification. A
great example of this is with what are
known as bog bodies, more specif ical ly the
Graubal le Man. This corpse was found
“lay[ing] naked on his back, with his body
twisted, legs f lexed and head to the north”
(Parker Pearson 1999, p. 67) . This method
of mummification works so wel l that, as
evident in pictures, you could sti l l see the
hair on his head and stubble on his chin .
Fig. 5 - The corpse of Tutankhamen unwrapped after the bandages
were removed (Parker Pearson, 1999).
Self-Mummification
Fig. 6 - A self-mummified Buddhist monk found at Dainichibō Temple, Japan (Jeremiah, 2012).
Self Mummification requires the
same processes as mummification, as
indicated with the tit le, it is self inf l icted.
This method of preserving a body after
death has not been too common
throughout history. Although, certain
groups of buddhists in Japan have used
this technique for quite some time.
Buddhists who are preparing themselves
for self-mummification use a diet cal led
“mokujikigy ” (Jeremiah 2012, p. 1) . Thisō
meticulous diet where the practit ioners do
not eat any kind of cereal but rather “they
ate nuts, berries, tree bark, pine needles,
an unusual substances for years, gradual ly
reducing the amount as t ime progressed”
(Jeremiah 2012, p. 1) . If the diet had
progressed correctly, as planned, the
individual would “starve to death within
ten years” (Jeremiah 2012, p. 1) . Once the
monk had started their diet , they would go
on a search for an appropriate place that would
act as their burial chamber. After finding their
chamber, they would bury themselves alive in this
chamber. “Bamboo breathing tubes were in place
to provide oxygen, and they sat in meditative
posture, in complete darkness, chanting s tra andū
ringing a bell until their deaths. Once the bell
stopped ringing, the tombs were sealed” (Jeremiah
2012, p. 2). The whole process of self-
mummification is one of exceptional pain and
extensive planning, but it still viewed and practiced
as a religious process with Buddhists of Japan to
this day.
TYPES OF BURIAL
C a i r n s
Fig. 7 - The Grey Cairns of Camster, in Scotland (Electric Scotland, 2012).
A cairn is defined by the Oxford
Engl ish Dictionary as a “mound of rough
stones bui lt as a memorial or landmark,
typical ly on a hi l l top or skyl ine” (2012).
Burial cairns have been found to be used
in previous times in the southeastern part
of Iraq. This particular example from Iraq is a site
that was excavated near Sar-i-Asiab, which is just
north of Kerman in southeastern Iran. At the site, there was
“more than 170 cairns [that] are distributed over a bare,
stony plain which slopes gently down from rocky hills to
the east” (Lamberg-Karlovsky & Humphries 1968, p. 269).
In terms of appearance, the cairns are “as simple piles of
stones, varying form circular to subrectangular in plan”
while the “dimensions of cairns range from those of a
mere half dozen stones to larger ones of 1 m. in height and
5 m. in diameter” (Lamberg-Karlovsky & Humphries 1968,
p. 269). In terms of internal structure within these cairns,
there is “a series of tunnel-like chambers run horizontally
into the interior of these cairns” and then within these
chambers is where the burial remains are found (Lamberg-
Karlovsky & Humphries 1968, p. 271). Cairns, like this
example, can vary in terms of size, location and the
materials they are composed of.
Catacombs
A catacomb is defined by the Oxford English
Dictionary as an “underground cemetery consisting of a
subterranean gallery with recesses for tombs” (2012). A
notable example of a catacomb is present at the
Catacombs of the Capuchin Covent of Palermo in Sicily,
Italy. The people of the area used these catacombs as a
burial place for the privileged and clergy, as well as nobles
and townspeople of high status (Carotenuto, G. et al.
2008). All of the bodies in the catacomb have been
mummified, by either natural or artificial means, there are
even rooms in this catacomb that were designated for the
draining of a corpses fluids before it was wrapped in
bandages and put in either a coffin or wall slot
(Carotenuto, G. et al. 2008). As for the layout of the
catacomb, is has an entire “underground system” that has
several “large rooms and high-vaulted corridors [that]
branch out from the original corpus beneath the Church”
(Carotenuto, G. et al. 2008, p. 156). Catacombs are a very
unique method of storing the dead within societies. It is a
way of preserving history of the area over a long time
period with a practical means of storage that both, holds
large numbers of people, and doesn’t take up any valuable
surface land realty. This is just one case of a catacomb,
although there are many extravagant example that can be
viewed throughout Europe.
