The Materiality of Death - mikroarkeologi.se

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through careful recording of the orientation of the grain of carbonised wood during excavation and identified the majority were still orientated in a limited and constant number of directions. These observations suggested that the skeletal material recovered from the pyre at Pencraig Hill was also in-situ and therefore broadly representative of what had been placed upon the structure at the point of cremation. The excavation thus presented a rare opportunity for bone location to be planned in detail and subsequently subjected to GIS analysis to establish how human remains may have been organised on the pyre (Fig. 4). Fig 1: Location of sites in text. Contextual Taphonomy Pencraig Hill, excavated in 2004, is a ceremonial site with architectural elements that are typical of British wide tradition trapezoidal shaped monuments and two or three post timber structures dating from the early to mid 4th millennium BC (MacGregor & McLellan forthcoming, Fig. 3). Such sites have been typically interpreted as mortuary structures, used for excarnation and/or ossuaries (e.g. Kinnes 1991; Scott 1992), prior to the secondary burial of the bone elsewhere. However, in contrast to examples from southern England which predominantly contained deposits of unburnt bone, those from Scotland are generally associated with cremated human remains and part of a wider northern British tradition involving ‘crematoria’ (Kinnes 1991, 84-5). Thus the potential is that, in their final phase, such structures effectively functioned as pyres, burnt down with human remains in or on them (Kinnes 1991, 101). The site at Pencraig Hill is, thus an unusual find in that it appears to be a rare example of a particular stage of human remains disposal. Significantly, it also comprised collapsed structural remains which critically, appeared to have been undisturbed following its collapse (MacGregor & McLellan forthcoming). This fact was established Analysis of the patterning of cremated remains failed to provide any evidence that a supine articulated corpse, or series of corpses, had been placed on the structure before burning. Instead the observed patterning appeared random and disorganised, despite the apparently organised nature of the wood timbers immediately below. Such observations contrast with reported experimental pyre burnings, which suggest that the cremated skeletal material can clearly be observed in anatomical position post cremation (McKinlay 1997). Similarly, the organised nature of the timbers indicated that deposition patterns were highly unlikely to be the result of post cremation pyre raking. Consideration of the specific contextual taphonomy of the material and the distribution of the skeletal elements themselves thus led us to the conclusion that the archaeological evidence did not support our initial hypothesis that intact bodies had been burnt on the pyre. Instead, the surprising conclusion of our investigations was that the body parts must have been disarticulated prior to cremation. Intriguingly, further research revealed this disarray of material broadly mirrors the excavation of one of the few suggested Bronze Age pyre sites excavated in Scotland in modern times, at Linga Fjold, Orkney (Downes 1995; McKinlay 1997). Although regrettably not fully published yet, summary reporting indicates a ‘heap’ of disordered cremated fragments was discovered and interpreted as the result from of pyre stoking and raking. Alternative reading of this assemblage, stimulated by the results from the site of Pencraig Hill, however, offer the intriguing possibility that further evidence could be found to support the theory that such patternings are the result not of cremation of supine articulated bodies, but of disarticulated body parts. Although initially surprising, wider consideration of earlier mortuary practices witnessed from inhumed remains from chambered cairns suggest that such a manipulation and incorporation of disarticulated human remains at Pencraig Hill is entirely consistent with wider social treatment of human remains (e.g. Kinnes 1991, 103-105; see however, Lawrence 2006). This correlation in mortuary practices varies only through the specifics of mortuary rite and suggests different transformative pathways may have been underpinned by similar structuring principles. 72
Fig 2: Experimental Reproduction of a Prehistoric Cremation (Credit: Moira Greig). Fig. 3: Pencraig Hill: Site Plan. 73
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The Materiality of Death Bodies, bu
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Contents Chapter 1. The Materiality
