Towards the capstone of the European Bronze Age, in an area stretching from the Carpathians in the East to the North Sea in the West, vast cremation grave cemeteries occur that are perhaps better... Show moreTowards the capstone of the European Bronze Age, in an area stretching from the Carpathians in the East to the North Sea in the West, vast cremation grave cemeteries occur that are perhaps better known as ‘urnfields.’ Today some 700 of these burial sites have come to light in the Netherlands alone. In this corner of Europe, also known as the ‘Lower-Rhine-Basin,’ these cemeteries are often characterised by vast collections of small burial mounds under which the cremated remains of decedents were buried in small shaft-like pits. In many a case the cremated remains had been put in urns first, providing these cemeteries with their very name. Though rich in numbers, urnfield graves are often described as ‘poor’ and ‘simple’ as only in rare occasions decedents were provided with grave gifts. However, when close attention is paid to the actions involved in the creation of these seemingly simple graves, they in fact reveal a richness in funerary practices that on their turn hint a complex and intricate mortuary process. This book delves into the wealth of funerary practices reflected in more than 3,000 urnfield graves excavated throughout the Netherlands in order to reconstruct the mortuary process associated with the urnfields in this particular corner of Europe. Together these graves tell interesting stories about how the dead related to each other, how plain and simple objects could be used as metaphors in the creation of relational and ancestral identities and how the dead were inextricably linked to the land. Show less
Towards the capstone of the European Bronze Age, in an area stretching from the Carpathians in the East to the North Sea in the West, vast cremation grave cemeteries occur that are perhaps better... Show moreTowards the capstone of the European Bronze Age, in an area stretching from the Carpathians in the East to the North Sea in the West, vast cremation grave cemeteries occur that are perhaps better known as ‘urnfields.’ In the ‘Lower-Rhine-Basin,’ these cemeteries are often characterised by vast collections of small burial mounds under which the cremated remains of decedents were buried in small shaft-like pits. In many a case the cremated remains had been put in urns first, providing these cemeteries with their very name.This dissertation delves into the wealth of funerary practices reflected in more than 3,000 urnfield graves excavated throughout the Netherlands in order to reconstruct the mortuary process associated with the urnfields in this particular part of Europe. Together these graves tell interesting stories about how the dead related to each other, how plain and simple objects could be used as metaphors in the creation of relational and ancestral identities and how the dead were inextricably linked to the land. Show less
Early medieval interactions with the dead did not stop after the funeral. The graves were often reopened at a later time to examine and manipulate their contents. Archaeologists frequently... Show moreEarly medieval interactions with the dead did not stop after the funeral. The graves were often reopened at a later time to examine and manipulate their contents. Archaeologists frequently interpret this phenomena as grave robbery, an economically motivated criminal practice. But many aspects of the graves in question do not align with this hypothesis. Martine van Haperen studied over 1300 graves from 11 cemeteries in the Netherlands and Belgium with surprising results. It became clear that the diggers left many objects behind in the reopening pits and prioritized men’s graves even though these contained fewer valuable materials. Instead, they focused on removing object types with crucial symbolic roles in the funerary ritual and early medieval society at large. The high percentage of reopened graves (41%) suggests this was a socially accepted practice. Van Haperen therefore argues that reopenings were part of the normal interactions between the living and the dead, for instance in the form of an ancestor relic cult and as a way of dealing with unquiet dead. Show less