Fig. 8 - Within the Paris catacombs, skulls, tibias, and femurs have
been stacked to form spectacular structures (National Geographic,
2012).
Ship Burials
A ship burial is defined by the Oxford English
Dictionary as a “burial in a wooden ship under a mound”
(2012). One of the most famous illustrations of a ship burial
is from the Viking Age in Norway, and is called the Oseberg
ship burial. The actual ship in the burial was “21.44 metres
long and 5.1 metres wide” (Walaker Nordeide 2011, p. 7).
Due to the great size of the ship, the “diameter of the
Oseberg mound was around 40.5 metres, and it was
probably around 6.4 metres high” (Walaker Nordeide 2011,
p. 7). The burial contained “two female bodies, one which
was more than eighty years old at the time of her death,
the other who was in her early fifties” (Walaker Nordeide
2011, p. 7). Accompanying the bodies in this grave, there
was an abundance of other artifacts. Besides traces of
food, personal belongings, precious metals, paintings, and
other inanimate objects, the grave also contained animals.
The excavators found “a couple of oxen, four dogs and
thirteen horses” to be exact (Walaker Nordeide 2011, p. 7).
Although this is a case of an elaborate ship burial, there are
many different examples that vary in size, contents, and use
throughout the globe.
Fig. 9 - Image of the excavation of the Oseberg ship burial in 1904
(Rubio, 2007).
Burial Mounds
The term burial mound is as self
explanatory as it sounds. It is simply a burial
underneath a mound, which is defined by the
Oxford English Dictionary as a “rounded mass
projecting about a surface” (2012). The use of
burial mounds is a burial ritual that varies
greatly across time and regions. Burial
mounds can contain one individual or large
quantities of people. Thus, the overall size of
the mound is usually correlated with the
number of individuals inside. With the Anglo
Saxons, they used burial mounds as the
common practice for independent people, as
North Americans today use inhumations in a
cemetery, where each person had their own
small mound in a cemetery (Ellis Davidson,
1950). Therefore, when it came to a burial
mound for someone of great importance,
there was a large mound raised for them (Ellis
Davidson, 1950). One elaborate example of
one of the Anglo Saxon’s burial mounds is the
Taplow Barrow mound in Buckinghamshire.
This mound is “80 ft. in diameter and still 15
ft high in 1883, stood in the churchyard,
towering over the later graves” (Ellis Davidson
1950, p. 170). The Taplow Barrow mound was
quite ornate burial as it consisted of a
“rectangular grave chamber lined with stout
planks, who was richly dressed, with a cloak
decorated with gold braid caught by a clasp at
his shoulder” (Ellis Davidson 1950, p. 170).
Fig. 10 - Taplow is a Saxon burial mound of the 7th century in Berkshire, England (The Megalithic Portal, 2012).
In terms of what was included in the grave, the
man was accompanied by “a sword and knife, a
long spear placed above the chamber, two shields
and possible other weapons, while in the centre
was a large bronze pan holding two glass beakers,
two wooden cups and two drinking horns” (Ellis
Davidson 1950, p. 170). e
GRAVE GOODS
Fig. 11 - Closeup on am Anglo-Saxon female wearing gold medallion and beads, found in Buckland cemetery. Dover, UK.
(Canterbury Archaeological Trust).
BY HANNAH JOHNSON
What are grave goods,
why are they given,
and why are they useful?
Goods deposited in the graves of the
departed are a fascinating and invaluable resource
to the field of archaeology, helping us to learn more
about the lives, deaths and burial rituals, practices,
and religious or cosmological ideologies of the
people they were buried with, as well as of those
left behind to mourn them. Several theories as to
why grave goods were given have been proposed,
including as supplies for a journey into the afterlife
(Crawford, 2004, pg. 89), as a sort of dowry for
the gods (Oliver, 2000, cited in Crawford, 2004),
gifts from neighbouring groups or families to show
goodwill and secure political alliances (King, 2004),
or a display of wealth by the family of the
deceased . To exemplify these differences, it must
be noted that some objects belong to a category of
grave offerings, while others are clearly integral to
the burial costume (Lucy, 2000, pg. 63) which
indicates a ceremonial aspect to the occasion,
particularly when an object too delicate to have
been worn in life seems to have been made
specifically to sew into the clothes of the deceased
(Effros, 2002, pg. 48). Though each theory has
supporting arguments like these, no single purpose
to grave goods has been conceded, and it is
entirely probable that the ideas behind grave goods
have adapted and fluctuated over time within
cultures. To modern scholars, they help to match
written mentions of items to a physical example; to
assign an approximate date to the burial (Lucy,
2000, pg. 63); to discover the level and technique
of a culture's craftsmanship; to identify trade
between peoples; or even to identify religious
symbolism and conversion.