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Fig. 1. Pieter Bruegel, The Triumph
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ather one has to emphasise the mate
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dead are often regarded as unfriend
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Fig 3. The old man Tei Tetuna by hi
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The Materiality of Social Change: H
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The Materiality of Eternity - The A
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FAHLANDER, F. & OESTIGAARD, T. 2004
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Susanne Kuechler-Fogden, Webb Keane
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Chapter 2 More than Metaphor: Appro
Page 25 and 26: discuss death and the treatment of
Page 27 and 28: had to deal with. This is not to sa
Page 29 and 30: hide that could be removed to expos
Page 31 and 32: pp111-123. Philadelphia: University
Page 33 and 34: Chapter 3 A Piece of the Mesolithic
Page 35 and 36: The main point is that the division
Page 37 and 38: A Piece of the Mesolithic: Skatehol
Page 39 and 40: question we need to construct some
Page 41 and 42: Fig. 4. Skateholm I (above) and Ska
Page 43 and 44: visible many years after the origin
Page 45 and 46: Phase Area Properties Interpretatio
Page 47 and 48: phase of one site with a contempora
Page 49: MILNER, N. & WOODMAN, P. 2005. Meso
Page 52 and 53: with dead people belonging to other
Page 54 and 55: Fig. 2. Due to the extraordinaire c
Page 56 and 57: As with all cremations in Hinduism,
Page 58 and 59: Based on the amount of scattered bo
Page 60 and 61: To have an ethical approach involve
Page 63 and 64: Chapter 5 From Corpse to Ancestor:
Page 65 and 66: Figure 2. Isola Sacra, Tomb 100. Ph
Page 67 and 68: Figure 4. Isola Sacra, Tomb 87. Pho
Page 73: 69 Burials
Page 78 and 79: Figure 4: Pencraig Hill: Distributi
Page 80 and 81: focussed on use of partial sets of
Page 83 and 84: Chapter 7 Ritual and Remembrance at
Page 85 and 86: urial (tomba a doppio loculo tipo M
Page 87 and 88: ‘original’ walls of the tomb. L
Page 89 and 90: chambers cut into two earlier trenc
Page 91: Madison: Prehistory Press, Monograp
Page 94 and 95: Well-organized cemeteries or messy
Page 96 and 97: influenced who was buried inside th
Page 98 and 99: it was quite short, which could ind
Page 100 and 101: References ARTELIUS, TORE 2004. Min
Page 103 and 104: Chapter 9 Life and Death in the Bro
Page 105 and 106: Fig. 5.1. Cremation necropolis at P
Page 107 and 108: place. These burials were very simp
Page 109 and 110: Chapter 10 Norwegian Face-Urns: Loc
Page 111 and 112: The recurring themes in the debate
Page 113 and 114: The local context of the Norwegian
Page 115 and 116: Death is the inevitable conclusion
Page 117 and 118: OESTIGAARD, T. 1999. Cremations as
Page 119 and 120: Chapter 11 The Use of Ochre in Ston
Page 121 and 122: Ochre was used so intensively that
Page 123 and 124: Fig. 5. Zvejnieki burial ground. Th
Page 125 and 126: grave has been dated to 5690±45 BP
Page 127 and 128:
Khanty of northern Siberia, the col
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125 Beliefs
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Chapter 12 ”Death Myths”: Perfo
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Variation within the same cist Bø,
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Variation within the same mound Lyd
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Figures 6 and 7. Modvo, Luster muni
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To what extent there have been corr
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when they die, a probable explanati
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fragmented spindles, iron weaving s
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Chapter 13 Reproduction and Relocat
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may be questioned, and analysed mor
Page 149 and 150:
References Andersson, G. 1997: A st
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Chapter 14 A Road for the Viking’
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Figure 2. The Jarlabanke Bridge tha
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Chapter 15 A Road to the Other Side
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Fig. 4. Clearing the bridge on an e
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Chapter 16 Stones and Bones: The My
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Fig. 4. An Iron Age scene at Sylta
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Fig. 7. The resemblance between cru
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