What are common goods,
what materials are they made
out of, and are they
practical or symbolic?
Fig. 12 - (Canterbury Archaeological Trust)
Studies done on the artifacts recovered in
Anglo-Saxon cemeteries show that both the
quantity and value of mortuary deposits increases
with age, with personal items predominantly found
with remains estimated to be aged fifteen years or
older, and the rarer and more valuable items
belonging almost exclusively to Adult and Mature
age groups (Stoodley, 2000, pg. 457). Common
items found include weapons such as spears,
shields, and swords; personal items such as
weaving tools, toiletries, and occasionally
instruments; grave furnishing such as pots, coins,
and vessels made of glass or bronze; as well as
personal adornments like brooches, belt buckles
and fittings, as other beads and jewelry (Stoodley,
2000, pg. 460). Observing the similarities in style,
aesthetic, and function across cultures, such as
with these photographs of Anglo-Saxon (fig. 12) and
Merovingian (fig. 13) brooches and other jewelry,
helps us to make inferences about ways of dress
and what impressed and was found to be beautiful
by the people in this time period.
Fig. 13 - (British Museum)
Stoodley's study of these cemeteries also
showed that goods made from semi-precious and
precious metals and stones are found primarily
among older adults (2000, pg. 460). This suggests
that more valuable materials were saved for those
in the community with more life experience and
most likely therefore more funds available to be
expended upon their death, while pottery, wood,
and less precious metals were more widely
available within a culture and not as highly valued.
These same types and divisions of goods
are found in inhumations as well as in cremations,
meaning pyre funerals do not appear to have been
reserved specifically for those of any one social
status, high or low. Cremation grave goods appear
to have been given one of two ways – those placed
on the funerary pyre with the body, resulting in the
melting and warping of glass beads and vessels,
and those added unburnt to the urn or the
surrounding area after the fact (Lucy, 2000, pg.
108). Whether cremations or inhumations, the
items found with the dead can range from having
very practical function and purpose within that
person's lifetime, to being purely symbolic or made
especially to be included in the burial ritual, as with
items such as deliberately broken weapons
representing the “death” of the item within the
community (Crawford, 2004, pg. 91) as well as with
items made in miniature or without functioning
features (2004, pg. 108).
Fig. 14 - (British Museum)
Just as important as the presence of grave
goods, their absence can also tell us something.
Many graves in various medieval barbarian
cemeteries are found without items, which in some
cases could be the result of looting but in many
cases seems to just be the grave of a socially lower
ranking individual who received a simplier burial.
Graves without grave goods also do show
any indication of being those of criminals or
outsiders, which points toward a definite social
stratification among the culture. Interestingly,
however, this fact also seems to indicate that there
might not have been any ideological conflict or
injustice presumed when some people were given
grave gifts and others were not, which perhaps calls
into question if these items were seen as necessary
to gain entry into the afterlife or to be looked
fondly on by the god or gods they worshipped. All
in all, these variations in if, how many, and what
kinds of grave goods were included show that
medieval barbarian cultures did not follow a strict
set of rules for what must be included in a a proper
burial, which makes the items they chose to bury
along with the departed seem like a deliberate and
thoughtful selection by the family and the
community at large (Lucy, 2000, pg. 103).
Fig. 15 - (University of Minnesota)
What are some LIMITATIONS, and
what is important for future
excavations?
One of the most crippling shortcomings
of using grave goods as evidence in interpretation
is that these analyses are by nature interdisciplinary
(Effros, 2003, pg 119). Specialists of many fields
must team together to evaluate all of the available
data one item can offer, otherwise it is easy for
historians as well as archaeologists to not fully
respect the limitations the items have in painting a
full picture by themselves, to make assertions in
areas in which they have no expertise, or to
attribute items to known historical figures without
proof that that is in fact accurate. In that vein, there
has been a longstanding tendency to assume rich
graves must belong to rich people (King, 2004, pg.
216). This is particularly presumptuous when it
comes to deeming a grave to be royal, such as with
the grave of a woman found beneath the cathedral
of Cologne which was assumed to be Wisigarde,
one of the wives of Merovingian king Theudebert.
There is no textual or archaeological evidence to
attribute Wisigarde's identity to this body (Effros,
2003, pg. 124), but the obsession with attaching a
specific owner to an object is a compulsion we
fight to reign in.
Perhaps less presumptuous but just as liable to
produce inaccuracies is that assumptions about gender,
not just identity, are made based on what is found in a
grave. This is particularly a problem when looking at
findings on graves that were excavated before DNA
testing on the skeletal remains became possible,
and this overconfident sexing technique is only
recently being combined with scientific testing in
order to get a more accurate idea of the sex and
gender role of the individual. Thanks to modern
biases, graves with weapons are automatically
assumed to be male, and those with jewelry or
traditionally feminine items like weaving tools to be
female. Using grave goods alone may cause us to
miss evidence about alternative gender binaries
and occupations unless they are backed up and
paired with biological evidence.
A final thing both archaeological experts and
the layman are guilty of when it comes to grave goods
is failing to pay the same attention to graves that are
found without them. Graves with grave goods,
particularly those with very fine, valuable, or odd ones,
naturally capture our interest more, but focusing
entirely on those kinds of finds may skew our
perspective of the division of wealth, power, and the
overall cultural practices and population demographics
present in these societies. We wouldn't know half as
much as we do now about medieval society without
the discovery and interpretation of grave goods, and
with new technology and understanding they could
shed light on many new aspects of the history of
human life and death. e
Fig. 16 - (Ministry of Defence)
Cemeteries and Mass Graves
Fig. 17 - Aerial view of Sutton Hoo (Atlantis Online, 2008)
BY BRANWEN MARTINDALE
CEMETERIES
There are over 1200 Anglo-Saxon
cemeteries that are known today in the continent
of Europe. These cemeteries are comprised of both
inhumation and cremation graves (Bond, 1996);
the ratio varies, dependent on the characteristics
of the cemetery, such as time period of use,
location of cemetery and the funerary practices of
the graves creators. Some burials were made with
extreme care and were lavished with grave goods
and animal offerings, while others were very simple
and only contained a body with no artifacts. The
number of graves in a cemetery can range greatly
from as few as twenty at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk,
England (Carver, 1999) through to 128 at Lechlade
in the Upper Thames Valley, England (Sayer &
Wienhold, 2012), to as many as over 2000 burials
at Spong Hill, Norfolk, England (Bond, 1996). The
cemeteries may be used for centuries and used by
many people while others such as Sutton Hoo
have been used a relatively short time period.
Cemeteries contain both male and female
occupants and they can represent a great range of
ages and classes of wealth and status (Carver,
1999). Some graves will contain an excess of grave
goods and animal remains while others contain
very little to nothing at all (Bond, 1996). Some
cemeteries are well marked, such as the use of
grave mounds, and have been susceptible to
robbery, either soon after the burial took place, or
more recently by people looking for wealthy
objects to sell.
Fig. 18 - Sutton Hoo cemetery site plan. A plan of the royal
cemetery site and the 18 burial mounds of Sutton Hoo (Woodbridge,
Suffolk) (Sheshen-eceni graphics).
Some cemeteries’ graves are very orderly
and in alignment with each other while others are
in disarray. A grave from earlier times that is
unmarked might not even be known and be
intercut by newer graves. As disturbing as this can
be to archaeologists because the older burials can
be disturbed or damaged, it can also be crucial to
telling us about the chronology of the graves when
means of dating the remains are unavailable
(Sheehan, 2009). But when we do have the
methods available, radiocarbon dating can be very
important to telling us what time period the people
and grave goods come from, when the burials
were made and provides us with chronology of
graves in a cemetery. There is strong evidence of
cemeteries and burials being reused where there
are multiple use periods over time at a cemetery,
and at gravesites there is sometimes evidence of a
grave being reopened and someone being buried
on top of the previous grave. At Walkington Wold,
East Yorkshire, England three people were found in
a grave but the radiocarbon dates indicated it was
reopened at least once and a new body put onto
an existing grave (Buckberry & Hadley, 2007).
There may have even been some cases where the
first burial was deep enough that the makers of
the newer grave were unaware they were creating
a burial over top of another.
Some cemeteries will be near to a
settlement, some may be next to their settlement
while others are a distance away and sometimes,
small hamlets would even share one communal
cemetery. The cemetery of Petersdal, Denmark was
two kilometers away from the coastal settlement in
the Dragor area, but the incentive to reuse the
graves of this site made the distance worthwhile
(Kastholm, 2012). The relation of graves to each
other is an indicator that can tell us of the past. If
the graves are orderly it could mean that the
creators were aware of a previous graves’ presence,
which may indicate that there was a marker of some
kind, while graves that are randomly placed and
intercut others suggest they didn’t know where
previous graves were or if they knew, they contained
no grave markers (Humphreys et al., 1924). Orderly
graves can also be evidence of them being buried in
relation to an object, such as at Caherlehillan, Ireland
where graves are buried along the long axis of the
church present there, while three are not; it is
suggested that these where aligned with a new
church or the shrine built at a later date, which may
indicate these were later burials, something that
bone analysis couldn’t tell us (Sheehan, 2009).
Fig. 19 - Example of graves that are not in alignment with each other or a
particular direction. (Archaeology South-East, 2012)
Graves in cemeteries can either have some
sort of orientation with a cardinal direction, to an
object or site as mentioned earlier, or it can be
completely random, as at Walkington Wold (Buckberry
& Hadley, 2007). The difference in orientation can also
divide groups within the cemetery; at Berinsfield, South
Oxfordshire, England two groups were distinguished,
those who with east-west orientation buried in the
southern half and those with south-north orientation
buried in the northern half. This could possibly be
separating the different periods of burial or different
statuses of people within them (Sayer & Wienhold,
2012). At Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England only
a small portion have any distinguishable orientation
with 18 of them being carefully buried in a row with
their feet placed to the east or north-east and of all
the burials the southern direction seems to be heavily
avoided (Humphreys et al., 1924).
Fig. 20 - Some of the many Anglo-Saxon graves excavated at Burgh
Castle. Example of graves in alignment with each other. (Norwich Castle
Museum & Art Gallery, 2012).
Mass graves
Fig. 21 - Grave with two bodies (Sutton Hoo). (Macbeth, 2012).
Mass gravesites are graves that contain
two or more people within them. Usually the grave
that contains two or three will be people who have
a connection with each other. They may have
familial relations such as sibling or parent and
child, or relations of love such as a spouse or lover,
which may be evident of graves where one is
buried on top of the other, or a hierarchy relation
such as a person of status and their slave. They
can be in the grave together because they died at
the same time or one can be buried at a later
date or the other person is a sacrifice at the time
of the burial, voluntarily or not. The grave can also
be filled with many people, which may indicate
multiple deaths at one time such as a disease,
famine, or most likely from war or execution. A
man who died at war may be a possible cause as
to why there are mass graves at one site and a
lavish grave full of grave goods and food offering
with no evidence of a body at another. Most
evident are mass graves of execution victims. We find
evidence of beheading from bone analysis and find blow
or cut marks to the back of the head or neck as well
as evidence of broken necks from hanging. We
Fig. 22 -: These men, barely into their twenties, were ambushed by the local
Anglo-Saxon villagers. Their remains were discovered in 2009. Example of a
mass grave of execution victims with their heads buried separate from their
bodies (Daily Mail)
find an execution burial at Sutton Hoo where
16 individuals have been hanged or beheaded
with their head placed on their chest or at
their knees; some were buried kneeling while
others lay face down with their hands hands
tied behind them (Carver, 1999).
All of these attributes were found at
Walkington Wold with a few individuals out of
the 11 found as well, but there was also
evidence of the heads being removed and put
on stakes as a warning to other criminals,
evident by the weathering on the skull; these
were buried later (Buckberry & Hadley, 2007).
Fig. 23 - The remains of an ancient Anglo-Saxon warrior and his
horse were unearthed at RAF Lakenheath in 1997. The base must
work with British archaeology officials for every base construction
because of the area’s dense concentration of buried artifacts.
(Suffolk County Council Archeological Service, 2008)
Some single and multiple person graves contain
evidence of wild and domestic animals within them such
as horses, dogs, cattle, sheep, pigs, deer, bear and hare.
Their presence can tell us about their relationship with
the animal, their wealth and status, what kind of goods
they used and traded for, and their ritual practices.
Evidence of a whole animal such as a horse or dog is
often thought to signify its importance for the afterlife,
while parts of an animal such as a joint could signify a
ritual, sacrifice or feasting. Evidence of cut mark can
indicate if the animal was cut up to be eaten or if it was
cut into parts for easier transport to the grave and so
that it would be easier to cremate (Bond, 1996). e
Fig. 24 - Woman and Cow. Archaeologists described the find as
"unique in Europe". (BBC, 2012)
Who is in the burial?
Fig. 25 - Depiction of Anglo-Saxon prepared for cremation (Williams, 2012).
BY LINDSAY ARMSTRONG
A quick summation of what has been written
so far will help to lead into the remains left in the burials
and how archaeologist may try and determine some
inferences as to who this person may have been. The
burial itself in conjunction with the surrounding
stratigraphic indicators as well as artifact association
within a burial may very well determine the inferences
made as to who is in the burial. Associated symbolic
markers would include such artifacts as carved stone
markers which are large stone monoliths that have been
interpreted as showing kinship ties as well as family
legends and myths (Williams, 2007). To start,
archaeologists look at the physical burial themselves
and the inferences that can be made from comparative
research of previous identifiable burials. This area of
deduction could lead to assumptions of early social
complexities and communal burial rites and practices
(Williams, 2007) or biostratinomy. Burials of this time
period include large mound/barrow/cairn burials
(Williams, 2007) in which some include the burial of a
full size ship, as seen in Sutton Hoo (Kendrick et al,
1939) as well as cremation burials in which a person
was placed in a cremation burial urn (Williams, 2004).
Cremation burials where of the pagan tradition and not
done by the people of Christian faith of this time so
burials of this nature show a close relationship to the
pagan faith of those cremated (Williams, 2004).
THANATIC factor
determination
In the context of the thanatic factor
determination, or how living entities where removed
from the living assemblage and entered the death
assemblage, is of suitable significance and something
that may be of interest to archaeologists as inferences
to the potential sex of the individual, status , occupation
and age at death. Archaeologists look to cemeteries for
clues as to the thanatic variables and cause of death.
This would entail looking at attritional or catastrophic
mortality of the deceased population. Attritional
mortality could be indicated by large mound type burials
with evidence of expendable energy and man power to
inter a single person whereas catastrophic burials may
infer a massacre or battle/raid and be evident in mass
burials or so called ”deviant graves”. If there was no
cremation preformed the next area of examination
would entail a stratigraphic view of the grave in situ of
the body itself.
Fig. 26 - Anglo-Saxon cemetery. (Midgley Web Pages, 1999).
OSTEOLOGICAL DETERMINATEs
Fig. 27 - Labelled human skeleton. (Wikipedia, 2007)
Body position is a possible determiner of
who may be buried within the site but
archaeologist must have comparative sites in
association to represent the positions as
meaning more than just incidental burial
positioning. This brings the focus to the
remains in the grave and the osteological
determination of the skeletal remains. There
are set variables and measurements that can
be used to determine a few possible
determinates as to who the deceased person
may have been in life. These are referred to as
osteological markers and entails an in-depth
look at the morphology of the bones for
indications of occupational markers such as
tiny bone spurs on the heal bone that would
indicate a possible occupation that involved
squatting for long periods of time (White &
Folkens, 2005) or larger amounts of bone
density on the long bone of just one arm as
indicators of possible long term weaving, the
use of a grinding stone or an archer. These
occupational markers look for the possible
social status of the individual and infer the
social complexities of the population form
which the individual originated. Ante and post
mortem bone damage is another very
important area to look at for this can tell a lot
of what happened to the individual prior to
death or shortly after.
There are tell tale signs that
archaeologists look for that can tell them if a
person’s bones where broken before they died
and healed or if the break occurred just
before or soon after death (White & Folkens,
2005). There are indicators for different types
of fractures and breaks to human bones and
definitive markers to tell archaeologists what
happened to a person’s bone to cause the
damage that they observe (White & Folkens,
2005). This information could indicate the life
lead by the individual who was possibly in
physically demanding situations for part of
their life such as a warrior or farmer or a
person who lead a sedentary existence with
no such damage seen. There are also set
measurement parameters that archaeologists
would take to help determine the height of
the individual as they were in their living
state. These measurements are taken from the
long bones of the individual’s leg (the femur
and tibia) (White & Folkens, 2005).
Fig. 28 - The Human femur can be used to determine the height of
an individual as well as possible age using bone ossification centres
indicated in blue. (Wikipedia, 2004).
Using the skull and pelvis, if they are
undamaged, archaeologists can again use a
set standard of measurements to make an
inference as to the sex of the individual. The
skull can also be used to make an inference
as to the ethnic background of the individual
although this is very difficult to do (White &
Folkens, 2005).
Fig. 29 - Comparative Male (above) and Female
Pelvis. (below)
(Wikipedia, 2005).
There is one more set of parameters
that archaeologists would be very interested
in looking at that could determine the age of
the individual at the time of their death. These
parameters follow a set growth pattern of
bone and teeth that all human development
follows. This growth pattern starts in the
womb as a fetus develops and ceases at
about the age of 25. One last osteological
marker to mention that archaeologists look
for from the bone material recovered would
be the indication of any pathological diseases
such as arthritis and some forms of cancer
(White & Folkens, 2005) to help formulate a
picture of the heath of the individual
throughout their life time. A little side note,
DNA- analysis has become cheaper and
readily available to archaeologists and is used
frequently to substantiate and collaborate
many of these findings as well as to
distinguish individuals in mass burials. Having
gathered all the skeletal information coupled
with the topics mentioned in the rest of the
magazine archaeologists can begin to piece
together a picture of the people who lived and
died at various times in history. e
A VIKING FUNERAL
Fig. 30 - Popular belief of the Viking Funeral
(Dicksee, 1893).
BY MATT BRANAGH
Many funeral acts are based on
rel igious ideologies and bel iefs and are
performed as a ritual ist ic act of “ lett ing
go” of our dead. Every society and culture
throughout history has or have had their
own bel iefs and practices of how this
should be performed. Some of these
tradit ions are a l itt le more common in our
mainstream society and while others have
turned into urban legends. I decided to
explore one of these urban legends, the
Viking burial . I picked this because it
seems everybody has an assumption of
what the Viking l ifestyle and burial r ites
were l ike or at least claim they know a
Viking and wil l simply ask that person
what they do with their dead.
I interviewed a group of ten random
people, asking them, what their thoughts
were of a pre-Christian Viking funeral. From
these answers the most common belief was
summarized that the funeral was a
celebration honouring a fallen warrior
(seems to be a popular thought that all
Vikings were warriors). The body of this
warrior was cremated on a burning boat
while the boat sailed to out to sea. While on
shore, the mourners, dressed in their finest
battle armour and horned helmets. The men
would partake in drinking, feasting and
merriment all night on behalf of their
departed brethren.
Sounds fun, maybe not for the
person on the boat, but over all a good time
would be had by all, unless you were a
woman. There was no discussion of gender
inclusion or equality at a funeral. As well
there was no discussion of grave goods or
personal possessions that would accompany
the body. Kinship ties were not addressed,
but the most notable omission was; why the
funeral was conducted in such a manner?
Most interviewees answered; “because it
was” or with a shrug of bemusement. Viking
beliefs were never called into question for
funerals.
“. . .the descriptions varied, but the
annals repeatedly stress that the men from
the North were pagans ( Andres, 2005).”
Viking burial practices are believed, like
most cultures, to have been dictated by
religious dogma. In this case these dogmas
were created by the Viking’s all father Odin
and referred to as Odin’s laws.
“Thus he ordered that all
dead be burned on a pyre
together with their
possessions, saying that
everyone would arrive in
Valhalla with such wealth as
he had with him on his pyre
and that he would also enjoy
the use of what he himself
had hidden in the ground. His
ashes were to be carried out
to sea or buried in the ground.
For notable men burial
mounds were to be thrown up
as memorials. But for all men
who had shown great manly
qualities memorial stones
were to be erected; and this
custom continued for a long
time there after.
Snorri Sturluson, ynglingasaga 8.
(Price, 2008: 257).”
Despite the laws that are mentioned
there are still no consistent patterns of burial
or funeral practices in the Viking world.
Evidence of both cremation and inhumation
have been found with patterns linking to
specific regions. For example the burial urns in
Aland island’s which were found with
miniature clay beaver and bear paws
accompanying them. Odin’s laws appear at
this point to be a set of guidelines (Price,
2008). The evidence we do have of the
funeral is little textual evidence and theories.
When their ideas were combined, the group I
interviewed, were fairly close to what is
believed to have consisted of a pre-christian
Viking funeral. Using an extract from the work
of Ibn Falan’s Risala I’m going to fill in events
from a Viking funeral apart from the actual
cremation and feasting.
Fig. 31 - Gods ascending with the deceased to Valhalla.
Finale du Rheingold.
(The British Museum, 1877).
A boat would be constructed to serve
as a funeral pyre. The individuals status in
society would determine the size of boat used.
As the construction of the boat took place, the
body of the deceased would be exhumed from
the frozen ground and dressed in their finest
linens. After the completion of the boat, the
deceased and their belongs would be gathered
and placed upon the boat by the family. Goods
that would accompany the deceased would be
dependent on their societal status. In the case
of Fadlan’s Risala, the Funeral that was
described was for a wealthy man of higher
standing in society. In this case his possessions
included slaves, only one slave was required to
volunteer for the journey to the afterlife.
Alcohol, fruit, bread, and animals (horses, cows,
hens, and a dog) were all placed on the boat.
The slave who had volunteered (in
this case a young girl) was prepared; cleaned
and dressed, and was lead on to the boat
followed by an entourage of men and a female
priestess or shaman. The slave was given
alcohol to drink and would engage in a
ritualistic act of calling to her master. The men
who had accompanied her on to the boat
individually had intercourse with her as a way
of thanking her master. Upon completion of
this ritual the female priestess, with the help of
two of the men, sacrificed the slave and placed
her with the deceased.
The family of the deceased would
be the f irst to set fire to the boat pyre
fol lowed by the rest of the mourners
continuing to l ight the pyre. Once the
boat, laden with the deceased and their
possessions, had burnt down to ashes or
at least the deceased’s body had been
consumed by f ire, the ashes would be
gathered and placed into a burial urn. The
type of urn, l ike the ship and grave goods,
would depend on your social status in
society; ceramic, bronze were the most
common, while s i lver was reserved for
either chiefs or upper gentry (Carver,
2005).
The urn and any grave goods that
did not burn to ash would be placed in a
grave and a covered with a mound.
Depending, again on the status of the
person, a marker of either wood or stone
would be placed on the top. Placement of
these stone monuments ranged from a
singular stone to different shapes created
from multiple stones. Some markers were
designed l ike ships, recent explanations
suggest that these stones represent the
roots of Yggdrasi l l , the world tree. A tree
that connects Midgard, the earthly realm,
to Valhal la , a perceived paradise for the
afterl ife (Price, 2008).
Fig. 32 - A Viking burial plot at Lindolm Hoje.
(Aistrup Lind).
This concludes what is to be believed
to have been the rituals of a Viking funeral. I
informed the group of interviewees what was
thought to have actually taken place. It seemed
that half the group was shocked and disgusted,
one person was even outraged over these
rituals, The other half of the group found this to
be fascinating and wanted to know more on the
topic. These acts might shock you, the reader, or
they might intrigue you to learn more about
different cultural funeral practices but as I
mentioned earlier these were performed as
religious acts of the final letting go in the Viking
society. Although, having vastly different
practices of what we as a modern society
believe in for the final farewell of our deceased,
the importance and significance of the rites of a
Viking funeral is not really that different then
what we practice today. e
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Viking_funeral.jpg> [Accessed: 1 December 2012].
Fig. 31 - The British Museum (1877) Finale du Rheingold [image online] Available at:
<http://www.britishmuseum.org/system_pages/beta_collection_introduction/beta_collection_
object_details.aspx?objectId=1646606&partId=1&searchText=Finale%20du%20Rheingold>
[Accessed: 1 December 2012].
Fig. 32 - Aistrup Lind, I. (n.d.) The Viking burial ground at Lindholm Høje, near Ålborg, Denmark [image online]
Available at: <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/21475/The-Viking-burial- ground-
at-Lindholm-Hojenear-Alborg-Denmark> [Accessed: 1 December 2012].
Back cover image - Hunterian Museum Archaeology & Ethnography Collections
(2012) Human skull without mandible [Image Online] Available at:
<http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/foxweb/huntsearch/DetailedResults.
fwx?collection=archaeology&searchTerm=B.1922.15> [Accessed 2 December
2012].